Groundcherry

Family

Solanaceae

Habit

perennial

Height

1.2 m

Spread

1.5 m

Growth

fast

Lifespan

3 years

First yield

after 1 year

Yield per plant

up to 1 kg a year

Yield in cultivation

up to 10 t/ha

Energy yield

530 kcal per m² a year

Hardiness

zone 9–12

Shade tolerance

partial shade

Soil

Sand, Silt, Loam

Soil moisture

dry – very moist

pH

5.5 – 7

Synonyms

Blasenkirsche, physalis,

Times apply to the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate and shift with altitude and cultivar.

Edible: Obst – roh oder gekocht in Kuchen, Torten, Gelees, Kompott, Marmelade usw. . Der köstliche bittersüße Geschmack ist kleiner, aber süßer als bei der Sorte „Edulis“. Die getrockneten Früchte können als Rosinenersatz verwendet werden, sind aber nicht so süß. Die Pflanze wickelt jede Frucht praktischerweise in eine eigene „Papiertüte“ (botanisch den Kelch) ein, um sie vor Schädlingen und Witterungseinflüssen zu schützen. Dieser Kelch ist giftig und sollte nicht gegessen werden. Die Frucht ist reich an Vitamin A (3000 IE Carotin pro 100 g), Vitamin C und einigen Vitamin-B-Komplexen (Thiamin, Niacin und B12). Der Protein- und Phosphorgehalt ist für eine Frucht außergewöhnlich hoch. Die Frucht ist eine Beere mit einem Durchmesser von etwa 2 cm. Die getrockneten Früchte gelten als Hefeersatz. Wenn sie sorgfältig gepflückt werden und der Kelch intakt ist, können sie drei Monate oder länger gelagert werden. Der Durchmesser der Früchte beträgt etwa 2 cm.

Medicinal: The leaf juice was used to treat worms and intestinal problems. The plant has diuretic properties. 240.

Other uses: Use in agroforestry: The Andean berry can be utilized as a companion plant, attracting pollinators and beneficial insects. It can also serve as ground cover. 1. Nectar - Nectar-rich flowers: Yes - The flowers of Physalis peruviana produce nectar, attracting various pollinators such as bees and butterflies. 2. Wildlife - Food (fruits, seeds, leaf litter, shelter, nesting site, resting place): Yes - The fruits are edible, providing food for various wildlife, including birds and mammals. The leaves and other parts of the plant can contribute to habitat but are usually not consumed. 3. Protection for invertebrates (overwintering sites, leaf litter, ground cover): Yes - The leaves and surrounding leaf litter can offer protection to beneficial insects and other invertebrates, thus contributing to a more diverse environment. 4. Pest confuser (smell): No - Although Physalis species can emit a smell, they are not primarily perceived as pest confusers or deterrents, as is the case with some other plants.

Site: The Cape gooseberry is frost-tender, and the rest follows from that. It needs a sheltered position in full sun to light shade, ideally against a heat-storing south wall; in cool areas container culture is the safer choice. The soil should drain well but may be lean: on over-rich ground the plant runs to leaf and sets little fruit — a freshly manured vegetable bed is the wrong place. pH values between 4.5 and 8.2 are tolerated. Allow for its spread: the plant reaches a metre and a half in height and as much across, and tips sideways under the weight of fruit, so it literally grows over its neighbours' heads. A metre of clearance is the minimum. It is self-fertile, so a single plant suffices. The unripe fruits and the husk are poisonous — worth thinking about around small children and animal runs. Care: Plant out after mid-May, and with support: the shoots snap easily under load, and a cane or low frame keeps the plant from splaying. Pinching out the growing tip while the plant is under thirty centimetres tall makes it branch more freely and crop more heavily. Feed sparingly and with an emphasis on potassium; nitrogen costs yield. Water evenly, as it will not take waterlogging. From sowing to the first ripe fruit takes around 100 to 120 days, flowering runs from late spring into summer, and harvest from August to October — and it happens at ground level: ripe fruits drop complete with the husk, which has turned brown and papery, and are then exactly right. Picking early achieves nothing, since the fruit does not ripen after harvest. In late autumn the plant can be moved into frost-free winter quarters and kept on for another year; left outside, a thick mulch over the root after the frost cuts it back is occasionally enough for survival in mild areas.

The Cape gooseberry is raised from seed. A single fruit holds 100 to 300 seeds, but germination is poor, so sow generously. Sow from February to early March under warmth at about 20 to 25 degrees, covering the seed only thinly. After pricking out, grow the young plants cooler and bright; they go outside only after the middle of May, spaced a metre apart, since the plants sprawl widely. Overwintered frost-free at five to ten degrees the plant can be kept for several years and will crop markedly earlier in its second season. Cuttings from year-old shoots root well and flower earlier than seedlings, but stay weaker in growth.

The bell-shaped, nodding flowers are yellow with a purple-brown throat and appear from June into October — a span far longer than that of most vegetable crops, supplying nectar and pollen in late summer when little else is in flower. The flowers are hermaphrodite and self-fertile, yet honeybees and bumblebees work them and improve fruit set. Beyond that the Cape gooseberry is of limited value as a non-native annual: native moth and butterfly caterpillars do not feed on it, and while ripe fruit drops and is taken by small mammals, it means little to birds. The broad, bushy habit at least provides ground cover for beetles and spiders.

Special: Non-climacteric, does not ripen after picking - only fully ripe fruit tastes right; keeps 30-45days at room temperature inside the closed husk; self-fertile, a single plant suffices; annual in Central Europe, perennial if overwintered frost-free+much earlier crop; needs a long season, in cool areas grow in a pot against a wall;

South America: the Andes from Venezuela and Colombia through Ecuador and Peru to Bolivia and Chile. Its centre of diversity lies in the Colombian and Ecuadorian highlands, where it grows between 500 and 3,000 metres. The English name Cape gooseberry points not to its origin but to the detour its spread took: from the Cape of Good Hope it reached Australia and New Zealand in the 19th century and travelled on from there. Today it is grown throughout the tropics and subtropics, with Colombia the largest exporter. In Hawaii and on other Pacific islands it has naturalised and forms dense thickets; in Central Europe it does not escape, because seedlings do not survive the winter.

In its homeland the Cape gooseberry occupies forest edges, stream banks and open disturbed ground in the montane belt between 500 and 3,000 metres. The climate there is evenly mild rather than hot: it does best at annual means of 13 to 18 degrees and tolerates up to about 30, but wants 800 to over 4,000 millimetres of rain a year on free-draining ground. Frost is its limit — even light frost damages the plant, which is why it is grown as an annual in Central Europe while in the tropics it remains a perennial subshrub one to one and a half metres tall.