I thought about asking this as a reply to Durgans thread, however, one of my questions does not concern the pruinosa variety. But I'd appreciate any input you might have Durgan, Arcticshawn, and JanR. Last year I grew 9 or 10 of the aunt molly variety. The plants did quite well, were vibrant and produced a ton of fruit. The only problem was that the fruit tended to fall off the plant before it was ripe. If 50 fruits were on the ground, maybe 20 would be ripe...less than half. Also had a bit of a problem with empty husks. I would find husks that had turned papery as if ripening, but no fruit inside. The fruits that did ripen were delicious, just not very many of them. It's crossed my mind that it may have been just too hot and dry last year. Any ideas what the problem might have been? Here's my other question... When I was a kid, I'd go visit my grandparents in Iowa and my grandma would pick what she called ground cherries and mix them with apples to make a pie. These ground cherries grew wild, not in the garden. The fruit had papery husks and looked like the pruinosas, but the plant itself was different. The plants were more vine-like and trailed across the ground. They resembled coils of wire that had been slightly stretched out. I'd say the vines were maybe an 1/8 inch in diameter with small clusters of leaves. I remember them growing in and trailing across the gravel driveway. I've looked up all the physalis varieties and haven't found any thing that looks at all like what was there in Iowa. I'm thinking that the name "ground cherry" might have been just a regional lay term for some other kind of plant. Based on my description, any Idea what it might have been? Sorry for rambling on, appreciate any thoughts anyone might have!
On your first question, it was most likely a lack of humidity that did in your fruits. Certainly, when I was living in the Ecuadorean desert and growing Physalis peruviana (Uvilla) I only had about 40% fruit retention, and I watered 3 times daily to maintain the little boogers. I currently live in a mixed cloud-forest environment (humidity 80% or higher) and I have no problem whatsoever with fruit drop. The only thing that's substantially changed is the humidity levels. Uvillas are commercially grown in the cloud-forest areas of the country for this specific reason. Undeveloped fruits in the bracts is due to lack of pollination; I have only ever had that problem in North America.
Thanks lorax, That makes sense as last summer was one of the hottest and driest in a while. Perhaps this year will be back to normal.
If you're concerned about humidity, you can try misting the plants in the evening. I only cottoned on to that in my last month in the desert, and it seemed to slow down immature fruit drop.
