First time growing them, I have no idea how big they will get or should get before flowering. The ones I have seem small compared to tomato plants, yet they are making little flowers already.

Should I pinch off the flowers?

Unless it was recently transplanted I'd let it be. katie

My friend is growing them as well and they are just like yours and have fruit on them. Tiny little things. I 've never had one going to try one before I decide it's something I need to grow. She says they are sweet like fruit and good for jams.

Update, the plants are growing strong and making plenty more! I'm excited!

How did your ground cherries do in the end?

Once I got a disease from a nursery, that screwed up other items also the return simply has not been worth the effort for me.
I get volunteers every year which sometimes gives enough to use but as they are in the roses, are more of a pain in buttocks than a blessing.

I may try some again this year to see what happens.

Hi! They did really really well! Especially for such a late start. The seeds I started inside got way too spindly due to no light and they never were able to move outside. I ended up just putting some seeds in the ground and they took off. I got loads of the ground cherries! I'm hoping this year to have them started earlier and to get enough to make jams. I'm going to do both ground cherries and cape gooseberries again. We'll see after that. The cape gooseberries taste about the same and seem to have a more contained plant structure, though that might've just been because that plant was started even later and never got as mature. The ground cherries REALLY sprawl! I'm going to set up a better cage system for them this time too. The ground cherries finally stopped producing about.. maybe October? The cape gooseberries have a fuzzier surface and dealt with the cold better so they lasted a few weeks longer.

There are at least three, maybe four, varieties of ground cherries available as seeds.
Sometimes they have a fancy name but are really just another variety of ground cherry.
If you are really curious check the Latin name and you find out.
I much prefer the bush type as the sprawling ones can turn into a weed to a degree.

I found these online:

Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry
http://www.territorialseed.com...

Pineapple Ground Cherry
http://www.territorialseed.com...

Goldie Husk Cherry - Physalis pruinosa
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/veg...

"Ground Cherry" - (P. pruinosa)
http://www.rareseeds.com/groun...

RickCorey said:I found these online:

Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry
http://www.territorialseed.com...

Pineapple Ground Cherry
http://www.territorialseed.com...

Goldie Husk Cherry - Physalis pruinosa
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/veg...

"Ground Cherry" - (P. pruinosa)
http://www.rareseeds.com/groun...

Most of these are still just ground cherries. The cape gooseberry is a different berry. And yes, there are TONS from that family, including the tomatillo.

RpR said:There are at least three, maybe four, varieties of ground cherries available as seeds.
Sometimes they have a fancy name but are really just another variety of ground cherry.
If you are really curious check the Latin name and you find out.
I much prefer the bush type as the sprawling ones can turn into a weed to a degree.

I never bought seeds. I'm growing these from seeds I've been taking from berries, grown to plants, then harvested seeds again. And cape gooseberries aren't ground cherries. They are different.

Cape Gooseberry (Physalis peruviana 'Golden Berry')
This is a cape gooseberry flower. You can see the purple goes in a line all down the petal. The berry is bigger, the leaves fuzzier. The pods have a purple stripe while they are green.


Ground Cherry (Physalis pruinosa)
This is a ground cherry. The flower doesn't have the purple stripe going down the petal. The pods tend to stay all green too.

There is also a version that literally grows wild in Virginia and similar areas. Physalis virginiana. bland yellow fruits only suitable for preserves and such. Low sprawling bush, that grows and reproduces like a weed. Used to pick and preserve as we the clean off the garden at the first frost. Pale yellow fruits as the husks begin to dry.

robynanne said:

Most of these are still just ground cherries. The cape gooseberry is a different berry. And yes, there are TONS from that family, including the tomatillo.

OH YEAH!
Well I call you and raise you, ALL IN!

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Solanales
Family: Solanaceae
Subfamily: Solanoideae
Tribe: Physaleae
Subtribe: Physalinae
Genus: Physalis

Physalis (/ˈfaɪsəlɪs/, sometimes /faɪˈseɪlɪs/,[2] from physalis = bladder[citation needed]) is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which grow in warm temperate and subtropical regions of the world. Most of the species, of which there may be 75-90, are indigenous to the New World. Cultivated species and weedy annuals have been introduced worldwide. A notable feature is the formation of a large papery husk derived from the calyx, which partly or fully encloses the fruit.[3] The fruit is small and orange, similar in size, shape and structure to a small tomato.

At least 46 species are endemic to the country of Mexico.[4]

Many Physalis species are called groundcherries.[5] One name for Physalis peruviana is Inca berry; is Cape gooseberry, not to be confused with the true gooseberries, which are of the genus Ribes in the family Grossulariaceae. Other names used to refer to the fruit are poha berries, and simply golden berries.