Collect, dry and sow seeds

Drying seeds

The seeds for the desired Physalis species (Warning: The fruits of the lantern flower are not edible!) You can get it in every well-stocked seed shop, in garden centers or on the Internet. But instead of spending a lot of money on it, you can also obtain the seeds yourself. You can do this with the fruits from your own garden (or the neighbour's garden) as well as the berries bought in the supermarket. It is only important that the Fruits completely ripe are. You can recognize the ripeness by the strong orange-red color.

Obtain seeds from physalis fruits and dry them

And this is how you get the desired physalis seeds from the fruit:

• Cut the ripe physalis once in half.
• Gently pulp the seeds from inside the fruit.
• Use a toothpick or similar for this. ä. help.
• Remove the pulp from the seeds, lukewarm water is best for this.
• Spread the seeds out on a kitchen towel and let them drain.
• Then take a new kitchen towel and spread the dried seeds on it.
• Let the seeds dry for several days.
• Pack the dried seeds in a small bag and store it in a dark and cool place.

You can either use the physalis seeds obtained in this way for the following year Move forward from February / March or use for direct sowing outdoors.

Alternative sowing

However, the collection of semen described above is actually not necessary. In principle, it is enough to have a few ripe (previously a little crushed) fruits in autumn at the desired planting location to fall to the ground or cover them with a little soil. The physalis sown in this way in autumn will germinate quite reliably. But be careful: this method is only suitable for the hardy varieties such as B. the lantern flower. The warmth-loving Andean berries, on the other hand, cannot tolerate frost, which is why their seeds the winter better survive dry. Another possibility is to simply put some fruit on top of the compost - this gives off a lot of heat through the fermentation process and therefore makes the seeds germinate well.

Tips & Tricks

Try the little-known pineapple cherry (Physalis pruinosa) in this country. This Physalis species, which comes from North America, is not quite as tall as the Andean berries and impresses with its small, pineapple-like tasting fruits.

IJA