Tzimbalo seeds

Tzimbalo or nightshade caripense / Solanum caripense

Tzimbalo or melonberry is an exotic plant. The fruits are a striped berry up to 3 cm in diameter, resembling small watermelons. The taste of berries is sweetish, exotic - reminiscent of pepino.

Tzimbalo fruits are small nightshades about the size of a table tennis ball, off-white with green stripes. They taste sweet with strawberry flavor. You can use them in the same way as cherry tomatoes, only a much more interesting taste is obtained. Culture, like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants in our area is annual. Temperatures below zero can lead to the death of the bush. You can cultivate like tomatoes.

The plant is very productive. Ripe fruits fall off. They can be eaten immediately, you can make preparations, or you can put them in storage. Fruits can be stored for quite a long time and their taste only improves. Unripe fruits harvested before frost ripen during storage. In an apartment it can be grown as a perennial plant, while Tzimbalo blooms profusely, but the fruits are tied only with artificial pollination.

Sowing dates for seedlings are most acceptable in the 1st-2nd decade of March. Pre-sowing seed treatment consists in pre-soaking them in a growth regulator solution. Sow immediately in separate cups measuring 4 x 4 cm, so as not to pick and not damage the tap root. In the future, this allows you to grow plants with a powerful root system (like a tzimbalo) with little to no watering.

Shoots appear already on the 6-7th day. And after 3-4 weeks, young seedlings can be transplanted into cups 10 x 10 cm in size, where they will successfully grow until planting in a permanent place. Carry out all care for seedlings in the same way as for tomatoes.