# Do any of you grow sunberry, huckleberry or ground cherries?



## whinnyninny (Aug 17, 2005)

I just got some sunberry and huckleberry and ground cherry seeds from Seed Savers Exchange (I ordered several other kinds of seeds and decided to try these out), but I don't know much about them! 

How big do the plants get? Approximate yield (if they receive enough water, fertilizer, sunlight, etc)? It says for the huckleberries & sunberries to space them 24" apart in rows 36" apart... I am going to do Square Food Gardening, so would I do one plant per 2'x2' space? One per square for the ground cherries?

Thanks in advance!


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## woodsy_gardener (May 27, 2007)

I've grown ground cherries and chichiquelites (the best 'garden huckleberry').
Both can can cover a 5 foot diameter circle. If you grow them in a sq. ft. garden I'd recommend using tomato cages to keep them upright. Maybe some pruning also.


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## whinnyninny (Aug 17, 2005)

What about putting them in large containers?


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## johno (Jun 5, 2008)

Whoa! 5' circle?! What are you feeding them? I planted garden huckleberry in 2 gallon pots (okay, that might explain that) and sunberry in the garden. The huckleberries grew to about 3' tall and not very wide, and the sunberries were very small, about 1' x 1'. The sunberries were pretty good to eat right off the plant. Huckleberries need sugar.

I don't see any problem using larger pots - 3 to 5 gallon pots should be plenty big.


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## cjean (May 1, 2007)

Wait...I read somewhere that garden huckleberries are toxic if they aren't cooked. Is that wrong?


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## LovPRQueen (Feb 11, 2008)

I was reading up on ground cherries and read that they can be grown as an annual or a perennial. What does that mean, I thought that they were one or the other.


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## p1gg1e (Aug 20, 2008)

Ground Cherries will reseed themselves. I'd say they take more like 2-3 feet radius. You can let them kinda pack in also. They produce quite a bit, id say at least 2-3 pints of jelly or syrup. Ours are from seed savers also :goodjob:


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## terri46355 (May 16, 2003)

One of my favorite memories of my childhood is eating my grandmother's canned peaches, pears, and ground cherries for dessert.

I'm growing ground cherries like my grandmother did. . . let them re-seed themselves like a weed and enjoy!


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

LovPRQueen said:


> I was reading up on ground cherries and read that they can be grown as an annual or a perennial. What does that mean, I thought that they were one or the other.


It means that the plants will continue to grow as long as something doesn't kill them. Ground cherries will develop a very woody stem in frost-free zones but will also be easily killed by the slightest frost.

Martin


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

I have friends who have grown 450 square feet of chichiquelite huckleberries the past 2 years. They do not allow it to reach more than 6" tall by harvesting leaves and tips every few days. Only those are eaten, not the berries. Fruit is only used to obtain seeds for the next year.

Martin


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## bergere (May 11, 2002)

Depending on sun or shade... Huckleberries can grow from 3' wide and tall, to 8' wide and tall.
Heres the type of Huckleberries we have.
http://www.onegreenworld.com//product_info.php?cPath=5_123&products_id=1710

These Huckleberries are not Toxic and can be eaten fresh.
Rather tasty little berries.


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## whinnyninny (Aug 17, 2005)

p1gg1e said:


> Ground Cherries will reseed themselves. I'd say they take more like 2-3 feet radius. You can let them kinda pack in also. They produce quite a bit, id say at least 2-3 pints of jelly or syrup. Ours are from seed savers also :goodjob:


Wow, from how many plants?


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## Ladyhen (Aug 28, 2004)

I just got "Aunt Molly" ground cherry seeds. I'm planning to kind of let them go wild. Hopefully they do well here.


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## p1gg1e (Aug 20, 2008)

whinnyninny said:


> Wow, from how many plants?


At least one plant. My mom had me help her she was SWIMMING in ground cherries LOL and only a maybe 10x10 patch. I don't grow that many LOL They are "weeds" though I found a plant on a walk on the edge of a corn field , my ODD and I were excited to find one wild


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## woodsy_gardener (May 27, 2007)

cjean said:


> Wait...I read somewhere that garden huckleberries are toxic if they aren't cooked. Is that wrong?


There are at least 3 Solanum species that are called huckleberries. Let's stop calling them huckleberries--they're not. One of those 3 must be cooked to be edible, if you call it that. It taste awful even after cooking. Get the best and forget the rest. Chichiquelite (S. nigrum) berries are delicious right off the plant.


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## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

Paquebot said:


> I have friends who have grown 450 square feet of chichiquelite huckleberries the past 2 years. They do not allow it to reach more than 6" tall by harvesting leaves and tips every few days. Only those are eaten, not the berries. Fruit is only used to obtain seeds for the next year.
> 
> Martin


Tell us about eating the tips and leaves. Are we talking about salads, or cooked greens.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

edcopp said:


> Tell us about eating the tips and leaves. Are we talking about salads, or cooked greens.


ALWAYS cooked like spinach, NEVER raw. My friend is from Cameroon and doesn't speak a word of English. Thus I can't tell you what else is eaten with it. She will spend hours carefully picking one leaf at a time into a large plastic bag. Then strut home with it nicely balanced atop her head!

Martin


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## harplade (Jul 14, 2005)

do they fruit all summer long or just at one particular time? I have some seed-just wondering what their habits are?
Thanks


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## ca2devri (Feb 29, 2008)

I love ground cherries! they taste amazing. They are a lot of work to harvest though, but my kids love them too.

They "volunteer" very readily, but the season is improved considerably (especially if you are far north) if you treat them like tomato plants and plant them 4 weeks before last frost. We had a lot of rain last summer and my plants were huge. Very similar in growth to a tomatillo plant, but maybe a bit smaller. I didn't trellis them, but I probably could have. The rambled over the ground and up about 3 feet. I planted maybe 10 plants, 3 feet apart and by August I had a ground cherry hedge. There was more fruit than I ever had time to pick. They seemed best when they fell off the plant and ripened a bit.

They even sold well enough at the market I went to, but again I could never find enough time to pick them all.

There is a strange little beetle that takes a liking to them early in the season, but they seem to be able to grow through that stage. The beetle is orange and silver coloured shaped like a cucumber beetle and the larva looks a bit like small potato beetle larva.

I should try getting the good tasting huckleberries mentioned above. I grew some variety a few years ago and they were pretty awful tasting. I read they are like blueberries, but I definitely disagree with that.

Chris


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## edcopp (Oct 9, 2004)

Paquebot said:


> ALWAYS cooked like spinach, NEVER raw. My friend is from Cameroon and doesn't speak a word of English. Thus I can't tell you what else is eaten with it. She will spend hours carefully picking one leaf at a time into a large plastic bag. Then strut home with it nicely balanced atop her head!
> 
> Martin


Thanks Martin, sounds like a bit of a new adventure.


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## woodsy_gardener (May 27, 2007)

harplade said:


> do they fruit all summer long or just at one particular time? I have some seed-just wondering what their habits are?
> Thanks


A few berries ripen early but the plant has to size up to get a lot. They flower and fruit ripe up to frost. They are somewhat frost resistant. I've had plants survive lows that totally wiped out my tomatoes and peppers.


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## n2gardening (Mar 1, 2009)

I have grown the Aunt Molly ground cherries from SSE transplants. Mine grew pretty low to the ground but about 18"-24" wide.

I would highly recommend a ground cover (black plastic or landscape fabric)underneath them. When nearly ripe they fall to the ground. They will be easier to spot and cleaner when you collect them. Also, they tend to fall before they are truly ripe. After you collect them off the ground you may want to wait several days till you use them...they keep well in their husks anyway. 

And lastly, mine suffered at one point from insects...wasps would pierce the husk...and seemed to do no harm...but once they fell, ants would enter the hole and inflict their damage. 

Good luck and enjoy!


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

ca2devri said:


> There is a strange little beetle that takes a liking to them early in the season, but they seem to be able to grow through that stage. The beetle is orange and silver coloured shaped like a cucumber beetle and the larva looks a bit like small potato beetle larva.


Almost missed this. Those beetles probably ARE potato beetles. Not the Colorado potato beetle but the Three-Lined potato beetle. Although they often are found on potato plants, they prefer tomatillos. Last year there were potatoes, ground cherries, and tomatillos all growing in close proximity in the main plot. Tomatillos were the only plants which had those beetles. I suspect that had the tomatillos not been available to them, ground cherries would have been their next choice.

Martin


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## terri46355 (May 16, 2003)

woodsy_gardener said:


> There are at least 3 Solanum species that are called huckleberries. Let's stop calling them huckleberries--they're not. One of those 3 must be cooked to be edible, if you call it that. It taste awful even after cooking. Get the best and forget the rest. Chichiquelite (S. nigrum) berries are delicious right off the plant.


I've never eaten or planted huckleberries, but like to try something new each year. 
Are Chichiquelite huckleberries worth making space for?
How many should I plant?
How do you prepare them in dishes?
What do you do with them to preserve them?
Do they reseed themselves?


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## woodsy_gardener (May 27, 2007)

terri46355 said:


> I've never eaten or planted huckleberries, but like to try something new each year.
> Are Chichiquelite huckleberries worth making space for?
> How many should I plant?
> How do you prepare them in dishes?
> ...


Plant 1 or 2 plants to see how you like them.
For me they are a garden munchie.
Kids love 'em.
They will reseed.
I haven't cooked with them but some people have. 
This is not a plant to get a lot of fruit or to sell at the Farmers Market.


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