Litchi Tomato
This was a fun plant to grow this past year. I purchased seeds from Baker Creek, who highly recommended them.
It’s called a tomato, but is a totally different species and has little to do with normal tomatoes aside from the color of the ripened fruit. It should grow in almost any climate, and doesn’t have any special needs.
I suspect in a hotter climate the fruit is a little sweeter, but it was perfectly edible grown in my temperate garden. The fruits were a little on the seedy side, which makes for easier seed saving, but detracted from the taste.
The plants were not very productive, and honestly I would consider them more of a novelty than anything else.
The really pronounced feature of this plant were the thorns, covering nearly the entire plant. The fruits were enclosed in a sort of pod covered with thorns, which dried up and peeled away as the fruit ripened, leaving a luscious tasty fruit ready to be (carefully) picked. This plant really teaches you patience as a gardener, as attempting to harvest a less than completely ripe fruit can be a painful experience!
If anyone is interested, I have some seeds of this available.
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6 Responses to “Litchi Tomato”
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I would like to try these tomatoes,
I grew these for a few seasons in a polytunnel in southwest England, and really liked them. I had started to select for less spininess — there is quite a lot of variation — and I believe I was making progress, but unfortunately I lost the seeds.
They’ll tolerate a lot more cold than your average tomato too – not bad for a supposedly tropical plant. I think they were doing some research along those lines at Cornell. Definitely worth further selection as Jeremy says. Also has potential as a trap crop for potato cyst nematodes: http://library.wur.nl/wda/dissertations/dis3874.pdf
Happy New Year BTW.
I’m looking forward to trying these this year (thanks for the seeds!) and I just found this interesting article on the Mother Earth News site: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/Litchi-Fruit-Morelle-De-Balbis.aspx
I’d like to get some of these seeds from you if the offer still stands. Thanks!
Hi all. If you want seeds, you need to leave a valid email address with your comment and I’ll get in touch. Alternatively, follow the contact link on the front page of the blog, and send me an email at that address.