I planted mine deeply, and it seemed to work.

I did a bunch of research about the "tomatillos need a pollinator" thing, and found some reputable-sounding people who claimed this wasn't true. I bravely planted only one. Last I saw, it appeared to be setting fruit...but I can go confirm that tomorrow in daylight, and get back to you on that.

Thanks, that'd be awesome, leira. I'm hoping the deep planting/stem rooting thing works out because one of the plants had a weird bent stem (been given 2 tomatoes and 2 tomatillos from the same woman, and each time, one of the plants had a stem that was bent and growing at a 90 degree angle, while the other was straight, lol - don't know what the deal is with that). I ended up planting it like one would lay over a tomato plant, so that the bent portion of the stem was all under dirt, while the straight portion went up in the air.

We shall see!

I root the cuttings in water(in shade, indirect light) first then plant it.

I started tomatillos under lights this year and when I set them out to harden off they doubled in height to around 16 inches in a week. So I trimmed the bottom leaves and buried them halfway in the ground. They're doing great with big sprawling limbs and very thick stems.

I wish they would hurry up and set more fruit though. If every blossom would set fruit, my 15 plants would produce about 750 toms!

Because of delays in getting plants out this spring, my tomatillos were the last to go in and a bit leggy. I planted them deep, as I would tomatoes. They are now 5 ft. tall and loaded with blooms.

Oh wow, so they really do get large like tomatoes. I guess I'll have to pick up some more stakes at Home Depot today.

Yeesh. I feel like all I'm doing is constantly buying stakes and cages as things grow up, and I keep adding more things to the yard. Sure is fun to watching things get big though. :D

By the way , mine have such thick stalks they aren't even staked!! I am really proud of mine garden this year.. I'm just hoping that pest and dieases keep at bay.

Gardner, do you have any pictures? I'd love a little tomatillo inspiration, since mine are kind of weepy and droopy since being planted.

They already had roots, but the woman who gave them to me stuck them in soupy mud, and then barely covered the roots with it. =/ I couldn't get them planted the first day, and by the time they were planted, they were already looking a bit sad. But if they turn out anything like the two sad tomatoes she gave me, they'll toughen up and grow like crazy once they really take root.

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Sorry this took so long, trying to learn how to post pics.

Sorry, should have stated these plants are now over 5 ft. tall. I can't wait til salsa time!

I'm trying to grow tomatillos again this year after a disappointing first attempt last year. I only planted one seedling someone gave me, and without knowing much about it, it looked like it was doing great--it grew tall, blossomed, but fruit never set. It was only then that I found out that the typical green tomatillo plants don't self-pollinate. From what I've read, purple tomatillo plants can self-pollinate but you definitely need two plants for green tomatillos. I'm jealous of everyone's pictures! I had a failure of growing my seedlings so started my plants late this year. The tallest one is only about a foot tall, and I can't wait for them all to grow. Oh, and just from my experience last year--the plants are pretty hardy and their stems are a lot thicker and stronger than tomato plants. Mine last year needed minimal if any staking or supports.

Ahh, those plants look gorgeous!

I came to discover that one of the two plants I was given wasn't actually a tomatillo, so now I only have one. And I'm pretty sure it's a green tomatillo, so this whole non-self-pollinating thing sounds like bad news. :( I don't know how I didn't figure out that the one plant wasn't a tomatillo - it really looks NOTHING like one, lol. In fact, it looks a lot more like some kind of Asian green than a tomatillo, but I've left it with the stem buried right next to the tomatillo out of sheer laziness. It's pretty much a goner, so this is a good reminder that I need to yank it out tomorrow.