I've never seen any varieties. Pepino sent me some rooted cuttings but I foolishly left them out overnight - they don't take too kindly to frost. I'll try again when the weather warms a little.

I thought I might satisfy my curiosity about Pepino.

I had to laugh Spatz. There are different varieties but I have only ever seen one. They are very easy to grow. They are similar to a tomato, but can easily be kept as a perennial. They like full sun and no frost. They like the water in summer to fill the fruit too. The fruit is like a small melon with a thin, smooth skin. The flesh is a golden yellow and is similar to honey-dew melon but sweeter if well-ripened.

Growth habit: bush-like, but can be pruned and trained up a stake. It's best to grow them in the ground as they have heaps of fine roots that don't do too well in a pot. The weight of the fruit will cause the branch to hang if unsupported. It wont break it though. You do need to ensure the fruit doesn't come in contact with the ground as it will attract grubs to eat it.

I think I have a couple spare if you like. Send me an email and I'll see what I can organise.

yeh pepino not my favourite taste something like a honey dew melon, no one in my family likes the fruit at all so all fruit (lots of it) went begging. yep apparently gotta grow them from cuttings, seedling may not fruit in the first year.

mine are still doing ok or i should say some of mine even though partially frosted they are still growing and producing, if these die i won't be growing them again also can be very susceptable to fruit fly.

anyhow that's how i see it.

len

Pepino has pretty well summed it up, as you would expect:), The only thing I would add is that they taste fantastic dried and to emphasise that the riper the fruit the better the taste. Once they get established they grow like a weed.

Oh yum yum. Salivating as I type.

Grows like weed? Even in SA? That's good to hear.

*quickly types mail to Pepino*

If you are ever in the mid north of SA you are welcome to all the runners you like.

Where exactly would that be? I may be going up there some time. It would be a good opportunity to have a peep at your orchard which sounds extremely interesting. :)

Whyalla,The desert as Nicefrog calls it, email me at wicky2@aapt.com.au for more details. and It's more of a jungle than an orchard...... or should that be oasis?

Hmmm, Wicky. That's a bit further than I planned to go, when I go up that way. You are safe for now.

One day, though, it'd be great to see your jungle. Oasis. Whatever you may call it. :)

There are two different Pepinos in my town, one has been here for ages and the other the Kendel? gold that Daleys sell, I've had fruit get pretty big (up to the 1kg) but mostly the slugs eat them, it's ok because I only use them fro a ground cover not really for eating, although they are good to eat on a hot day when you've been doing some summer grafting a need a break. In this case it's best to take a little mild chilli powder with you on your travels in the garden for when you stop up at the pepinos (I say up because if they are on a slope they wont get frosted), chop them up with your grafting knife sprinkly some chilli on them and recover a bit : )

Mine are coming on great guns no ( thanks Pepina for the rootlings).

I must admit I love the taste of these fellas when they get fully ripe and sweet! Sounds like I'm the odd one out though...

The one's I've had here in Oz don't compare at all to the ones I had in South America (their homeland). I can easily recall buying one at a street side stall up in the highland regions of the Atacama Desert in Peru and it was super sweet and tasty. Addicted me to try to replicate this flavour in my little backyard!

Chilli,........I like the sound of that. Dried, Well ripened, with chilli, this fruit is starting to have real potential.

ok spatzbear & others,

looks like i may have to update my taste test on the pepino's. a few days ago i picked 3 about mans fist sized fruits that looked ripe (i can never tell when they are optimum) so this morning my young grand son (4) ate the 3 of them i had a little taste and these taste sweet and where very juicy (all down the front of his shirt juicy).

so tomorrow morning i'm going to try some more as i picked more for him. these where very sweet and a bit paw pawish in flavour along with the honey dew aroma and taste. so may just maybe it was because they had some frosts on them? that made them more palatable?? so i may just get converted hey?

len

Nicefrog
You say there are 2 types in your town. What is the other variety (not Kendall gold) and how different is it? I've only ever seen the one type, although I know there are more.

Has anyone tried drying pepinos?

I dried some in a dehydrator last year and they were fantastic! Just like lollies.

Cheers,

Manuel.

Pepino the other one is a longer shape and has purple stripes but not as big a fruit as Kendel Gold. I have a friend from Peru and she says Kendel Gold is ate least if not better than the ones in Peru for her it's as good as a Mango! I think something in the Peruvian gene pool makes it taste better for her because Europeans seem to struggle with pepinos : )

Hi Guys, I have a really healthy looking plant growing that is trained on a trellis. It is a good size approximately 1m2 in size. I get plenty of flowers on it but to date I only have 1 fruit which is as big as my fist with the purple markings now starting to appear. My question why do I not have a lot more fruit forming is there something I'm not doing correctly to increase the yield?

Regards, Mal

I have the El Camino variety that I bought from Bunnings.I believe this is its first season.Lots of flowers, but despite the bumble bees doing their thing .the flowers are not germinating. Maybe they do need 2 seasons.Does anyone know for sure?

I bought a Pepino Gold from Bunnings in Melbourne out of curiosity, and it is going great guns. Six months later I'm harvesting a dozen golden Pepinos with purple stripes from the one plant, and it is still covered in flowers.

Perhaps the problem with taste is that they are not being picked when perfectly ripe? The unripe ones taste like a bland honeydew, but when they are golden they get almost a banana-passionfruit aroma to them and the flesh is very sweet.

I think it's also possibly due to the soil they are grown in, some of my reading suggested that you need to have trace rock minerals in the soil. I planted mine in a rockery (purely by coincidence, but it means the trace minerals were there), fed it up with compost and a slow-release fertiliser and then ignored it except for regular watering and slug control. The fruit has a great flavour in this environment, and I'm thrilled. I'm planning on planting more later in the year.

They do best if trussed, so that the fruit doesn't come in to contact with the ground. I did lose a couple to snails and rot that way.

Hi.All I have been growing Pepino Gold and Kendal Gold almost exactly the same for many years with very good results but I would like to try some of the other cultivars. I would be very happy if anyone can help with seed or cuttings I will gladly pay any costs involved.please Email keig9@optusnet.com.au