Flea beetles adore my ground cherries and my tomatillos. Neither seem bothered by the holes. This is my first year, too. Dawn has said somewhere else that they don't produce for her until...August? A little later in August? I have two fruit. Many blooms. I think it may be too hot even for tomatillos.

Amy -that seems to be what I'm reading. That maybe they will produce in September or a little cooler? Also I've been reading the drop on the ground to ripen (sometimes they're called ground cherries, although I think that may be a different breed)? So much I'm still learning! Ground cherries I think are smaller? You say you plant those?

This is my second year, Katie. I didn't get any fruit last year, but only planted one plant (they need mates) and this year I have nothing so far, except some sad looking plants with a few blooms. One of the plants that I thought was a tomatillo, has made a couple of fruit, but there is no husk thing--just tiny fruit, so it must have been mislabeled. On the other hand, why is this particular plant just now making fruit if it's a tomato? All the other tomatoes have been making fruit for many weeks. Hmmm...

Maybe it's too hot for your plants, Katie. Do they get any shade?

I have 2 plants that are heavily laden right now. Although they produced earlier, it was minimal. They really take up the room and are tall as well. Now if my wife could figure the best use for the buggers

cochiseinokc - mine are covered but never get bigger than a marble, then drop. I'm going to have to look at the seed packet when I get home to see what they are. I have two plants so pollination isn't the problem. I will post a recipe link to my recipe blog - got this recipe called Coral Snake Salsa that we are hooked on -its from the former chef at Iguana Grill. Also I roast them on the grill with either poblano's or jalapenos and garlic and onion and blend to make salsa verde to pour over chicken or pork and bake - heavenly! Here's the salsa recipe! http://www.dishinanddishes.com/coral-snake-salsa/

haelinok - we do have 50/50 shade fabric that partially covers them but not all. For some reason I thought they loved heat as their planting date is later...guess not? Some things I read said they would produce buckets of crop after the heat dies down.

When they appear to have formed fruit but then fall off the plant, that usually is a sign of a lack of pollination or incomplete pollination and it generally is related to the heat and humidity. What appears to be a small tomatillo is either a poorly fertilized or unfertilized ovary that would have enlarged and formed a fruit if properly fertilized. Once the weather improves as we get closer to fall, they should produce well. Tomatillos have the very same pollination isues that tomatoes have, so daytime highs over roughly 90-92 and nighttime lows over roughly 72-75 impede fruitset. There's really nothing you can do about it until the weather improves. Sometimes if you have a couple of cool, rainy days that give the plants a break from the heat, you can get fruitset on those cool days.

Ground cherries do drop when they ripen. For me, they are even later to fruit than tomatillos, and I blame the weather.

cochise, Y'all must have gotten some sort of break in the weather, maybe during a rainy spell, that allowed fruit set to happen. That's terrific.

Tomatillos make a great jam:

Tomatillo or Ground Cherry Jam

(makes 2-2 and 1/2 pints)

3 lbs. husked ripe tomatillos OR ground cherries

4 cups sugar

1) If using tomatotillos, cut them into halves or quarters. If using ground cherries, this is not necesary.

2) Put the tomatillos or ground cherries into a nonreactive pan. Set the pan over low heat and cover the pan. Cook the fruit, stirring occasionally, until soft. Mash it briefly with a potato masher. Remove pan from heat.

3) Stir inthe sugar. Over medium heat, heat up the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. Raise heat to medium high and boil until the jam mounds up when a spoonful of it is dropped onto a chilled dish.

4) Ladle the jam into pint or half pint jars. Add lids and rings. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.

Y'all could can the tomatillos to use them in future meals, Here's a recipe from the NCHFP for canning tomatillos:

Preserving Tomatillos

They can be made into a green salsa:

Recipe: Tomatillo Green Salsa

They can be made into Tomatillo-Lime Marmalade:

(Makes about 2.5 pints)

4 large limes, with the lime zest removed in thin shreds with a zester. Set the lime zest aside to use. Slice the limes as thinly as possible and remove the seeds.

4 lbs. sliced ripe or green tomatillos

1/2 teaspoon canning salt

1/2 cup water

3 tablespoons peeled, minced ginger

4 cups sugar

1. Combine the 4 pounds of sliced tomatillos and salt in a nonreactive cooking pot. Remove the zest from the 4 large limes in thin shreds and add the zest to the pot, along with the water and minced ginger.

2.) Bring the above mixture to a boil in the cookpot. Boil, gently, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.

3) Add the thinly sliced limes to the cookpot. Add the sugar. Over medium heat, stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Boil the mixture, stirring gently, for about 50 minutes, until a drop of the marmalade mounds when dropped onto a chilled dish.

4) Ladle the marmalade into pint or half-pint jars. Add lids and rings. Process jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

There are many recipes online for various forms of tomatillo-beef, tomatillo-chicken and tomatillo-pork stew. I like the following recipe because it is quick and easy. You can prep it and put it in the crockpot and let it cook while you do other things.

Tomatillo-Beef Stew

1 lb. stew beef, cut into 2" cubes

1 large bell pepper, chopped into 1" chunks

1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped

10 tomatillos, husked and quartered

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Line a slow cooker with a slow-cooker bag to make clean-up easy.

Combine all the above ingredients, put them into the slow cooker and stir them together. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours. The beef will be fork-tender when done.

Hope these recipes help.

Dawn

This is my favorite salsa:

Tomatillo Avocado Salsa

1/4 tsp. black pepper

3/4 C. chopped yellow onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 medium fresh jalapenos, finely minced

1 C. fresh chopped cilantro

1/2 lb. tomatillos, husked & chopped

1 avocado, peeled, pitted & lightly mashed

Salt, to taste

Place all ingredients, except avocado, in a blender or food processor. Pulse to desired consistency. Stir in mashed avocado. Serve with corn chips. Easily doubled.

And another:

Slow Cooker Chicken and Hominy Chili

2 tsp vegetable oil
1 large garlic clove(s), minced
1 small onion(s), chopped
1 medium stalk celery, chopped
1 medium portobello mushroom(s), chopped
1 medium yellow summer squash, diced
1 cup chopped tomatillos, about 4 medium husked tomatillos
15 1/2 oz canned hominy, drained and rinsed
1 medium jalapeno pepper(s), cored, seeded and minced (do not touch seeds with bare hands)
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp uncooked corn grits, regular-variety
1 pound uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
1 1/2 cup fat-free chicken broth
Instructions

1. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion, celery and mushrooms; sauté until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Spoon mixture into a 3- to 4-quart slow cooker.

2. Place squash, tomatillo, hominy, jalapeno, salt, oregano, cumin and black pepper in slow cooker; add grits, stirring constantly, to avoid lumps. Add chicken and broth; cover and cook on low setting for 4 to 5 hours. Yields about 1 3/4 cups per serving.

I've saved this thread just for the recipes.

AmyinOwasso - ME TOO! Bless you all for sharing!

PS - Flea beetles? I've not seen those or know about them...Googling..Gotta LUV the bugs! PS...are these like the fleas on animals?

No, they're evil little black beetles that jump when you come near so you may not see them. I never saw them till after my cataract surgery. They look like someone took a shotgun and peppered your plants with buckshot. They are partial to eggplant and groundcherries, but the'll go to other things, too. I have an eggplant in a bucket up on my potting bench, that seems to be too high for them, but the egglant in the garden looks like netting there are so manny holes.

I only see flea beetles in early spring when the weather is still cool. They usually don't do a lot of damage, though the species that attacks radishes can leave the leaves very holey very quickly. Different species of flea beetles attack different plants, so how much trouble you have with them may depend on what you're growing. Most are black and sort of shiney, some are striped. Some particularly plague potatoes, eggplant and tomatoes, others prefer radishes or broccoli or cabbage, others prefer grapes.

AmyinOWasso - that's exactly what my tomatillos look like- BUCKSHOT! I wonder if they are what is getting my hyacinth beans as well. They are COVERED in holes!

Katie, here's an article on them. Flea beetles I'm seriously considering beneficial nematodes, I have more of these things every year. Apparently radishes and mustard are trap crops. Maybe I drew them in with my asian greens and radishes. Oh, well.

Some years ago I discovered a volunteer wild tomatillo in my garden. I thought that was neat, and I left it to produce fruit. The wild fruit were less than half the size of a marble. Now these wild tomatillos have become a major pain in the neck, volunteering all over the garden. Occasionally one will have a sweet pineapple flavor. But most are insipid and basically useless. For several years now there has been a worm which ruins all my tomatillos, This year I simply didn't grow tomatillos. I got tired of planting and getting no usable harvest.

That are wild ground ground cherries all over this country and the locals had no idea they had these great fruits in there pasture/yards. I personally have yet to harvest enough to be able to make jam but maybe this year. I have at least 50 plants but when I try to harvest they are either green or dried.