Take care
Unripe fruit and foliage are mildly toxic — eat only ripe fruit.
Ground Cherry
Physalis pruinosa
Start ground cherry indoors 4 weeks before your last spring frost, then plant out 2 weeks after your last spring frost. Space plants 24 in (61 cm) apart.
Photo: User:Carstor, CC BY-SA 3.0 · source
When to plant
Timed from your frost dates, so it holds wherever you garden. Give yours and every step below becomes a date.
Optimal Indoor Start
From seedRecommended- Start indoors4 weeks before your last spring frost
- Begin hardening off1 week after your last spring frost
- Plant out2 weeks after your last spring frost
- First harvestabout 70 days after planting out
Optimal Transplant
From seed- Plant out2 weeks after your last spring frost
- First harvestabout 70 days after planting out
Growing ground cherry
- Spacing in the row
- 24 in (61 cm)
- Between rows
- 36 in (91 cm)
- Planting depth
- 1/4 inch
- Sun
- Full Sun
- Soil
- Well-drained, fertile loam with balanced pH.
- Germination
- 7-14 days at 70-85°F
- Harvest season
- Mid-Summer to Fall
- Mature height
- 18-24 inches
- Life cycle
- Annual
Sow indoors 6 weeks prior to the Last Spring Frost or direct sow after all frost danger has passed.
Watering. Maintain consistent soil moisture from flowering through fruiting; tolerant of brief dry periods once established. Avoid waterlogging to prevent root rot.
Neighbours
The companion chart →Grows well beside
Carrot
Nasturtium
Pepper
Tomato
BasilFeeding
- Seedlings
- Apply diluted balanced liquid fertilizer (e.g., 1-1-1 NPK) after true leaves have emerged.
- Growing
- Administer balanced granular or liquid fertilizer as plants initiate flowering.
- Flowering and fruiting
- Provide higher phosphorus and potassium fertilizer (e.g., 5-10-10 NPK) once fruit set is observed.
- How often
- Every 2-4 weeks during periods of active growth and fruiting.
- Note
- Minimize nitrogen application to prevent excessive vegetative growth at the expense of fruit production.
Your ground cherry, planned to the day.
Canopy turns these timings into dates from your own frost data, places every plant at its spacing on your garden map, and tracks it all the way to harvest.