A few years ago, many people had never even heard of tamarillo. However, today this fruit is quite popular among gardeners. It can be grown in a greenhouse or in open ground. From one tomato tree you can collect 10-15 kg of crop. Before planting this plant, you need to familiarize yourself with how tamarillo is grown and eaten.
Description
The fruit is native to South and Central America, but currently its largest producer is New Zealand.It is from there that a large number of tomato fruits are exported.
The plant is quite tall and can grow up to 3-4 meters. Its fruits look like ordinary tomatoes. They have a smooth surface with an oval shape, like a chicken egg, and a sweetish taste. The width of the fruit is about 5 cm, and the length is 10-15 cm.
There are several main varieties of tamarillas:
- Red. This variety is one of the most popular. The fruits of the plant have reddish seeds, orange flesh and dark red skin. The fruit can be used not only for preparing various dishes, but also for decoration.
- Golden. The fruits are quite juicy and fleshy. They are much larger than the fruits of other varieties.
- Yellow. The fruit size of yellow tamarillos is not very large. Their main advantage is the taste, since these fruits are much sweeter than the red and golden varieties.
All varieties of this plant are not afraid of insects and are resistant to many diseases.
Beneficial features
The fruit contains a large number of useful elements, microelements and vitamins. You can use tamarillo to replace many other fruits. The fruits of the plant contain a lot of iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, vitamins A and C. They also lack sodium and cholesterol.
Tamarillo is often used to reduce dizziness and headaches during neurological origin.
Features of cultivation
To understand how to plant a tomato tree correctly, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of this process.
Planting seedlings
Before planting, you need to get seeds.Tamarillo is a hybrid and it is impossible to grow seeds yourself, so you have to buy them. It is recommended to plant them as seedlings in mid-February.
First, the planting material is treated with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate. To do this, it is placed in liquid for several hours, after which you can begin planting. The seeds should be placed in the pot at a distance of 2-4 cm from each other. Then they are covered with plastic film. Growing seedlings should be carried out in a warm room with a temperature of at least 25-30 degrees. The first leaves on the seedlings will appear within a few weeks.
Planting in open ground
Planting seedlings should only be done when their height is more than one meter. Most often, seedlings grow to this size by the beginning of July or the end of May. The area for the tomato tree should be well lit and protected from strong drafts.
Before planting seedlings, it is necessary to fertilize the soil. You should add some mineral fertilizers and humus to it. Also, near future holes you need to install special pegs for gartering bushes. If several tomato trees are planted, the distance between them should be about 80-90 cm.
Care
To get large and tasty fruits, you need to properly care for the plant.
Watering and fertilizing
It is necessary to regularly water the tomato tree. In cool weather, it is enough to water the fruit once a week. On hot summer days, the plant should be watered more often - 2-3 times a week.
Liquid can be used to fertilize the soil. fertilizer for tomatoes. If necessary, long-acting drugs can be added to it.
Trimming
Pruning a tomato tree needs to be done constantly.One year after the first fruiting, the tomarillo needs to be pruned so that its height does not exceed one meter. This will help the plant branches develop better.
In order for new shoots to appear more often, you need to annually get rid of branches that have already bear fruit.
You can prune a tree in both spring and autumn. If you do this in early spring, the fruits will ripen much earlier.
Eating
Tamarillo is used quite often in cooking, but some people don't know how to eat it. The fruit is eaten not only fresh. You can eat tamarillo with meat baked in the oven or with onions fried in a frying pan. Slices of the fruit are used to make sandwiches and toppings for pizza, pies, stews and lasagna.
Tamarillo is often added to soups, sauces, appetizers, salads and purees. It can also be used to create desserts: yoghurt, jam, juice, marmalade, mousse.
However, many people prefer to eat it raw. To do this, the fruit must be peeled, as it has an unpleasant taste. To quickly get rid of it, the fruit must be placed in hot water for 5 minutes. After this, the skin can be easily removed with a knife. If you don’t want to remove the peel, then it will be enough to cut the fresh fruit into two equal parts and scoop out its pulp with a spoon.
Conclusion
The Tamarillo tomato tree has juicy and fleshy fruits. Growing it is quite easy. A person who becomes familiar with the peculiarities of planting and caring for it in advance will grow tamarillo without any problems.
