lulo fruit in North coastal spain (SOLANUM QUITOENSE)

[Halekuma]

This particular plant (solanum quitoense) looks like enjoys our cool temperate weather all year around. It has been planted in the ground for about 3 years now and every spring/summer produces huge amounts of fruits that would last forever if not were for our strong winds during winter. Still to this day some plants are flowering and fruiting (some even without leaves due to our dry winds (we are suffering strong dry winds since beginning of NOVEMBER almost every day)... They tolerate and I would say love cool temps (even cold nights I would say), only thing they hate is frost which they have seen some winters and tolerate quite well though. This particular plants are planted in my wife's restaurant terrace (which means zero maintenance or watering even in summer considering how much my wife likes gardening)

Edited November 22, 2014 by Halekuma

[Halekuma]

[The Silent Seed]

Very nice! I have one - but mine is the spineless variety. Do you eat the fruits?

[Halekuma]

As I told before this plant looks ugly due to the strong dry winds, in summer it gives an amazing tropical look with his big green-purple leaves surrounded by other plants like bananas, strelitzia, etc.

Jude I dont think most of the spineless varieties are "real" solanum quitoense... I have seen the spineless variety (with smaller sized leaves compared to common lulo) in the warmer places of Antioquia Department in Colombia (San Jeronimo, Santa Fe de Antioquia...). People there still call them "lulo" but they just plant them because common solanum quitoense has a hard time fruiting there in hot climates... Those spineless varieties are way less cold hardy than regular solanum quitoense... If I remember well is some kind of hybrid between cocona (solanum sessiliflorum) and s.quitoense.

Still must be a "real" spineless lulo, the same way banana plants were selected from seedless musa...

I think I have a pic somewhere from a trip in colombia of one of those plants. We tasted the fruit. It was smaller than usual "lulo fruit". Taste was quite different too, almost tasteless I would say.

My wife loves lulo water juice, same with our tomato trees fruits and curuba (passiflora molissima) here in spain. I like them more in a milk shake though...

Other plants that fruit here in spain are physalis sp., strawberry guava, eugenia species... but they are not a favorite for none of us. Still some of the "common" fruits planted by the neighbours like apple, cherries, feijoa (pinneapple guava), grapes or loquat are more tasty for us...

[The Silent Seed]

Very interesting - although mine is the real thing. It doesn't have smaller leaves. (I've grown both the spiny, and spineless ones.) I also grow Eugenia - but am not sure of the species. The fruits look like extreme miniature miniature pumpkins, that are maroon in color.