Solanum muricatum?

[Arizona Jeanie]

A friend who has done quite well growing strawberries indoors is looking for another small fruit to try. I ran across some information on Solanum muricatum, sounds like it might work for her but I don't know anything about it, and can't find much online. Does anyone have any information to share? How about the common name in English? Any seeds available? Suggestions on culture and care?
Thanks

[Ray]

Just Google "solanum muricatum seeds".

[Thyroyalgeek]

pepino dulce is a member of the nightshade family (generally known for their extreme toxicity... and tomatoes, eggplants…). i'm sure you've seen the pepinos sold in the grocery store as well. they're quite commonly grown, you should be able to find ways of getting plants/seeds easily enough. care should be: like a lot of sun, just avoid full on heat and roasting in the peak of summer, don't overwater, water when soil becomes dry, they rather don't like a lot of wetness, moisty is fine. they don't like cold, they don't seem to go dormant when frost hits, the plant kinda just dies. 4 foot is generally the max heighth ever, and they make good ground covers and trellis plants, like tomatoes. you could also do a blackberry/raspberry bush in a pot, just keep it a little trim. pineapples could work if you're looking for something interesting, pretty flowers too, but they take forever to grow, and/or fruit, so they're not really that ethical.

[estación seca]

This used to be sold as Tree Tomato in newspaper inserts. You might find fresh fruits in season in markets catering to Latinos. Do you have Food City where you live? They're all over Phoenix and owned by Basha's.

Just take out the seeds and plant. They grow like tomatoes. They're difficult in Arizona because they need a lot of sun but don't tolerate our heat. Maybe up in the mountains if nights cool down during the summer.

Like all nightshades indoors, they're very susceptible to spider mites and white fly.

[Thyroyalgeek]

they can tolerate a little heat, but fruiting will suffer.

[Arizona Jeanie]

I was a bit confused because I thought "pepino" meant cucumber, but this is obviously a completely different plant. I haven't seen the fruit in the stores here, but I probably wouldn't have known what I was looking at, and it's the wrong time of year right now. I'll keep an eye out for some, and check a latino grocery or two. In Spanish these seem to be called "pepino dulce", but just "pepino" in English? Thanks for the advice and comments, when I can find some seeds I'll share them with my friend and try to grow a few myself.

[Thyroyalgeek]

so you live in Arizona right? you can't just go to Wal-Mart or lowes and get some seeds? i'm sure you know what a cucumber looks like correct?

[Arizona Jeanie]

Well yes, I do know what a cucumber looks like and would have no problem getting cucumber seeds. However, that's not the plant I was asking about, that's why I used the scientific name as the common names are confusing.

[Thyroyalgeek]

I was confused on whether or not you where talking about cucumis sativus (cucumber) or pepino dulce. if you have a whole foods in you're area they should have some so you could get the seeds from the fruit(you might have to special order). or you could maybe order some live plants/seedlings online, i'm not sure if they ship well though. they'll probably do just fine.

[Arizona Jeanie]

I found pepino dulce at the local Sprouts Market last week. Imported from Ecuador, and $2.99 each, so I only bought one. Took it apart and salvaged just 10 tiny seeds, put them away awaiting warmer weather.
I then ate the fruit, found the flavor to be pleasant, mostly like a cucumber but a texture more like a melon. I then proceeded to have a medium level allergic reaction with burning and itching inside my mouth that lasted for several hours. Didn't need to go to the ER, but I'll be adding pepinos to my somewhat lengthy fruit allergy list. Goes with the latex allergy, a lot of plants make a similar protein
So thanks everyone for the advice, I'll still try growing them, just can't eat them fresh!