The first year is already fruitful
The melon pear is a shade plant, like the potato or tomato that has been known and grown for ages. Once sown or planted, it grows just as quickly as these. If you give it the warmest and sunniest place in the garden, a lush harvest will be waiting for you in the first year.
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The melon pear, also called pepino, is usually grown in a bucket due to its sensitivity to cold, with which it spends the summer outside. If the bucket is also sunny and protected and the Pepino receives sufficient care, ripe fruits can also be expected with this type of cultivation.
Annual harvest when overwintered
The Pepino is not hardy, so it can only be grown as an annual outdoors. However, if you have a bright and around 5 to 10 ° C cool room for the winter, the plant will grow for several years and will give you new fruit every year.
Late harvest time
After flowering, it takes an average of 90 days for the fruits to be ripe and ready for harvest. Then it will be late summer. A possible cultivation in the greenhouse may contribute to a slightly earlier start of the harvest.
Fruit blessings also in winter quarters
Depending on the weather, the melon pear may have to move into its winter quarters early. There might still be some unripe fruit hanging on it. She can continue to wear these, because they can also ripen in the house.
Temperature kills the harvest
The melon pear is self-pollinating, but warm days and nights are also required for the fruit set. Min. This plant needs 18 ° C to bear fruit. At pollination time, it cannot always get this value in this country.
So it can bear greater fruit
The Pepino can also bear a lot of fruit in this country. You can get larger specimens not only in a good location, but also with suitable cutting measures:
- maxed out all flowerless side shoots
- Shorten long flower stems
Depending on the variety, the fruits then reach a length of up to 20 cm and a weight of up to 300 grams.
Tips
Only harvest ripe fruits that exude a sweetish scent and the flesh of which gives way when you press your finger, because they have the best aroma. Unripe fruits can ripen at room temperature.
