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Re: Support Your [Alien] Solanum

At 08:04 PM 10/10/1998 GMT, you wrote:
 There's a good combination of
>huge tropical leaves and striking purply spines in S. quitoense -
>which I should like to think was going to form fruit here, since I've
>been told (I don't know how reliably) that this is one of the
>non-poisonous edible ones and I think used as the basis of a soft
>drink in its S.Am. home. Anyone on the list able to confirm this? And
>what size/age is it likely to have to be before it fruits (supposing
>it's going to)?
>
>Tim Longville

Tim:

I believe S. quitoense is called Naranjilla, or little orange, and that it
is used as you have described in Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.  It is
also grown in Central America.  

It has yellow fruit with green flesh, structured like a tomato.  Picked when
they are starting to color, they have a shelf-life of two weeks and are a
good truck crop.

It is a heavy feeder, grown on slopes in rainy areas with good soils.  Good
drainage is imperative.  It is susceptible to root-knot nematodes.  There
are some other relatives that could be used similarly.

This info comes from Lost Crops of the Andes by the Ad Hoc Panel of the
Advisory Committee on Technology Innovation Board on Science and Technology
for International Development, National Research Council (National Academy
Press), Washington, DC 1989 ISBN 0-309-04264-X

Rich Dufresne
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