5 Tomatillo Growing Mistakes to Avoid

Tomatillo plants will produce one of two things: 1) More tomatillos than you can reasonably eat or 2) Nothing at all. Let's make sure it's the former.

In this video, you’ll learn 5 easy-to-make tomatillo growing mistakes to avoid for a giant tomatillo harvest and endless bowls of salsa verde.

We’ll be going through everything from tomatillo watering mistakes to pollination to tomatillo variety growth considerations and more. Join us and let’s grow some tomatillos!

These products* are my favorite for our home garden:

Support Nextdoor Homestead by checking out our Amazon Storefront*:

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Chapters:
00:00 Why Grow Tomatillos?
01:07 Tomatillo Mistake 1. Overwatering & Leaf Edema
02:52 Tomatillo Mistake 2. Staking Transplants Too Late
04:16Tomatillo Mistake 3. Planting Only One Tomatillo
05:23 Tomatillo Mistake 4. Leaving Fruit on the Vine Too Long
06:09 Tomatillo Mistake 5. Assuming All Varieties Grow the Same

Equipment you might want to follow this video
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Helpful Links and Resources
------------------------------------------------

#tomatillos #gardening #homesteading

[SerialSpinner-ss]

I discovered a wonderful use for tomatillo fruit this year. I used them half and half with raspberries to make pie. The blend of flavors is distinctive and really tasty. You have to add a little extra thickener because they have a lot of liquid but they make the best pie ever. I took 2 raspberry/tomatillo pies to our local pie social and they were a huge hit! For a 9 inch deep dish pie I used 1 cup sugar, 2-1/2 T tapioca flour, 2-1/2 T corn starch, 1 t Ceylon cinnamon, 1/4 t nutmeg with about 7 cups mixed tomatillos and raspberries. I cooked the filling in a sauce pan to make sure there was enough thickener, poured it into the unbaked crust, dotted with butter and then topped with a lattice of crust. Baked at 350 F until it was bubbling all through and crust was done. (about 35 min)🙂

[JimJWalker]

After two years of failure this year my Tomatillo plants are doing amazing! I have five plants that will produce!

[bobcaldwell]

Best tomatillo info I've found on YouTube by far. Accurate, quick, concise, and no BS. New subscriber here. Keep it up man

[SkipperXoOo]

I appreciate you getting right into it and not forcing me to watch a long, drawn out & annoying intro.
I have a super short attention span and usually get irritated & click off mid intro.

Anyhoo, this is my first time growing these. Thanks for the info!

[felicitywoodruffe]

I kept the little paper like casings and when dry I painted them with watercolour brush pens they are truly beautiful and hold the colour .I threaded them onto a long string picked a large twig from My garden then spray painted it chalk white .I popped some corn and thread that onto a long string.I bought some hollow chocolate eggs and glued thread to the top of each egg wrapper then decorated the twig added micro fairy lights and sprayed some vermicelli nests and added fluffy yellow baby chick's. Placed the mess and chicks on the twig and set it on my dining table it was gorgeous.mycgildren helped with the threading and placing things on the 'tree' twig .the tomatillo casings open out like a beautiful star shape .

[SerialSpinner-ss]

I grew tomatillos this year for the first time and overall they did well. We did have one mystery that I haven't heard anyone else talk about. I have 4 plants in a row. The first one in the row put on lots of fruit right away. The next one put on a little less fruit while the third one had less. The last one in the row grew a lot of flowers, got really tall and sturdy but didn't have any fruit. I noticed an excess of ant activity at that end of the row and they were very busy in the blossoms of the fruitless tomatillo. They were also thick in the blossoms of my squash at that end of the row. It seemed like the ants were preventing pollination so I mixed up some sugar, borax and water to kill ants. After the ant population was reduced, the tomatillo plant immediately started to put on fruit. Has anyone else had this problem with ants?

It took all summer to figure it out but the ants also have been eating all the blossoms from my yard long beans resulting in a harvest of zero. So disappointing. I may try the beans again next year but will be sure to spray them regularly with Safer soap to kill ants. Just putting the borax/sugar mixture out wasn't enough to save the beans. We're in Montana and every other gardener I've asked about yard long beans said that they tried them once but they "did nothing". I wonder if the ants were busy in their gardens, too.

[PinColada]

This is my first year growing tomatillo. I have 6 plants I started from seed and I plan to grow them in 5 gallon grow bags. I’m grouping them all together with some potted hibiscus and other flowers nearby to attract pollinators. Fingers crossed! Great videos btw!

[cokesonyou]

Growing tomatillos this year and decided to check the interwebs for tips! Stumbled upon this vid and im glad ! I didnt know that one needs more than one plant but thankfully out of 4 i planted i have 2 ! I guess ill need to place em close though so the pollinators pollinate em!

[paulajleal]

I wish I could show you how well my tomatillos did in spite of me knowing nothing! The stems were thicker than a 50cent piece and at least 6’ tall… I realized earlier on I blew it by nort staking them early… I used 2x2’s and 2x4’s to prop them up… I grew 6 of them in a 12 ‘ x 4 ‘ garden box… it was insane and I was so upset for not learning about them… they did yield quite a bit but not near the size you held up…. Now I’m making pickles and salsa… I’ll do better nest year

[WakefieldTolbert]

I grow these year in and out. Fantastic and easy way also to get Vitamin C as well. They're apparently tougher than many garden plants.

[samanthaalvarado]

This is the best video I have found on Tamotillo thus far, thanks for getting to the point and being so educational!

[IAMGiftbearer]

I'm growing several purple tomatillo plants currently. I had to replant some seeds because they did not all germinate and one's cotyledon wore away, so it could not grow true leaves after some vermiculite got stuck to it. However the first 2 that did well are now growing like gangbusters noticeably each day! I have the later ones coming up now too but it seems they don't really take off until about 2 weeks. I am trying to get 5 good ones to start before transplanting them outdoors. I also have Pineapple Tomatillos but have not tried planting those yet. I plan on doing all 3 colors eventually. I love Tomatillo salsa! Looking forward to not having to buy my ingredients at the store!

[amburkajama]

I’m having major tomatillo issues this year and nearly decided to just buy them next year, but you have convinced me to give it another try. My tomatillo seedlings definitely were taller and too close to the lights and most had edema.

I just recently found your channel by researching BER, after seeing so many videos pushing old or bad info. I even printed out the scientific articles your referenced and have started reading them! I hope you continue this scientific focus on your channel. There are so many otherwise good channels that could be better if they didn’t assume they knew everything after gardening for two years and reading a few books. I’m so glad I found your channel.

Can you let us know what USDA zone and/or latitude you are in? When I know that if I it helps me adjust advice to my Zone 6, 39.27 degrees latitude growing area.

[DALUmode]

Hi! I noticed the little holes on the leaves. I had 2 tomatillo plants and I noticed they started getting more and more holes on the leaves. One of the plants just died 😢 and the other is not producing any more fruit. Perhaps the season is over for it. Are the holes a disease? Can I overwinter them? Thanks! Love your channel! 😊

[tishaweaver]

Tried growing tomatillos last year with the peppers, sunny side of the house, watered heavily, got huge bush, very little fruit and EVERY fruit had a insect bore into it. Never did ID which insect. So no harvest. Thanks for setting me straight. Think I’ll try planting on north side of house where it’s generally cooler.

[alligator_pie]

Very informative, first time tomatillo grower here. Never even considered that they do not self pollinate well. Do you think different varieties can pollinate each others? I have limited space in my garden so I settled on 2 toma verde and 1 purple tomatillo (which is growing like a beast, great tip about not letting it burn with the rest of the other much shorter Tomatoes). I’ll start a second purple just in case .

[pamelawilson]

Brown porkchops or chunks of pork roast in a pan then pour all the extra salsa Verde in the pot with it and add a couple cups of water let the meat cook until tender❤ serve over rice

[Jay-bfyp]

Thanks for the video. Second year growing and I'm planning on planting these so I can can green enchaladas sauce and salsa. Hopefully this helps!

[judyl.]

I make a Colorado style Green Chili with tomatillos. I am learning to grow them, and there's not much out there to help. I sure appreciate your videos and thank you for addressing tomatillos, which most people don't even know about. People think that Florida is great for growing just about anything, but the intense heat and humidity actually make it really hard to get these little guys happy.

My biggest problem is spider mites. 😢 I am currently using an isopropyl +diatomaceous earth spray. But, it's just a constant battle. 🙁

[gryphonrampant]

OMG YES. Tomatillos are the only thing I use tomato cages for!