I just say pubescens and pruinosa because I have several listed as such, but personally I consider them and grisea to be same species as there really aren’t that many differences. I haven’t tried to study differences enough that I could identify which is which. I usually pick up even small differences (like noticed one natural tomato hybrid that had just slight trait in leaves), but these I haven’t seen any. Maybe they are actually all same species. All that I have seem somewhat hairy. Grisea I haven’t grown, but seen pictures from others and I think it’s somewhat hairy as well. Maybe could see difference if I looked for it. There aren’t really that many varieties/accessions of any of those species so I get what I can and if they are different varieties/accessions of same species, that’s fine. That’s where interspecies crosses with other species that are definetely different come in. My understanding is that many ground cherries (so not including tomatillos) should easily cross so I would guess your pair works. Although crossing might not be easy even within same species, but with enough tries you should get some.
I’ve got a question of practical nature. I thought to dry thèm slowly. But will that even work? Or do i need to unpack thèm?
I did a small test on drying slowly. It got really sticky, and the fruit pieces clumped together with the seeds. I chose a different route.
I have small tomatillos, still in the husk, that still look fresh 16 months after harvest.
Fairly thick skin on those like commercial tomatillos ?
I also tried drying, but with tomatoes, it was hard to work with the seeds. For ground cherries I recommend de-husking and blending, no need to ferment them. I did try blending with the husks on, also don’t recommend that 
Thanks Julia and everybody. I’ll keep that in mind. But i meant just for storage and eating over winter.
Seeds i’ve gotten out already.
Ohh of course. My brain is all about seeds today Yes, drying them is great.
Almost as delicious as dried goldenberries. Like natural skittles.
Has anyone tried the coastal ground cherry, Physalis Augustifolia?
I live just north of the MS coast. I have never seen this before. I am thinking about keeping my eye on it in my travels. I am a little concerned with trying a local wild variety due to there being a reported moth that is a pest for it. If I breed this local variety with non locals, I might introduce an attractiveness to pest that might not already be there. Also, the images online about this doesn’t make it look like a productive plant. Usually they have a lot less fruit development than what I have seen on varieties I have tried.
I am also thinking about buying these seeds on image:
This would be an import. I’ve had luck with this seller before.
Very interesting Question, It could also simply be the wild species you seen might’ve just not got enough sunlight to max out the fruitfulness. (Apparently some Wild Physalis are also Perennial via Roots surviving Frost). I’ve only encounter a Physalis in the wild once where I live but from what I know they love full sun and disturbed soils, very similar to Black Nightshade. Hopefully this increases your chances of finding them.
I discovered a local population of physallis while hiking a super arid mountainside. They had very few fruits. When I looked more closely at specific patches, the plants looked like clones of each other – like one plant had become established, and had then sent out rhizomes to become a patch.
The different patches had different phenotypes, but they didn’t grow close together, so couldn’t easily share pollen between them.
The patches might benefit if someone transplanted different phenotypes into the patches. I collected plants and seeds from many patches. Intending to establish a population at my farm.
Nice! Rhizomes would aid in both asexual reproduction (which can be nice to establish a big patch) and in drought tolerance. Sounds like an awesome breeding project, for sure!
I read through this thread previously, but with only casual interest until yesterday. I was out with a friend who took me through Trader Joes (a store I basically never shop), and there in the produce section was a gorgeous container of “golden berries” aka Cape Gooseberry, aka Physalis peruviana. I promptly grabbed it for food AND seed purposes, and came home to read through this thread and the linked papers much more closely.
I have a currently un-identified annual Physalis “weed” in my garden and herb beds. I mostly just let a few grow on the margins and pull most of them that are in the way. This last year I intentionally saved seed from several of the plants (some of which I’ll be contributing to the Serendipity Seed Swap here soon) with the plan to grow it a bit more intentionally after getting a solid identification. Odds are it’s P. angulata or P. longifolia. Personally, I’m hoping for angulata, after reading through the paper @markwkidd posted! I assume there’s a nice GTS ground cherry grex coming out on Feb. 1, if so, I’ll probably add my native weedy variety to it and set up a patch with a nice P. peruviana clump in the middle and play with some crossing at the specific receptive stigma times noted in the above paper and see if I can get some good fruit set. Worst case, I end up with a ton of annual ground cherries and no peruviana hybrid seed, which is still technically a win.
I don’t think there will be distinct ground cherry seed packets this year. I would like to talk with folks here to see if there is interest in organizing a physalis seed exchange for next year.
Well, then I might try to pick up a couple ground cherry varieties elsewhere to add to my patch. At minimum, I could probably add the two varieties EFN offers since I’m about to order the Hummingbird F2 tomato population to cross with my self-seeding cherry tomatoes.
I would be interested in a physalis exchange, even a more informal one.
I also found ground cherries at Trader’s Joes! I found them in December, and I was thrilled, because I haven’t yet tried them, and I wanted to see whether I liked them in order to decide whether to grow them! I wound up deciding that, yep, just as I had figured, they’re worth growing. My toddler LOVED them, and seemed to believe they all should be his, so I let him have most of them. 
I definitely need to grow several plants for him.
Yeah… I enjoyed my weedy local one enough, buying the perennial relative at the store seemed to be a no-brainer. And it was a great idea, they’re even more tropical-fruity-delicious. I’m looking forward to playing with options for preserving the whole mixed crop of ground cherries, assuming any make it in from the garden. 
That sounds delicious.
Those ground cherry varieties I got from an import from Hungary made it. That’s the second time I’ve ordered from that supplier with luck. I’ve got a 72 cell tray started today. Hopefully I will be able to share some new and different grind cherry types this year including those I already have.
I dehusked them and separated the colors. Green ones and orange yellow red.
I want to get more reds. They were less frequent and coming from smaller plants. Maybe they need a longer or hotter season to grow as big and healthy as the green ones.
Anyway. I’m starting them indoors now, those red ones, so they get a head start. See what happens.
