The tomatillo is a tomato-like vegetable in the Solanaceae (nightshade) family native to Meixco and Central America. The round, green fruits have a tart flavor and are used raw, cooked, or dried. All parts of the plant are poisonous except the ripe fruits. Plant them in full sun in moist, rich, well drained garden soil as transplants after the threat of frost in the late spring. They do not do well in heavy, wet, clay soils so plant them in raised beds or containers if necessary. These easy to grow indeterminate plants grow to 3 to 4 feet in height and width and they produce fruits until the first frost. The stems easily root when they come into contact with the ground so its sprawling habit needs support like a tomato cage or trellis in the landscape or vegetable garden. Tomatillo plants are not great at self-pollinating so planting more than one will result in better fruit set. Each plant will produce around 2 to 3 pounts of fruits and they will be ready for harvest about 60 to 75 days from transplanting. Tomatillos are relatively drought tolerant. Click here to see a calendar of planting schedules, time-to-harvest, and recommended spacing. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: Few insect or disease problems.
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Edible; Poisonous; Vegetable; Warm Season Vegetable
Life cycle
Annual
Light
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)
Soil texture
High Organic Matter; Loam (Silt); Sand
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Moist
Available space
3 feet-6 feet
Mature size
Height: 3 ft. 0 in. - 4 ft. 0 in. | Width: 3 ft. 0 in. - 4 ft. 0 in.
Growth rate
Rapid
Maintenance
Low; Medium
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous (3-15 ft)
Form & Appearance
Leaf color
Green
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf margin
Dentate
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
Simple alternate leaves with a toothed margin. Resemble eggplant leaves.
Flower color
Gold/Yellow
Flower form
Solitary
Flower shape
Bell; Star
Flower detail
Solitary, yellow star or bell shaped fused petaled flowers are green or dark in the center. Their petals can extend backward as they mature and they hang downward in the axils of leaves.
Bloom time
Summer
Fruit color
Gold/Yellow; Green; Purple/Lavender
Fruit type
Berry
Fruit value
Edible; Showy
Fruit size
1-3 inches long, 1-3 inches wide
Fruit detail
Round, 1 to 2 inch green or purple berries enclosed in a papery husk have a citrus flavor. They are ripe when they are still firm but fill the husk. Green varieties will turn a yellow green when ripe and purple varieties will turn from green to purple. The papery lantern shaped husks are tan when mature and quite showy.
Stem color
Green
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Unknown
Origin
Mexico and Central America
Wildlife value
Bees and other pollinators fertilize the flowers.
Attracts
Bees
Food & Medicine
Edible parts
Fruit; Seeds
Harvest time
Fall; Summer
Fruit type
Berry
Edibility
Mature fruits are edible and can be eaten whole with no need to peel core or seed. They can be used for salsa, soups, stews, and meat dishes.
All parts are toxic except the ripe fruits. Headache, stomach pain, lowered temperature, dilated pupils, vomiting, diarrhea, circulatory and respiratory depression, loss of sensation; may be fatal.
Toxic principle
Solanine and other solanidine alkaloids.
Contact dermatitis
No
Toxicity summary
High severity poison; parts: Flowers; Fruits; Leaves; Stems