Seed preparation
Packet seed is ready to sow. If you save seed from your own berries, wear gloves, squeeze out the seeds (each berry holds 50-100), rinse off the pulp and dry them on paper. Keep berries and seed out of reach of children and pets.
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Ornamental plant growing guide
Jerusalem cherry is a compact, frost-tender shrub grown for its glossy red, orange or yellow winter berries. It is easy from seed in warmth, but every part of the plant, berries included, is poisonous, so keep it away from children and pets.
Packet seed is ready to sow. If you save seed from your own berries, wear gloves, squeeze out the seeds (each berry holds 50-100), rinse off the pulp and dry them on paper. Keep berries and seed out of reach of children and pets.
Not needed. The seed coat is thin and takes up water easily.
Not needed. This is a frost-tender plant from South America and needs warmth, not cold, to germinate.
Not needed. Keeping the sowing mix evenly moist is enough.
Seeds need moderately warm temperatures and steady moisture. Frost kills seedlings. In temperate climates sow indoors in late winter or spring (March-April in the northern hemisphere); in the warm Indian plains sow in the cooler, drier months so seedlings are not scorched or waterlogged.
Scatter the seed thinly and cover with only a few millimetres of fine compost or vermiculite. The old advice of 1-2 cm is deeper than these small seeds need.
A fine, free-draining seed compost. For growing on, use a loam-based, peat-free potting compost with neutral pH (about 6.0-8.0).
Keep the surface evenly moist but never soggy. Water from below or with a fine spray so the seed is not washed out.
Put trays in bright light as soon as seedlings appear to keep them compact.
Shoots usually appear in about 7-10 days in warmth; cooler conditions slow them down.
Prick seedlings out into individual small pots at the 2-3 true-leaf stage. Pot on as roots fill the pot. In frost-prone areas plants can stand outdoors from late spring (May-June) once frost is over, and come back inside before the first frost.
Pinch the growing tips once or twice while plants are young to get a bushy, well-shaped plant; stop pinching before flowering so the flowers are not removed.
Small white, star-shaped flowers appear in summer, followed by berries in autumn that last through winter. Indoors, transfer pollen between open flowers with a small soft brush; without pollination no berries form.
The berries look like small tomatoes or cherries and attract children and pets. Place plants out of reach, wear gloves when handling them (the sap can irritate skin) and seek medical advice at once if any part is eaten.
Birds eat the berries and spread the seed, and the plant has become a weed in some countries. In frost-free gardens grow it in pots and remove old berries rather than planting it near wild land.
Feed with a balanced liquid fertiliser during active growth, then switch to a higher-potassium feed once flowering starts to support berry set.
Most growers treat it as a one-season pot plant. To keep a plant, cut it back in late winter after the berries fade, repot and grow it on as before.
Sow in warmth in spring for a compact pot plant covered in bright berries by winter.
No. All parts of the plant, including the berries, are poisonous to people and to cats, dogs and horses. Grow it purely as an ornamental and keep it out of reach of children and pets.
Indoors there are no insects to pollinate the flowers. Move the plant outdoors in summer or transfer pollen between flowers with a small brush.
In frost-free areas it can grow outdoors as a small shrub in sun or light shade with well-drained soil. Pot culture is safer, because birds spread the seed and the plant can become weedy.
