key growing information

Growing Ground Cherries (Husk Cherries) From Seed

How to grow husk cherries (ground cherries) from seed: starting transplants, spacing, mulch and support, harvest by drop, and storage.

By Hensley’s Seed Co. September 3, 2026

Husk Cherry (Physalis pruinosa) - Key Growing Information

Husk cherry germinates and performs best when started under cover and planted out; sow indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost.

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Physalis pruinosa

CULTURE:

Grow much like tomatoes, though established plants handle drought, heat, cold and poor soil better. They adapt to most U.S. growing regions. Seed usually sprouts in 7–10 days but can take up to 14.

TRANSPLANTING:

Start seed in 50-cell trays
6–7 weeks before transplanting, or sow thickly in flats and pot up later as you would tomatoes. Keep the mix moist until seedlings emerge. Plant out after frost danger has passed, about 1–2 weeks after your earliest tomatoes, 18–24" apart.

CROP MAINTENANCE:

In cooler regions, black plastic mulch and row cover speed growth. The low, sprawling plants can get unruly and do better with a little support, like determinate tomatoes. They grow well in containers too; extra mulch underneath and a support that lifts plants while keeping them open make picking easier.

DISEASE & PESTS:

See Tomatoes.

HARVEST:

Pick weekly, husks on, into containers or 10-lb. flats. Fruit is ready when it turns golden, the husk is partly dry, and it drops or pulls away easily. Gather unblemished fruit from the plants or the ground.

STORAGE:

Fruit is sensitive to chilling and to ethylene gas, which affects color. Keep it dry and in the husk at room temperature for 1–2 weeks, or at 41–50°F and 80–90% relative humidity for 3–4 weeks. Husks dry on their own within about 2 weeks, but higher humidity keeps fruit fresher.

DAYS TO MATURITY:

From transplant.

SEED SPECS:

SEEDS/OZ.: 40,000.

PACKET:

40 seeds per packet, enough for 30–90' depending on germination, thinning and final spacing.