key growing information

Growing Tomatillos from Seed: Sowing, Care & Harvest

How to grow tomatillos: culture compared with tomatoes, starting transplants, planting deep, pollination needs, mulch and support, harvest and storage.

By Hensley’s Seed Co. September 3, 2026

Tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica) - Key Growing Information

A pair of tomatillo fruits emerging from their husks on the vine, supported by string trellising.

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Physalis philadelphica

CULTURE:

Grow them much like tomatoes, though once established, tomatillos handle drought, heat, cold and poor fertility better. They suit most U.S. regions and usually germinate in 7–10 days.

TRANSPLANTING:

Sow in 50-cell trays 4–5 weeks before transplanting, or sow thickly in flats and pot up (see the tomato guide). Keep moist until seedlings emerge. Plant out after frost danger has passed, about 1–2 weeks after your earliest tomatoes, setting plants deep so they root along the stem, 24–36" apart depending on how much you'll train them. You need at least two plants for good pollination and fruit set.

CROP MAINTENANCE:

In cooler areas, black plastic mulch and row covers speed growth. The short, sprawling plants can be left to ramble but do better with some support, like determinate tomatoes. Tomatillos also thrive in containers, and a trellis that lifts plants while keeping them open makes picking faster.

DISEASE & PESTS:

See Tomatoes.

HARVEST:

Pick weekly, husks on, into containers or 10-lb. flats. Harvest while the fruit is still firm and bright green and fills out the papery husk. They sell best with husks on but split enough to show the sticky fruit. Cool quickly if needed to keep husks looking good. Fruit that's softening and turning yellow is overripe and splits easily.

STORAGE:

Sensitive to chilling injury and to ethylene, which affects fruit color. Keep dry, in their husks, at room temperature for 1–2 weeks, or at 41–50°F (5–10°C) and 80–90% RH for 3–4 weeks. Husks dry out naturally within about 2 weeks, but high humidity keeps fruit freshest. For longer holding, refrigerate them in a paper bag with husks on, or husked and washed in a plastic bag. They can also be frozen for processing later.

DAYS TO MATURITY:

From transplant.

SEED SPECS:

SEEDS/OZ.: about 18,300 on average.

PACKET:

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