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Breeding a Better Ground Cherry

In 2020 we introduced a new Community Seed Grow-out project with the aim to breed a better ground cherry. Ground cherries (Physalis pruinosa) are small golden-yellow berries with a pineapple-citrus flavour. They're easy to grow, but perhaps not as popular as they could be because even people who love them say that they're difficult and time-consuming to harvest. The problem is that the plants often lie flat on the ground making it difficult to pick, and even see, the berries. We thought we could improve on that.

Some ground cherry plants lie flat on the ground, but others stand up with tall branches like knee-high trees. Those are much easier to harvest, so we wondered if we could breed an easy-pick ground cherry by simply saving seeds from the upright "tall-bearing" plants. After four years of participatory breeding, we're seeing good progress!

Participatory plant breeding just means that many people make plant selections in many different places, instead of just one breeder working in one place. It has the advantage of ensuring that selections are adapted to many different climates, soils, and even personal preferences. More than that, it lets us involve our seed saving members in a fun and educational project! During the past four seasons we've involved a few hundred of our members in this project:

• We sent free samples of seeds to about 50 members each year.
• They grew the ground cherries in their gardens, keeping a watchful eye on the way the plants grew.
• They saved seeds from the most upright, easy-to-harvest plants, and sent generous samples of seeds back to Seeds of Diversity.
• We mixed the selected seeds together and re-distributed them to growers the next year.

What do we see now?

Here are some photos of our Tall-bearing selections, and typical ground cherries.

This is a good example of a Tall-bearing selection. The branches reach up at a good angle making it easy to see and pick the berries. After four seasons of selection about 90% of the plants in our local test plot grew like this!

This is what we started with. Many ordinary ground cherry plants lie flat on the ground, hiding the berries and making them difficult to find and harvest.

Thanks to all our members who've grown ground cherries for this project! Whether or not you were able to save seeds from upright plants, your participation makes this kind of work possible.

What's next?

There's still much improvement to do. We'll continue the project for at least a few more years to select out the remaining low-growing plants, and we especially want to encourage further breeding for the best ground cherry flavour. Stay tuned in January for an opportunity to sign up for this project in 2024.

If you want to grow Tall-bearing ground cherries, but don't want to commit to growing seeds for the project, we're going to offer this year's seeds through our Member Seed Exchange. In early 2024, you'll be able to request them from Seeds of Diversity just like you request seeds from other members. And if you aren't a member, you can join any time for free!

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