Solanum muricatum) yet? It’s a beauty. It’s a shrubby climber or ground creeper originally from South America. We grow it throughout our orchard and are loving it’s fresh melon flavour and the fact it’s heaps easier to grow than melons (we live in a cool temperate climate). 
Pepinos (also known as pepino dulce) thrive in a temperate climate and are apparently quite frost sensitive. Saying that, we actually know someone south of Hobart who grows pepinos with strong frosts and occasional snow and it’s still doing really well. If you have strong frosts and still want to give it a go, I’d recommend planting it in the sunniest, most protected place in your garden ideally with some overhead coverage (vegetative or otherwise) to soften the impacts of frost. 
Being in the solanaceae family, they’re related to other fruits and vegetables including tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and peppers. The fruits vary in size, ranging from something like a large passionfruit to 15/20cm long (like the one below). Unsurprisingly, if you have good soil health and consistent moisture you’ll end up with nice fat pepinos. FYI, like lots of food plants they prefer a neutral’ish pH.
Nice, fat and juicy
Growing your own
Pepinos are wonderfully easy to grow and while you can grow them from seed they’re more commonly grown from cuttings. Just take a cutting of around 10cm, leaving a small amount of leaf at the end, and place them in some soil mix with really good drainage. You can also layer them in the ground, which just means you lay one of the branches on top of the soil and bury a portion of it – this will inspire it to form roots. You can then cut it free from the original plant and move it to your desired area. There are around nine different varieties available to people to grow (although I’ve only seen this one in Australia), so be sure to research what one grows best in your region.
We eat them fresh and apparently you can eat their skin – but we don’t. You can include them in a fruit salad, on top of your morning porridge – basically treat them like a melon.
If you’re looking to create a low maintenance, productive garden, plants like pepinos are absolute gold. We’re slowly but surely growing more and more *perennial* edibles over annuals as they generally result in better soil health, high yields, less inputs and less time required from us. What’s not to love?!
Living in the Huon.. Do you know anyone down this way that may share/trade/sell a cutting or rooted section? X or whether I can buy them from a nursery somewhere? Thanks x
Apparently the ‘Fork in The Road’ nursery in Margate sells them (or has in the past). So I recommend asking them – good luck!
I grow them in Blackmans Bay. I’ll see if I can get some extra plants growing from cuttings.
Wondering if they would grow in Darwin?
Thanks
I have this plant and happy to spare fresh cuttings if desired I’m in Melton west 3337
interested in growing. Although there is soil on the top of
my ground it is clay underneath. Does anybody have them growing in similar ground?
Hi Wendy. I’m growing mine in clay soil here in Swellendam South Africa. It’s growing really well. I prepared the hole with good compost. How is yours doing. I have mine now for 3 months
Wendy we ours in a garden bed with potting mix about 12 inches (Stratco raised garden beds above clay in Caboolture.
Hi Lynne. I’m curious to know how your pepino plant/s have done since your last post here. Did it fruit well? How big did the plant get? How long did it last as a perennial? (I read that fruit production decreases in the second year). And lastly, where did you manage to get seeds/cuttings in South Africa?? (I’m from George!)
I’ve got cuttings on the go in my straw bale gsrden
I live up in Clarence Point and I am just about to go out and harvest my very first one, so looking forward to trying them, have no idea where I got my plant from
Yummm – hope you enjoy their great flavour!
Could ine start a plant from grocery store fruit ? Would the seed be harvested like a tomato?
Kathleen, I’m only experienced in growing them from cuttings. So I’m not sure how successful it is growing them from seed.
Just harvested mine today. It took 2 years for my little Bunnings plant to establish and finally flower. It’s a wonderful plant! Looks like it will strike cuttings easy too so will be doing that to share this beauty with my friends. It’s growing in a semi-sheltered spot that gets about 3 hrs of direct sunshine a day. So impressed with the output! I’m going to make something special with this first small harvest combines with pineapple sage. 🙂
Great stuff Pinky!
We grew ours from cuttings this winter and they are fruiting well. Take the cuttings, put in a glass of water in a warm place. Change the water regularly and keep them there till the fine roots appear. Plant into a good potting mix and water well. Ours get sun most of the day.
Thanks for sharing Halina 🙂
Harvested our pepinos. We had a lovely crop. They just hang on the small bush. They are a lovely tasty fruit. We will definitely grow them again.
I have a beautiful plant, lots of flowers but only 1 fruit far has set. What am I doing wrong- have tried growing them in Melbourne, Swan Hill and have had the same problem. Grew them easily in Western highlands of PNG with loads of fruit all year round.
Perhaps they need more of a warm microclimate in your place? They also love plenty of water and food 🙂
I planted two 9 mths ago in SE South Australia and they are covered in fruit, needing support due to the weight.Good size fruit nearly ready to start eating.Happy they are at different stages that will prolong the season.They get sun all morning.
Watch out for wildlife eating these treats for you. My first two fruits sat on the plant growing happily until they were just on ripe. The night before I was going to harvest the biggest one, a possum ate it, and took a bite out of the second one but left the rest cos it easnt quite ready. They come inside for the last week or so now….
We’ve got fences around our whole property. 🙂
We are in Hervey Bay, QLD, Australia. Have had the plant for quite a few years, and have pruned, moved and repotted it, but it will throw a few flowers that do not result in fruit.
What can be wrong?
Not sure Dorothy, they do REALLY like compost and water I’ve noticed, so perhaps up their food?
Hello Hannah, what a surprise to find you have a web site! Love your guest presentations on ABC Gardening TV. I bought a plant at a church fund raiser. It sat there for months and didn’t budge, then when we got heaps of rain, it took off. However, only now is the fruit ripening. Thanks for your tips. Have you ever grown yacon?
Yeah, they love water and compost :-). I haven’t grown yacon – would love to 🙂
Hey Hannah
I’m about to plant a whole bunch of cuttings under established fruit trees as a living edible mulch. Are you still growing you’re under fruit trees? Are there any negatives to this approach?
Thanks
Hi Donna, As our trees have gotten bigger, I’ve stopped growing them under our fruit trees as they’re quite hungry and need more nutrients/water than what was available.
Hi,
Planted our pepino in spring here in the Latrobe Valley and has quite a few fruit already 🙂 Can’t wait for them to ripen and have a taste.
Hi Cheryl, I live in Melbourne, (south east suburbs), and have been growing pepinos for a number of years. I find growing them up a trellis or fence is better both for fruiting, and keeping the plant “neat”; otherwise it becomes a sprawling groundcover, and will self-layer where ever it touches the ground. We have very sandy soil, and the plant is thriving. It’s easily 7 feet high, and has over 20 fruit on it at the moment, at this time, in the middle of May;
and no signs of stopping yet, . It also fruits over a long time, (started fruiting around Christmas). I don’t do anything special, basically leave it alone, and it gets watered when I do the rest of the vegie garden. My plant is around 4 years old.
Hi Hannah, I live in Bendigo, Victoria. We have more of a Mediterranean climate and can get warm summers. I bought a Pepino Gold today and appreciated reading your comments. My garden has a well developed over storey now so I will find a protected spot that gets 3 hours of sun. I’ll keep in touch with my progress, cheers, Frannie
I have been growing them for three years. They grow well but the best ones are taken by vermin. I am now growing them up reo-mesh and they will be netted. I don’t know how high they can grow and still be productive. Can anyone advise?
Andrew from Cobden Australia.
hi there, im to grow to pepinos on my balcony in tokyo. due to limited space im thinking of growing them in hanging baskets. the hanging baskets are pretty big by the brand veg trug. do you think they will grow in hanging baskets? im also going to grow two physalis in hanging baskets too.
I have a plant here in Southern California. It is in the ground with a good, rich soil and gets regular water, but not too much. Direct sun. I planted it in the fall, when it was small. Now it is summer and it is about 4 feet wide, 2-3 feet tall. It is fruiting well! The next step is to give cuttings away to friends. : )
Hello. I have grown pepino successfully under an orange tree, until the wallabies found them in the drought. Can you recommend any plants, companions, that could grow with the pepino – being a solanum – that would fit in a planting guild?
Mine get to the ripe stage but invariably have holes in them from some grub/caterpillar. Any advice on how to protect them?