Solanum pseudocapsicum question

[GardenGeisha]

I have a quick question. Anyone familiar with Solanum pseudocapsicum? It's also known as Jerusalem cherry/Christas Cherry.

I gave one to a friend who put it in her garage, but it got very cold in there. The temps have been in the single digits for a few days in a row. I felt down in the pot it is in, and the soil seemed to be frozen, and the leaves look very bad, although there are still some green branches and one fruit hanging on.

What are the chances this plant could bounce back with a good pruning? From what I've read they grow in Peru and can survive frosts and cold but will lose their leaves. They are said to grow in Western Washington, outdoors, where they act somewhat deciduous, with the branches dying off in the cold weather. I suppose the temperature there in winter probably never gets below 15 degrees F. It is said that you can hard prune them in the spring, there, after new growth appears.

I'm wondering, since this plant is now indoors in about 50 F temperatures for the rest of the winter, growing in a pot inside rather than planted directly in the ground outdoors, whether I should prune it now or wait until the spring? Also, could some new plants spring up from the fallen fruits which contain seeds, or would the freezing weather have killed the seeds? I did read that one woman hard pruned hers after she forgot to cover it when temperatures dropped to 20 F, but she didn't say whether it was indoors or outdoors, and when she pruned it, whether soon after the cold temps or not until the following spring warm-up. I thought I should perhaps at least wait for the soil to totally thaw before doing any pruning?

Thanks for your suggestions/ideas.

 

[897tgigvib]

I don't know if it'll be ok or not. Do the best you can with it. Good drainage, follow your instincts, consider it's native habitat. I wonder if doing a google search may halp? These days on google search, lots of blogs show up on the results.

 

[thistlebloom]

I'm not familiar with your plant GG, but in general, when inn doubt wait until spring to prune. Pruning stimulates new growth, so you'd be better off waiting until the plant started to emerge from dormancy to trim anything off.

 

[897tgigvib]

http://www.guide-to-houseplants.com/jerusalem-cherry.html

Give it a rest. After the fruit is no longer attractive, cut the stems back by half. Reduce watering, but don't allow the soil to dry out completely. Place the plant in a cooler spot (around 60/16C). In late spring, move it back to a sunny window -- or outdoors after the last threat of frost has passed -- and resume normal care.

That was a likely appropriate quote from the above website...

I googled

solanum pseudocapsicum care

and found there are many sites.

Apparently they start from spring cuttings or from seeds started in spring. Almost all the sites state the fruit is poisonous.

 

[GardenGeisha]

Thanks for your help. It's still thawing out in the shower.

I took a fruit that had fallen from my other Christmas Cherry (the non-frozen, nice one), and I buried it in the pot with this one. Hopefully the seeds in the fruit will take off and grow. I suppose I should have opened the fruit and spread the seeds around, but I didn't.