PEPINO - KENDALL GOLD

Pepino - Kendall Gold (Cutting) ^9/10

Comments: -

I bought the plant at bunnings as a 10 cm high cutting/seedling (unknown), in October 2009.  At first I had in growing in a 40 cm pot but it was not at it's best. It grew bushy and it was very difficult to reach under to water. Plus it was always drying out so had to be watered twice a day if not more. The leaves became all mottled, shrivelled looking, some yellow leaves, and they would drop off if I even looked at it.  It was trying to tell me something. Well it almost had a trip to the dirt bin. Seriously, it was a close call.

Decided to give it one more chance at life It was now mid July 2010 (winter). Had to decide on a position to suit little miss fussy as the Mildura summers reach 45 degrees C and winters get frosty with temps down to minus 3.  I chose a north facing wall with shade from the hot afternoon sun, and protection from winds. On frosty nights I have a shadecloth above which I can extend over the area.

So, dug a hole twice it's pot size, which by now was quite big, 80 cm wide x 80cm deep.  Filled the hole with compost, cow poo, a handful of blood and bone, and a sprinkle of sulphate of potash. Heavy handed I know but I had nothing to lose.  I put up a trellis behind it, 1 metre square to lift the branches up off the ground. This prevents soil borne bugs from moving home into your fruit tree and makes for easier watering. I then pruned it harshly, leaving only three main branches. These were tied to the trellis with soft pantihose. The three fruit were each tied up as well to support their weight. At time of transplanting there were about 15 liliac flower which I expected to drop off, but they did not.

I piled on an extra layer of compost and cow poo around the base of the plant as a mulch, making sure it did not touch the plant's stem.  I gave it a spray of copper oxychloride thinking maybe the leaves had a fungus or some tiny bug i could not see without a telescope. I also planted some coriander, marigolds, and fennel around it to help keep away white flies and other bugs. I put a yellow sticky trap along side it as an extra.  I am trying to do the organic thing in my garden as I cannot bear to harm the ladybirds and good fellers. I do water with seasol two weekly and will do so throughout spring to late summer, dropping off to three weekly in winter. I have heard that the pepino, flowers and fruits all year around, but I will keep this site updated with what happens to my bush.

When I did the pruning, I placed 2 x 10 cm cuttings in pots,(after dipping in root hormone powder), and 4 cuttings floating in water to grow roots. I will monitor which is the easiest and quickest way to propagate more pepino bushes.

It is now late september 2010 and I have just taken a photograph to show how this pepino has flourished. (now 2 months in ground). The leaves are larger, more green and smooth. The fruits have doubled in size,  plus there are more bigger flowers. The fruits even have liliac coloured streaks down them so they are on their way to be eaten. I have just checked for bugs but found none. The yellow sticky trap is full of carcases. Can't wait to taste the fruit.

2 October 2010: update:Found some snails nibbling on the leaves. Apparently this is a potential problem for pepinos. Spread some crushed eggshells around the base of the plant. White fly is another potential problem, but they seem to be stuck to the yellow sticky trap and not infesting my pepino.  I gave the bush a little shake to make the remaining family members take off, straight onto the trap. The fruit are becomming a little more yellow in colour, still no odour, very firm to touch, but measure 12 cm long, and 10 cm round. The cuttings floating in water now have small roots sprouting, whereas the ones in pots have different outcomes. One has died, the other just in limbo. Of course I can't see what is happening under the soil. Time will tell.

Pepino - Kendall Gold

Comments: -

The Pepino grows well in a large black pot surrounded by a trellis to support the fruit, so it doesn't take up much space.  It flowers all year round here in Perth and produces fruit steadily.  If you don't want to pick the fruit, it can be left on the shrub for months without deteriorating.  The Pepino starts producing fruit, about the size of a large apple, in it's first year and is ripe when purple stripes form over the green skin.  . 

When harvesting the fruit, cut the stalk, to protect the plant and the forming flowers.  To prepare the fruit I cut it into quarters and peel the skin back, it slides off quite easily.  The fruit is very juicy and tastes like and is similar in colour to a rockmelon.  It tastes delicious when chilled.

I enjoy growing unusual fruit that I have never seen or tasted before.  I also grow the Goji Berry, a lovely red, sweet berry about the size of the sultana grape that is power packed with nutrition and is very easy to grow.     

Comments

This is the most helpful review I have found anywhere for Pepinos. I like to try unusual fruits too. I am so pleased it is a shrub instead of a vine also!

PS Note: I just researched them. The minerals contained in Pepino fruits are iron, zinc, copper, manganese, calcium and phosphorus. Some minerals such as copper, zinc, and manganese are also antioxidant minerals. That is a pretty good profile there. You're getting trace-element nutrients that are seldom found together in fruits and veges! That's better than a multi-vitamin.

Pepino - Kendall Gold (Seedling) ^10/10

Comments: - I've got about 20 pepinos growing. It means we get a lot of fruit all year round. Wonderful plants. I can't believe they aren't more popular

Fruiting Months January, February, March, April, May, June, July, September, October, November, December

Planted: 2005

Growing: In the Ground

Fruit Harvest: 5 kilograms per Year

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Never

Pest Control: not needed. Jus tlift fruit off the ground with bricks.

Organic Status:Organic

Pepino - Kendall Gold ^8/10

Comments: -

these are a great all round easy to grow perennial.  They are so vigorous I've got to cut my bush in half and discard half of it every year. The fruit are beautifully sweet not too dissimilar to rockmelon. I have to put the fruit into panty hose to protect them from pests, of which they have many.

Fruiting Months January, February, December

Planted: 2004

Height 0.3 metres

Qty: 20

Fruit Harvest: 3 kilograms per Year

First Fruited: 1 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Autumn, Winter, Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

Fertiliser or Organics Used: horse-citrus fert

Organic Status:Organic

Pepino - Kendall Gold (Cutting)

Comments: -

My pepino has spread across the city. My friends love the fruit and beautiful purple flowers and have taken cuttings away with them. I keep a reserve of pots with babies just in case a visitor wants one.

Moving disrupted his fruiting so I've only had 1 tiny crop but next year will be better!

Summer 2010/2011: Mits and green caterpillars devouring him. Dragon's blood spray works but with all the rain it just gets washed off. Had to prune him back hard so no fruit again this year. Bum.

Spring 2011: I have split him up and there are plants in 4 different locations in the garden... whichever one grows the best will be the one who survives! :O)

Summer 2011: Well to call me a liar the original plant is looking really healthy this year and I have flowers. Go figure! Fingers crossed for fruit!

Fruiting Months January, February, March

Planted: 2008

Height 0.5 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 3

Fruit Harvest: 2 Fruit Per Year

First Fruited: 1 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Pollination: No

Fertiliser or Organics Used: chicken poo, seasol, charlie carp, worm castings

Pest Control:

Green caterpillars, slugs, snails eat the leaves and the fruit = pull the ones you can see off with your fingers and spray with lux soap in water to keep them from coming back

sap-sucking mites = soap spray

kookaburras = leave water out

Pepino - Kendall Gold (Cutting) ^7/10

Comments: -

I first saw this fruit growing in my mother in law's garden. She had been given a cutting, stuck it in the ground and it took off like a weed. Hers produced a few small fruit which tasted okay but didn't receive enough sun so not that sweet.  Came across a few plants at the local big chain nursery and decided to plant in pots.  They did okay for awhile in potting mix, on the deck in full sun. Very thirsty plants in summer.  Watered every day or so. Produced a dozen or so large egg shapes fruit which were deliciously sweet and super juicy. My kids gobbled them up- a definite winner!  After a few months, health of plants declined- yellowing, major leaf drop so moved to garden bed alongside shed with a trellis erected.  Massive growth spurt and heaps of flowers and fruit. At the moment enjoyedby slugs/snails/some ants and  maybe a caterpillar- leaves full of holes and some fruits have had holes muched and ants dig inside to the core and ruined some massive fruits.

Fruiting Months January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Planted: 2010

Height 2 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 6

Fruit Harvest: 20 kilograms per Year

First Fruited: 1 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: When Fruiting, Yearly, Spring

Pest Control:

natrasoap spray  and pyrethrum spray. Will set beer snail traps.

Organic Status:Organic

Pepino - Kendall Gold (Cutting) ^9/10

Comments: -

I love this fruit so I bought a couple of plants from Daleys last October and they fruited pretty much straight away.  I planted them in a spot where they get full sun in the morning. I placed dried sea grass as mulch and more surface roots proliferated as a result they have spread a lot in a short time, snails dislike the mulch so they keep away. I'm waiting for the fruit to ripen, just got afew purple stripes. I fertilise with seasol every three weeks and I also placed a handful of slow release pellets under the mulch. I'm already making new plants from cuttings for next season...no need for rooting hormone. I water daily, but with so much rain there's no need...the watering is being done for me. Only keep fruit off the ground...I cut some PET bottles and use the bottoms to lift the fruit.

Fruiting Months October, November, December

Planted: 2011

Height 0.6 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 2

Fruit Harvest: 12 Fruit Per Year

First Fruited: 1 Months from Purchase in Pot

Pruned By: 30% in After Fruiting

Pollination: Self Pollination

Fertiliser or Organics Used: seasol

When I Fertilise: When Fruiting

Pest Control:

nothing yet

Organic Status:Organic

Pepino - Kendall Gold ^1/10

Comments: -

struggles in Brisbane --> or it may be the shale clayey soil I have. Was attacked by grasshoppers and loses leaves easily . no fruit despite lots of compost and mulch

Growing: In the Ground

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Comments

now dead

Pepino - Kendall Gold

Comments: - Amazing-dozens of plants from the original & heavy bearing

Planted: 2009

Pollination: Self Pollination

Pepino - Kendall Gold (Cutting) ^8/10

Comments: -

Steady growth, I like the taste of the fruit too, cross between a rockmelon and paw paw maybe but you must leave them on the tree until they are orange and a little soft otherwise the taste is poor.

Its in a pot and I have made a trellis structure inside the pot which trains the tree up the posts, I keep the center pruned to let the sun in and this seems to work well at hiding the fruit from birds and keeps them off the ground away from pests.

Fruiting Months January, February, March, April

Planted: 2014

Height 1 metres

Growing: In a Pot

First Fruited: 6 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Full Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

Fertiliser or Organics Used: chook poo

Organic Status:Organic

Pepino - Kendall Gold ^5/10

Comments: -

Has grown like crazy to cover a large area, and has flowered a little bit, but there have been no fruit so far. 

UPDATE 2014: Produces lots of fruit over summer. But the fruit needs protecting as something gets into it, looks like codling moth. Propagates easily by layering.

Fruiting Months January, February, December

Height 0.3 metres

Qty: 1

Fruit Harvest: 4 kilograms per Year

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Winter

Pollination: No

Organic Status:Organic

Comments

Good for you! They are a health asset too. It helps with liver disease, lowers blood pressure, helps those that suffer from strokes to heal faster, and promotes cardiovascular health.

Pepino - Kendall Gold ^4/10

Comments: -

This plant is so easy to grow. It has now taken up so much space in my garden . At first it had heaps of flowers but no fruit set. Then with the second time flowering it hasn't stop fruiting since. The taste is like a cucumber / melon combination which I find very unpleasant. However because the fruits are so abundance and it looks good in my garden I'm keeping it for another year. Next year it will be replaced with something else. One problem with this fruit is that it's meant to be eaten when soft but leaving it to that stage it's a 50/50 chance of getting stung by fruti flies.

Fruiting Months September, October, November, December

Planted: 2008

Height 1 metres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 1

Fruit Harvest: 5 kilograms per Year

First Fruited: 1 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Never

Organic Status:Partially Organic

Comments

Your pepinos are huge! This fruit loses the cucumber aspect of the taste when it is really soft (the unknown variety I have does anyway), but you need to bag the fruit to keep fruit fly off it to let it ripen. Diana.

Let the fruit get dark orange and soft to touch before harvesting and they taste very nice.

Pepino Melon breaks down into glucose for great energy to get you through your day and increases stamina. And it is also chocked full of great beta-carotene antioxidants that prevent disease. Pepino Melon is packed full of great nutrients and that’s why they call it a Super Fruit.

Pepino - Kendall Gold (Cutting) ^9/10

Comments: -

Flesh looks and tastes similar to a cantalope but with a slight cucumber flavour. Grows really well from cuttings. Will fruit in a pot, but it grows much better in the ground.

Planted: 2010

Height 50 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 4

Fruit Harvest: 2 Fruit Per Year

First Fruited: 6 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Never

Organic Status:Organic

Pepino - Kendall Gold

Comments: -

Fast growing, prolific, very easy to grow from cuttings. Fruit is mild and pleasant tasting.

Fruiting Months April, June, July, August, September, October

Planted: 2009

Height 40 Centimetres

Growing: In the Ground

Qty: 3

Fruit Harvest: 15 Fruit Per Year

First Fruited: 6 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

Pollination: Self Pollination

When I Fertilise: Spring

Organic Status:Organic

Pepino - Kendall Gold ^7/10

Comments: - Easy to grow perennial shrub with large, juicy fruits that taste a bit like honeydew melon.

Fruiting Months January, February, November, December

Planted: 2008

Height 1 metres

Qty: 1

First Fruited: 1 Years from purchase in pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Winter

Pollination: No

Fertiliser or Organics Used: Compost, BD LIfter

When I Fertilise: Yearly

Pest Control: Bag fruits to avoid fruit fly

Organic Status:Organic

Pepino - Kendall Gold

Comments: -

Great ground cover.

Fruiting Months September

Planted: 2009

Pepino - Kendall Gold

Comments: -

The lychee seems to be taking off... it is not sensitive to the requirements of dry spells that we had over summer. It took off really in late summer and august, where we did get more rain. Seems it may be a goer for Warners Bay near Newcastle

Pollination: No

Pepino - Kendall Gold ^5/10

Comments: -

I was so intruiged by the description of the flavour of this fruit, I decided to give it a go. It grew very strongly in the ground, and produced three fruit within months. However, our first frost for the season was unusually severe (-7) and the plant wasn't covered... and that was the end of it. I'm trying again this year but will have a permanent shelter on it this time. The kids loved the crunchy, juicy fruit!

Pollination: No

Pepino - Kendall Gold ^9/10

Comments: -

mini melons!

Height 30 Centimetres

Growing: In a Pot

Qty: 2

Water Given in: Winter

Pollination: No

Pepino - Kendall Gold (Seedling) ^8/10

Comments: -

It was a present I received in March, it is in a pot and has done really well. The plant will dry out very quickly as it is in the pot.

Planted: 2010

Height 50 Centimetres

Growing: In a Pot

Qty: 1

Fruit Harvest: 6 Fruit Per Year

First Fruited: 6 Months from Purchase in Pot

Sun/Shade: Medium Sun

Water Given in: Spring

When I Fertilise: Never

Pest Control:

Some of the leaves get eaten by an insect but they do not touch the fruit.

Question:

How successful does it grow in the ground?