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Common Name: | Solanum |
| Scientific Name: | Solanum | |
| Family: | Solanaceae | |
| Origin: | worldwide | |
| Leaves: | alternate and entire, lobed or pinnate |
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| Flowers: | small, 5-petalled, bell or shallowly trumpet-shaped, sometimes star-shaped, yellow-anthered, borne singly or in cymes, cyme-like umbels, corymbs or panicles, from spring to autumn |
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| Fruits: | red or orange-red, orange-red to scarlet, yellowish white, yellow to brownish yellow, black, pale lime-green, white, yellow | |
| Light: | full light with shade from hot sun, bright indirect light |
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| Soil: | loam-based potting compost |
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| Fertilizer: | apply a high-potash liquid fertilizer every 2 or 3 weeks until fruit ripens |
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| Air humidity: | mist daily, maintain moderate humidity |
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| Watering: | in growth water freely, sparingly when dormant |
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| Transplanting: | every spring if grown in pot |
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| Dimensions: | 30-40 cm high |
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| Propagation: | sow seed at 18-20 degrees Celsius (64-68 F) in spring; root semi-ripe cuttings of shrubs and climbers with gentle bottom heat from summer to early autumn |
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| Life: | usually annual |
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| Pests and diseases: | prone to aphids, red spider mites, tomato spotted wilt and gray mould |
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| Species and varieties: | S. aviculare - orange-red to scarlet fruit |
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| Tips: | train climbers on a wall; grow shrubs in a sheltered border; in frost-prone regions grow tender species in a cool or temperate greenhouse |
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| Hardness: | frost hardy to frost tender |
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