How to Grow Naranjilla Canada

By the SoilCommander Editorial Team, under the guidance of Nitin Sharma, Co-Founder · · How we check our facts

On this page
  1. Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense)
  2. Growth Stages
  3. Quick Facts
  4. At a Glance
  5. Harvest & Storage
  6. Diseases
  7. Pests
  8. Plan your Naranjilla planting
  9. Growing Naranjilla in another region
  10. Sources
  11. Frequently Asked Questions

Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense) — Tender, fast-growing shrubby perennial, nearly 2m tall (Purdue NewCROP).

Unlike an annual crop, the work here is front-loaded into establishment: get the planting and the site right and the same plants crop for several seasons.

The short answer

Site
4+ hours of sun
Biggest risk
Honey fungus

Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.

Naranjilla (Solanum quitoense)

A naranjilla shrub with purple-veined spiny leaves growing in a garden bed — “Solanum quitoense IMG 7905” by Don McCulley is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

3 sources cited · Verified

Growth Stages

A young purple-tinged naranjilla leaf shoot — “Solanum quitoense JRVdH 04” by Cephas is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Solanum quitoense JRVdH 04” by Cephas is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Stage BBCH Notes
Sowing and establishment 0 Propagate by seed (RHS). Plant outside only in early summer, once frost risk has fully passed.
Vegetative growth 3 Grow in full sun or partial shade, sheltered, in moist well-drained soil. Large, purple-veined, spiny, hairy leaves develop rapidly (RHS).
Flowering 6 White flowers appear given a long enough growing season (RHS).
Fruiting 8 Fruit ripens to orange with green flesh, used mainly for juice; UK-grown fruit may not fully ripen (RHS; Purdue NewCROP).

Quick Facts

A naranjilla shrub with purple-veined spiny leaves growing in a garden bed — “Solanum quitoense IMG 7905” by Don McCulley is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Solanum quitoense IMG 7905” by Don McCulley is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Factor Value
Sunlight 4-8 hours direct sun
Soil texture Clay, loam, sand or chalk (RHS)
Drainage Moist but well-drained (RHS)
Lifecycle Tender, fast-growing shrubby perennial, nearly 2m tall (Purdue NewCROP)
Edible parts fruit

At a Glance

Close-up of a naranjilla flower with white petals and purple-tinged calyx — “Solanum quitoense in Jardin des Plantes de Toulouse 01” by Krzysztof Golik is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Solanum quitoense in Jardin des Plantes de Toulouse 01” by Krzysztof Golik is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Solanum quitoense Naranjilla Honey fungus Glasshouse red spider m… Root-knot nematodes Glasshouse whitefly Aphids DISEASES PESTS

Harvest & Storage

Small green immature naranjilla fruit on the plant — “Solanaceae- Solanum quitoense (lulillo, naranjilla)” by Kristof Zyskowski & Yulia Bereshpolova is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
“Solanaceae- Solanum quitoense (lulillo, naranjilla)” by Kristof Zyskowski & Yulia Bereshpolova is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

When to pick: Fruit matures to orange, 4.5-5.5cm diameter, with green flesh inside used mainly for juice (Purdue NewCROP).

Diseases

Close-up of a hairy naranjilla leaf with purple veining — “Solanum quitoense (leaf) in Costa Rica” by MadriCR is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
“Solanum quitoense (leaf) in Costa Rica” by MadriCR is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
Honey fungus
low

Armillaria spp.

RHS notes honey fungus rarely affects this crop.

Pests

A large naranjilla leaf showing its purple veins and spines — “Solanum quitoense JRVdH 03” by Cephas is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Solanum quitoense JRVdH 03” by Cephas is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Two-spotted red spider mite with silk threads, magnified — Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0
Gilles San Martin, CC BY-SA 2.0
Glasshouse red spider mite (two-spotted spider mite)
low

Tetranychus urticae

Named directly on RHS's own growing-guide page.

Root-knot nematodes
moderate

Meloidogyne spp.

Purdue NewCROP names root-knot nematodes as a particularly serious pest of this crop.

Glasshouse whitefly adult on a leaf — Sanja565658, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sanja565658, CC BY-SA 3.0
Glasshouse whitefly
low

Trialeurodes vaporariorum

Named directly on RHS's own growing-guide page.

low

Aphididae (various spp.)

Named directly on RHS's own growing-guide page.

Plan your Naranjilla planting

When to sow and plant Naranjilla depends on your own frost dates. Check the Canada vegetable planting calendar. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.

Growing Naranjilla in another region

Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.

Sources

The full list of 3 sources behind this guide (Plants For A Future (PFAF), Purdue University NewCROP (Center for New Crops & Plant Products), Royal Horticultural Society) is in the references of our UK guide to naranjilla; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.

Frequently Asked Questions

What problems affect naranjilla?

Our data links 1 disease and 4 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.

Plan next season before the problems start

Short-season growing is arithmetic before it is technique: days to maturity against frost-free days decides what will finish at all. The Canada Garden Planner does that subtraction for your region before you sow.

Get the Canada Garden Planner →

Instant PDF download · Written for Canadian growing conditions

SoilCommander Editorial Team — under the guidance of Nitin Sharma, Co-Founder

Every growing guide is checked against RHS, USDA Cooperative Extension, and other named horticultural authorities before publishing. How we check our facts.

How this guide is put together

The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against Canadian hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with provincial agriculture and university extension sources cited directly where one exists for a crop. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.

Vegetable Growing Guides Canada

Crops With the Same Problems

Related Problem Guides

Last verified 2026-09-03

Related guides

More from the same group (the potato & tomato family):

Relevant next steps

Where To Go From Here

Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.

Canada garden plannerTurn this crop guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and a harvest record. All growing guidesBrowse every crop we cover for your region, A to Z. Planting CalendarSee how this crop fits alongside everything else you are growing.

Keep going

This guide in another region
Global UK USA Canada
Top tips for October
  • Plant garlic before hard frosts
  • Protect late salads with fleece
  • Store squash somewhere dry
  • Mulch empty beds
Free Tool
soilcommander.com/pages/vegetable-garden-layout-planner-tool
1 · Shape
2 · Crops
3 · Conditions
4 · Plan
Choose your garden shape
🍅
Bed 1
Tomatoes
🍌
Bed 2
Legumes
🥦
Bed 3
Brassicas
🥕
Bed 4
Roots
🥥
Bed 5
Alliums
🌿
Herbs & More

Free planning tool

Plan your veg garden before you dig a single inch

Sketch your exact plot shape, pick your crops, and get a spacing-accurate bed layout with companion pairings and a rotation plan. Spacing, companion pairings and rotation work the same in any climate — pair the layout it gives you with the Canada planting calendar for your own frost-date timing.

Garden Layout Planner Tool

Free to use. Nothing to install.

Plan the next step

Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.

Get Planner