if they only get to 3 to 6 inches ... and then peter out.. i would be wondering about a root rot ...

what media are you using ... do you sterilize it first ... etc ...

lizards aside.. you have a cultural issue.. which means either light.. media.. or water ...

as to the lizard ... build a nice size chicken wire .. or hardware cloth cage.. and physically restrain them ...

3R stuff.. is nice .. but this is war .. on lizards .. lets protect your investment in 100 plants.. by doing it right the first time ...

in zone 10.. i am going to guess.. a plastic bottle.. will quickly suffocate a tree ...

i dont care where you post.. but there is a fruit forum.. and fruit peeps do things VERY DIFFERENT from tree peeps ... wait.. this is the perennial forum.. are these orange trees.. or orange perennials ... just trying to get you to the right experts.. but who knows.. maybe someone here knows all about oranges ...

good luck ... and live your dream ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: build something like this

I tried to grow some from seed this spring but had zero germination. Seed must have been too old. Hopefully someone with real growing experience can chime in here. You might try cross posting this on one of the other forums like the Edible Landscape/Vegetable/or even the Florida Gardening forum here on GW.

From what I have read, this can be a bit of a tricky plant to grow outside of its native environment. Even trickier is getting them to fruit in colder climates. Since you live in FL, I imagine you have a fairly good chance of getting it to produce (sure better odds than mine, though that isn't going to stop me from giving it another go, lol!), though I suspect that likely will not happen in your hotter months? Just a guess on that one. You probably shouldn't expect much/any fruiting this year anyway.

It kind of sounds like you ARE having success with the plant. You are getting them to grow...it is just that lizard or whatnot that keeps fouling things up ;-)

If it were me, I would keep the plants outside. Put them in shade/partial shade and put some sort of protection around it that will NOT raise the temperature and humidity like the plastic bottle. Chicken wire or tented bird netting might keep critters out and will allow for air circulation as well. If growing in a pot (which is a good idea, I have read soil nematodes can be a problem with Naranilla plants) make sure the soil is very good draining and doesn't dry out excessively. I would also give it some good organic fertilizer every so often too, as I have read they are heavy feeders. That might have been the reason yours seemed to stop growing, or it was root bound and wanted a bigger pot.

I'm afraid I can't even begin to tell you how to care for your plants in winter. They should be able to survive light frosts. I would definitely try the Florida Gardening forum here if you have questions on that.

Sorry I couldn't give you any real experiences with this plant. Anyhoo, hope you are able to get this fella' growing! ;-)
CMK

PS. I found this interesting site talking all about Naranjilla you might be interested in reading over:

Here is a link that might be useful: Naranjilla article

Struggles! I have some lulo plants that are fifteen months old now and two feet tall. Never a flower. Wintering them inside was a war with aphids. Can't winter outside. I'd like to keep them till they bear fruit but after a whole season outside (frost coming in a month) - no flowers. Any advice would be appreciated very much

Here is a link that might be useful: Other Lulo pictures

I don't know how different the spiny varieties are from the smoother types, but the spiny ones are grown around here and are similar to growing tomatoes. The fruits don't have much time to ripen from small transplants but it's usually grown for the fuzzy leaves and spiny look.
Sounds like the biggest problem is soil attack from stuff like nematodes and some people have tried grafting.
You might want to try one in the ground and see how it goes... you might get lucky.
Here's a picture from chanticleer this summer

I have a lovely Naranjilla that is 7 months old. She is about 3 ft tall and at least that wide. I was very shocked when she began to flower and produce fruit about 3 months ago. The fruit are small though, only about 1 1/2 inches diameter. The first one that turned totally orange was chock full of seeds, but no juice or pulp. .I have two more baby plants I started from seed last month. The picture included is of her at 5 months. My kids have nicknamed her "the witch" because she looks so wicked with all those purple spikes on her trunk and leaves.

Missy and Cato -

Lovely they are

Here is a link that might be useful: Lulo Leaf

I had several cutting-grown plants in my subtropical bed last year. Even with the unseasonable prolonged heat, they never got much over two feet in height and were modestly ornamental.

This year I grew S. pyracanthum from seed. Again, modestly ornamental with few flowers (and paler than the ones in the photo).

Makes for tricky transplanting of seedlings.

Yes, the pyracanthums are beautiful and fun and thorny. Don't let the name porcupine tomatoes foll you though, the fruit are supposed to be dangerous to eat. Posted are the baby pictures of the one's linked below. I wintered them inside 2012->2103. This year I'm just going to harvest the few fruits and start the cycle again next year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Two recent Pyracanthum pictures

Naranjilla fruits are edible and it has been cultivated for human consumption in regions of the Andes for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Pyracanthums are a totally different plant. I can't say whether or not its fruits are edible, but many eggplant and tomato relatives are, in fact, not only inedible, but poisonous.

However Naranjilla IS one of the edible ones. IF you can get it to grow. Try sampleseeds.com for known good seed - even as far north as she is, she managed to get it to grow, AND collected seed.

Not that it was easy from what she has to say about it - but there you go.

Here is a link that might be useful: Naranjilla seed on this page, also the story of getting harvestable fruit

I have grown Naranjillas successfully three different seasons in zone 7.

I start them in September inside under Metal Halide lights, as they usually require at least 9 months of vegetation before fruiting.

There are two types, spiky and spineless. I grew the spiky kind first, at random just buying some seeds to get into it, then I grew the spineless kind. The spineless is the kind cultivated for human consumption, I have come to know. The spiky kind is like the wild cousin, hardier and grows more vigorously, but the fruit is pure seeds, nearly no pulp or juice. So, if you want the fruit to be delicious, you must grow the spineless variety.

The one pictured above of the spineless variety looks at least 3 months away from fruiting. They usually have twice as many leaves when they begin to fruit. I solve problems with aphids in my indoor gardens using ladybug larvae: http://www.insectlore.com/ladybug-larvae-refill. All you need is 4 larvae per plant and all aphids will disappear.

And, I have heard spiky tomato is actually a distant ancestor of cultivate tomatoes. So, that seems to make sense in the general scheme. That cultivated varieties become sweeter and lose their spines, but also their wild vigor.

Oh, and if any one does use ladybug larvae, be sure to gently place them at the top of the plant or near the aphids.

Where did you get the seeds for the spineless variety. . . ? thanks

http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d124_Exotic_Edible_Collection.html

I tried growing Naranjilla in 2012 in a flat in Hungary.
The temperature in the flat varies between 72 and 84 degF depending the season.
For some reason my plant kept growing upwards and it was foreseeable that it would hit the ceiling at the height of 8,6 ft.
At some point I decided to air layer the main stem to make the plant shorter.
At first, I thought that the stem of Naranjilla would develop roots even without a wound on it, just like the stem of a tomato plant. That assumption costed me a month wasted.
My second attempt, when I made a wound on 2/3 of the circumference of the stem was successful.
The plant had about a month of time for new root development.
After cutting the stem below the ball with the roots, the shortened plant looked real bad for a month.
The leaves were so saggy that I thought the plant was going to die.
I think I should have given more time for the new root development before cutting off the top of the plant. Eventually the shortened plant recovered and continued to grow.
To my disappointment the plant grew upwards so fast that the prepararion for the next air layering was due in a short time.
I found this to be ridiculous, and did not wish to carry on.
My plant kept blossoming for months, but it was unable to set fruit no matter what.
I found out that Naranjillas are pollinated by humblebees in their natural habitat.
The humblebees vibrate the blossoms for a short time and that helps release the pollen inside the blossom.
I made a small device for vibrating the blossoms to no avail.
Some time later I got fed up with the situation and discarded the plant.