Quote:
Originally Posted by Leafmite
...what type of passionfruit vines are your friends growing?... I get the first flowers in May and harvest the first fruits in mid-September. I have edulis 'McCain,' edulis 'Purple Possum' and an incarnata. Family in DC has told me that they plant their edulis and incarnata vines in the ground in May and the fruit never ripens before their first frost. I just convinced them to grow theirs potted, too. The harvest is usually finished in January for me (They are still blooming....).
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I saw native Passiflora incarnata (Maypop) in Wisconsin as a kid, so it should be fully hardy for you. It grew along fences where birds had dropped the seeds after eating the fruit. The fruits ripened right around frost. Maybe there are different strains with different frost hardiness? If so perhaps try to get seed from someplace north of you. Since it ripens so late, I would look up whether seed needs cold stratification to sprout.
I didn't pay attention to which varieties my friends were growing, but they were probably edulis. Flowering and fruit ripening are related to temperature. Flowering is definitely related to the tips of the vine bending over and hanging down. If you keep training your vines up they won't flower.
Passiflora edulis grows fine in full Arizona sun and heat, so perhaps you should put it in the hottest and sunniest part of your garden. Maybe try to pot up cuttings well before last frost, get them growing well, then put them outside early with a
Wall O Water or something like that. Get them growing early, fertilize heavily, and let the tops of the vines flop over when they're 4-6 feet / 1.2-1.8m tall to promote flowering.
Also consider growing Passiflora mollissima, the banana passion fruit. The fruit is delicious. I think it's better eating than edulis. It looks like a small yellow zucchini, hence the name. It likes less heat than edulis. I can't grow it here in Phoenix once nights heat up. It is an invasive weed in many cooler tropical areas, but it won't survive any frost, so you have nothing to worry about. The flowers are different from edulis: They hang down with long tubes, and the petals open flat. The flowers are brilliant flamingo pink. This one also flowers when branch tips flop over or grow horizontally. If anybody has driven up the mountain in Kauai and looked in patchy forest areas along the road, you will have seen this vine everywhere, with its pink flowers and yellow fruits.
And remember a lot of passionfruits produce better with hand pollination.
When I lived in St Louis I tried growing P. quadrangularis in a 5-gallon pot. It wasn't really warm enough, even against a south facing brick wall. The plant grew slowly and flowered the day before the first frost. Here in Phoenix I have grown it and it's like a weed. So try hard to give your edulis the warmest position you can find.
Mail-order passion vine seeds can be hit or miss. Most, but not all, sprout readily when very fresh. The longer they are stored, the more dormant they become, and it can take a very long time for them to sprout. So don't give up if trying to sprout them. And use a heating mat for the lowland tropical ones.
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