Passion Fruit/ From Humble Beginnings..

About 5-6 months ago I planted this cutting from my passion Fruit vine last year. It was only 6" or so high when I put it in the ground. I actually planted 4 of them and they all grew, but this one was in the sweet spot! There are roughly 600' of vines covering the green house and an estimated 50 fruits with tons of flower blooms still forming.
I dedicate this post to Motomom, I will make sure you get your chance next year, even if we have to drive up there and hand deliver them!!!

 

seriously??? - !
ALL OF THAT, (covering the green house) ... came from 4 little cuttings / planted ~6 months ago?

WoW

 

You have a green thumb @Gopherman so how many fruits set?

 

Yum!

 

That dudes Savior could feed everyone on this site with only a couple fish and handful of bread....
True story.
#Jesusfactor

MG

 

That's pretty awesome! I kept seeing passion fruit vines but have never eaten any and wasn't sure how they'd grow here, but I may have to give it a try.

 

3 out of 4 in my family love passion fruit, what we call lilikoi. We usually cut it in half and scoop it out and eat it. And they make a great drink too. Scoop the insides into a cup, add sugar to taste, stir in sparkling water and add ice. So good and refreshing!

 

All of that came from 1 - 6" cutting! The stalk looks like the base of a tree. i will try and keep it alive over the winter and it should start producing fruit right out the gate next year. I was going to try and dig it up and keep it in a plastic bag in the house, but that thing is huge!
So far we've counted about 40, but there are fruits hiding all over the place beneath the canopy, we are conservatively estimating 50. There are flower buds numbering in the hundreds all over it, each one a potential fruit.
Its a race to beat the first freeze, that's still 2-3 months away, it will kill the leaves and any unripened fruit. But that's ok, we will have 50 lbs of tea at least from the leaves. We have been giving it to our friends and they swear by it for insomnia.
Been adding the lemon balm as well as spearmint we've been growing, very good tasting and soothing to smell.

 

I found that you really have to give it someplace to grow high and far! This one is doing really well because it can grow unhampered. I tried to control the growth but that turned out to be impossible, so, I began to tie it up using its own tendrils and it took off like crazy.Lots of sun, water and fertilizer are the key.
Initially I was doing it to shade my greenhouse from the intense heat of summer(which, by the way, worked out really well) so I planted it in the grow box that gets watered all the time.
The flowers will not form if the plant doesn't have enough water at the time of formation. You can tell when I watered it or it rained, there are two or three that formed and then 2 or three that didn't.
I learned a lot this season.I also learned that Habenero Peppers are too freaking hot to eat and 1 Plant will produce way more than enough to spice your food. I had ten and just killed them all, a couple were over 5' tall.
Next year I'm going to put Papaya's in the ground.

 

What zone are you in? I would LOVE to grow an avocado tree but we're too cold up here and I'm not dragging a 15 ft tree in the house every winter. But if we ever get our greenhouse built, oh yeah

I made habenero poppers last year, cream cheese stuffed and wrapped in bacon. They were awesome, but a PITA to make. We mostly smoke them and use them in hot sauce and bacon cures.

 

They are way too hot for me. I dried about 6 lbs of them, and last night I cooked a bunch of collards and only added 2 halves, almost ruined the whole pot of greens, just shy of too spicy.
I'm in zone 8a. Hass Avacados are cold tolerant to zone 6 I think. I'll be posting pics. in a day or so of some of the Trees. I have them on an irrigation system now and their doing much better. My poop in a hole method was a big FAIL! But, my grow beds are enough of a hit to soften the blow and kept me from crying! And of course my Coffee Trees are thriving! WOO HOO!!
For whoever thinks its too hard to do IT IS NOT! Just take patience practice and BS! (Literally)

 

@Gopherman , you sir have a green thumb, and all of us here could learn tons from you. I have been drinking passion fruit tea after a post here about the pain relief qualities of it. I have seen the flowering vines offered in seed and plant catalogs and had no idea it had an edible fruit. How do you think it will grow here in north central Florida around Gainesville. I did not get on the SM prepper mentality until after I found this forum by chance when chasing down reloadable .308 brass around 2010. At that time I was 2 years late in having a garden of eden right here where I am at. My mother died in the spring of 2008 and she could steal a couple cuttings from a botanical garden, and have pickup truck loads of plants to give to friends in no time at all. Her passion was roses and her and the deer did battle for decades. The deer almost always won in the end. In a drought the deer would sneak right up to the house and eat them down to the ground. All those years she lived under my roof I could have encouraged her talents to things like Passion fruit, blue berries, grapes, sweet potatoes, amaranth, etc etc. I could have told her for every 4 quarts of preserved fruit I would buy her 2 more bare root roses. What an idiot I am. My green thumb doesn't exist. I do have some successes but it isn't consistent with any plant. One year I may have success with tomatoes to the point of canning enough for the whole next year. Next season, total failure with tomatoes. It is quite discouraging. Specially when I can and could put up lots of fruit and veggies. I beg you sir take pity on us poor inept gardeners and share all the hints and help you can. Tac

 

One last question. How much sun is required to grow passion fruit. I have lots of trees, but it is scrub growth with lots of sunlight still making it to the ground. I also have several 100 feet of 7x7 stranded stainless steel cable and could string cable between trees at say 12 ft height say 100 feet and attach droppers every 6 feet or so staked secured to the ground, or not, and water is no problem. I could put soaker hose to water the entire run. What do you think. Plants every 12 foot on 100 ft run, reasonable sun, water and fertilizer. Think maybe I might be able to grow a privacy wall of fruit providing (tea leaf producing) vines?

 

PM me with an address and I'l send you some cuttings. South Florida is the perfect climate for these. I have seedlings that are growing well but no fruit until next year. I'm going to dig up the roots and store them in plastic bags with compost and soil over the winter then put them out after the last freeze. If your not careful in your neck of the woods these things become like Cudzu and will take you over!
I can send you some seeds as well they have about a 90% germ. rate. just don't plant them too deep. right at a 1/4 inch and then put them in the sun and keep them moist.
I'm going to get about a hundred cutting rooted before the cold sets in and nurture them over the winter.I am going to be Gopherman Passion Seed next year at my house!
Ill send you some tea as well.
12 of these going full blast will bury you in vines, just be careful where you plant them.

 

@Gopherman what variety is yours?

 

Purple Fredericks

 

Man, you were not kidding when you said the "growing" down there is good-

you know...
I actually do not tend to gravitate to "warm areas" the way a lot of people seem to want to when they get older...
-BUT MAN OH MAN....~!!!!~

with the way things grow there!
That is so dang impressive...
just the sheer ability to produce.... such bounty....
good sweet jeezus....
(and I tend to really NOT like humidity)... but man... I COULD learn to tolerate it...
and I might HAVE to... (if I wanna live down south and grow a LOT!)
amazing Gopherman... absolutely amazing...
-and your knowledge of breeding fruit-trees / other things? .... amazing...
given half a chance YOU GUYS are gonna eat well... that's for sure.
(as long as you can plan / grow / farm / harvest / repeat)

 

John, not only that, but their is lots of swampy forests where people seldom venture. Snakes, Gators, biting bugs and all that don't you know. Like Johnny Appleseed you can guerilla garden plants and vines all over the place for future picking. Just don't get caught doing it.

 

why do ya say "don't get caught doing it"? re: Guerilla gardening....?

who the heck would CARE? have you seen how "people" get caught doing it? (I assume you are referring to some sort of trespassing) but.... if it's general / government property.... wouldn't it just be kind of up to you to NOT get caught?
I mean, 'splain it to me a little.... I'm just assuming you WOULD have to kinda be "under cover" if you're not working your own / (technically) / owned-land. you probably WOULD have to try to keep a "low profile"...

but it could be done? (a few "guerilla" plots....? here and there to back-up your plans?
is there some sort of major fines involved? (or what?)


re: biting bugs / swamps / critters....
you'd HAVE to have (or DEVELOP) a LOVE for that land.... obviously....
and have a tremendous motivation to WANT to succeed there.

---
but yes, ... it's very NATURE would make it a LOT more conducive to PRIVACY - (and mosquito welts)

 

forests mostly are state or federal, or large companys that do planted pines or have the land for mineral rights. any of the owners would have you butt in a heart beat if you were planting stuff and trespassing to do so on their land .... is that a nuff splaining?
.
the main idea of guerilla gardening for me, would be to have places to go, or where my family and friends and tribe would know they could go to find fruit and such off the beaten path where few would have a clue about, post shtf.