PASSIONFRUIT QUESTIONS
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Passiflora spp
FAMILY: Passifloraceae
Q. Yellow Passion Fruit, growing etc. etc.?
A. For years I have successfully grown mine from my own seed from flavoursome big fruit. I think they acclimatise to the soil. Originally, with outside seed, I had plants that bore very few fruit. Now the vines are always loaded with a minimum of attention. Some bear round fruit, some egg-shaped, but all sweet and juicy. The vines have an extensive root system and need dolomite, mulch and a cool root run. In my poor clay soil watering is not essential for established vines. They are shaded from the hot afternoon summer sun by fruit trees. I have grown my vines up unproductive trees which are ring-barked. Macadamias make excellent hosts as they have plenty of branches. I plant the young vine (6-9 months old) in a large 4-gallon tin filled with compost alongside its hosts. It will need water until it is established.
If your vine develops crinkly leaves, uproot it quick. Do the same with old vines, five to six years is a good life, could be less.
I get no disease in my organically-grown vines. As I live on the edge of the rain forest, a few fruit are attacked by fruit fly. The only spray I use is seaweed when the plants are young. Dak pots help. Yellow passion fruit have a softer skin than their purple cousins. So, even in the fridge crisper, they do not keep long. In North Queensland, Black Passion Fruit are more difficult to grow, though they thrive down south. The public still needs educating to the sweet juiciness of our golden passion fruit.
Fruiting time is January to May with March being the peak month.
Recipe - quick and simple. Using fruit from the fridge scoop out several into a bowl and enjoy with a little milk.
Scoop out the pulp from about a dozen (second grade) passions into a quart jug. Add one pint or more of boiling water, stir well, add a small cup of honey or sugar. Stir and when cool put in fridge for about twelve hours. Press through a sieve. Bottle the juice, add lemon juice to taste, a delicious cordial. I add the seeds to my dog's dinner. Very nutritious and she likes the sweet taste. Otherwise use the compost heap.
Q. How do I succeed with Passiflora laurifolia?
A. Sorry, I have bought plants 3 times, all died when young. I prefer plants that thrive in Kuranda.
Q. What is the calabash passion?
A. It is Passiflora nitida, a vigorous vine with a lance-shaped leaf. The fruit is the size of a ping pong ball, needs a mallet to open the hard shell, sweet and impervious to fruit fly.
Q. I have several healthy Passiflora alata (sweet lilikoi). They flower well but never set fruit. I have tried hand-pollination.
A. Experts tell me they also have had no pollination success. They suggest you try hand-pollination at different times of the day, and use pollen from a different plant of the same species.
DATE: May 1990
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