Punching hole through asphalt for passion fruit.

[MorroBay]

So I got kinda an odd question.  I want to plant passion fruit along my front fence but it’s all asphalt.  How big a hole do you think I’d need to punch to put in a passion fruit vine and have it thrive?  Do you think 18”x18” would work?  Not sure if this is really feasible.  But being on the beach we have small lots and I hear they don’t fruit well in containers.

[Epicatt2]

I'm sure that what you are intending will work to plant the passion vine.

But how will you be able to water and fertilize it satisfactorily since the roots will want to spread out under the asphalt quite a distance beyond the diameter of the hole you wlll be making for the vine?

Just wondering . . .

Paul M.
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[vnomonee]

Hello, yes I agree you can pot them/build a raised planter to fit those dimensions.

They definitely fruit in containers. I have a single vine in a pot and it put out fruits in a 3 gallon container

This guy has tons of fruit in his potted vines as well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBs6_aX5taw

[zands]

Up north I lived in a triple decker with landlady on the first floor. Her very small backyard was paved with asphalt. I guess she was not a fan of grass, though she grew collard greens by the side of the house in dirt that must have had lead in it. Portuguese love their collards and  linguiça soup.

In the middle of the asphalt she had punched trough it, and grew a concord grape vine that really thrived. The stem was 3-4 inches diameter. It climbed up to a 12ft x 12ft trellis that gave shade in the summer.  So your passion fruit project should work out. Passion fruit vines are powerful growers that can climb up to cover entire trees. I have seen the photos from the Caribbean islands.

[Epicatt2]

[snip] Passion fruit vines are powerful growers that can climb up to cover entire trees. I have seen the photos from the Caribbean islands. [snip]

This is quite true! 

I had a P. edulis v. flavicarpa in a 5 gal bail bucket that I started growing underneath a 'Duncan' grapefruit tree that was more than 50 years old and about 25 feet tall.  That P. edulis rooted out the drain holes into the ground and then aggressively vined up into the grapefruit tree and quickly covered the top of its canopy, which nearly killed the grapefruit tree.

Had to sacrifice the passion vine to save the grapefruit tree which then took about three years to fully recover!

Paul M.
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