Passiflora "Edgehill" or "Black Knight" wanted

[sapote]

According to California Rare Fruit website, Passiflora Edgehill sounds interesting to me, but I just can�t find it sell anywhere. Anyone here grow this vine? If not I will take "Black Knight" as 2nd choice. I�m in 91501 and appreciate if someone tell me where I can buy one, or mail me a cutting and I pay for the cost.
Thanks,
Sapote

[barath]

Black Knight is pretty widely propagated in California -- many smaller/independent nurseries that carry fruits should have it.  If you can't find it after looking around, send me a message and I can mail you cuttings.

I haven't seen Edgehill anywhere.  The CRFG pages are pretty old, so that could be why.

[sapote]

Barath,

Thank you for your reply and cutting offer, and I really appreciate it. I had asked Armstrong nursery and they said their contracted nurseries did not have these varieties, and of course I wouldn't try at Home D. But I take your advice and will call those smaller local places if they have. I just hope rooting passion fruit vine is easier than fig rooting because after trying on more than 10 cuttings, 0% survived. I'm trying the fig again, and this time I placed the cuttings in a glass water on top of the warm gas pilot light. I start see those little "white balls" around the sticks.

Sapote

[barath]

So far I've had luck with passionfruit rooting by putting the passionfruit in a sterile medium (like 100% perlite) and in a humid and warm environment.  I haven't figured out how much of a difference rooting hormone makes, but when I use it I use the liquid rooting hormone.

[sapote]

Barath,

I called Green Thumb -- one of my favorite -- and they said none until late March or April, and then there is no guarantee they will have BK or Edgehill.

I'd like to start early, and so if possible please mail me a long vine in a misted bag and I will pay for the cost. I will try to PM you with address.

Thanks,
Sapote

[fyliu]

Sapote, you might already know this but here's what I would do.

It's better to start with a more or less sterile medium like perlite and maybe mixed with peat moss. That way the soil critters don't start chewing on them on day 1.

When propagating passiflora, cut at a 45 degree angle across a node. This injury supposedly stimulates it to start rooting faster. Use a humidity tent or even better is a mist bed. You can rip off half of each leaf to reduce moisture loss. 3-4 nodes normally contains enough strength to regrow roots before becoming too tired to survive.

[sapote]

Thank you, Fyliu. I just saw the video the man shown the diagonal cut through the node. Interesting technique and never had seen this. although the video didn't show the result of successful rooted or rotted He also choose the new grow instead of the mature vine. I had successfully rooted many Plumerias, including the fussy Singapore white. I also thought rooting figs is easy until I found out I failed 100% on more than 10 cuttings

Regards,
Sapote

[Steve in Los Osos]

I got my Black Knight from Raintree Nursery in Washington State. It's still in the current catalog. Mine's getting on in years now and I'm wishing I had some luck with cuttings so I could make a new plant, but I've never been able to get a cutting to grow using any method :-(

[NathanC]

Hey there, this a cutting of 'Frederick' that I took in November. I tried using dry rooting hormone, but I kept on washing off in the solution, so consider these untreated. Anyway, I haven't seen any white roots on the base of the the cutting, just that the end is frayed a little and is brown. The following is some ripe fruit that finished ripening this week after sheltering. I've never tried fresh passion fruit, and I'm anxious of it wrinkling.

[barath]

I haven't figured out the optimal time to eat a passionfruit, but with purple edulis varieties it seems like the more wrinkly they get the better they taste.  (I'm sure at some point they start going bad, but I've never been patient enough to wait that long.)  The Hawaiian Lilikoi I grew didn't really get very wrinkly, maybe because its rind was thicker.  (I'd also guess that Jamaican Passionfruit -- P. laurifolia -- doesn't get wrinkly since it's so leathery, and anyway it tastes great even when not wrinkled.)

[FruitFreak]

Over the summer, during the vegetative cycle I successfully rooted a handful of cuttings fro my purple passion using clone gel, clone dome, and peat pods.  However, tried to do the same thing after flowering had begun and none of them took.  I think a better success rate can be had by propagating at the right time.

[NathanC]

Interesting, maybe I should try again pretty soon, as heat comes in really fast here. What brand of liquid cloning do you use?

[FruitFreak]

Maria's or clonex work.  A heatpad will improve your success rate dramatically and is worth every penny.  From what I can remember the cuttings all rooted around 2-4 wks.