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Tropical Fruit Discussion / Sweet Sunrise Yellow Passion Fruit IS Self-pollinating but...
« on: May 01, 2022, 11:34:39 AM »
About 20 years ago, I read online that yellow passion fruit needs to be cross pollinated with a flower from different parents/seed stock. Hence my frustration when I grew a purple passion from 8 inches tall to 300 feet of vines with over 3000 blossoms after 6 years and got NO fruit ! It turned out this "purple" was really a yellow (so my seller was misinformed). I realized this after finally getting 2 fruits that turned yellow but were hollow inside. SO -I bought another yellow, got blossoms, hand pollinated, but still got no fruit. The vines on the old plant were choking several fruit trees so thinking it was "sterile" I chopped most of it down. Two months later I started getting fruit; the pollen source was my second plant -a Sweet Sunrise variety that was supposed to be self-pollinating.
The original completely died of old age recently leaving me with one seed stock - about a dozen second generation plants from the 3 Sweet Sunrise fruits I got 2 years ago. I found an article a year ago online about pollination of yellow passion fruits in India and more recently some info with pictures about the same topic from Australia. Here is the critical info :
***THE POLLEN IS MOST VIABLE RIGHT AFTER THE FLOWERS OPEN BUT...
***THE FEMALE STIGMAS ARE NOT RECEPTIVE UNTIL LATER IN THE DAY ! I had noticed on my flowers that when they opened some of the female stigmas were pointed straight up and some were flat (horizontal almost touching the male anthers). I had suspected that the angle of the stigmas had something to do with being receptive and sure enough, the Australian site said that they need to be in the flat position and showed pictures.
Regarding the pollen collection, I started by removing the entire anthers and putting them in a small 35mm film container which has a tight fitting lid. But - I got little or no results so started thinking that entire removal of the anthers might be shocking the flower to the point of failure. I also was putting a silica gel packet in the container and storing it in the refrigerator. I now think that these last two ideas were bad since this would speed up drying out the pollen. I now am getting great results following these procedures :
***AS SOON AS FLOWERS OPEN, COLLECT POLLEN BY SCRAPING IT OFF OFTHE ANTHERS WITH A SHARP FLAT METAL BLADE INTO AN AIRTIGHT CONTAINER. EVEN SHAKING THE FLOWER WILL CAUSE A LOT OF POLLEN TO FALL. DO NOT REMOVE THE ANTHERS. CLOSE THE CONTAINER AND KEEP AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.
***AT DUSK, POLLINATE THE STIGMAS USING A NATURAL HAIR ART BRUSH. I read years ago online that if it rains within 2 hours after pollination, no fruit will set. I think this is not because the rain will harm the pollen, but because it will completely wash the pollen off since yellow passion pollen is very heavy, dense, and fluffy. This is why wind will not do the job. This is why bees won't do the job either because they steal all the pollen early in the afternoon before the stigmas are receptive. If there is a little moisture on the stigmas at dusk, I think it actually makes the stigmas more sticky and holds the pollen better !
***POLLINATE THE SAME BLOSSOMS AGAIN THE NEXT MORNING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE FLOWERS WILL HAVE CLOSED, SO TAGGING MIGHT HELP IF IT IS HARD TO TELL WHICH ARE NEW. THIS IS REALLY JUST A BACKUP PLAN IN CASE THE DUSK ATTEMPT FAILED. IT MAY NOT BE NECESSARY BUT I FEEL CERTAIN THE STIGMAS ARE STILL RECEPTIVE AS THEY ARE STILL LIGHT COLORED AND THE POLLEN SEEMS TO STICK IN THE MORNING AS WELL.
I don't think many yellow varieties will self-pollinate, but I recommend trying this procedure on any varieties of passion fruit.
The original completely died of old age recently leaving me with one seed stock - about a dozen second generation plants from the 3 Sweet Sunrise fruits I got 2 years ago. I found an article a year ago online about pollination of yellow passion fruits in India and more recently some info with pictures about the same topic from Australia. Here is the critical info :
***THE POLLEN IS MOST VIABLE RIGHT AFTER THE FLOWERS OPEN BUT...
***THE FEMALE STIGMAS ARE NOT RECEPTIVE UNTIL LATER IN THE DAY ! I had noticed on my flowers that when they opened some of the female stigmas were pointed straight up and some were flat (horizontal almost touching the male anthers). I had suspected that the angle of the stigmas had something to do with being receptive and sure enough, the Australian site said that they need to be in the flat position and showed pictures.
Regarding the pollen collection, I started by removing the entire anthers and putting them in a small 35mm film container which has a tight fitting lid. But - I got little or no results so started thinking that entire removal of the anthers might be shocking the flower to the point of failure. I also was putting a silica gel packet in the container and storing it in the refrigerator. I now think that these last two ideas were bad since this would speed up drying out the pollen. I now am getting great results following these procedures :
***AS SOON AS FLOWERS OPEN, COLLECT POLLEN BY SCRAPING IT OFF OFTHE ANTHERS WITH A SHARP FLAT METAL BLADE INTO AN AIRTIGHT CONTAINER. EVEN SHAKING THE FLOWER WILL CAUSE A LOT OF POLLEN TO FALL. DO NOT REMOVE THE ANTHERS. CLOSE THE CONTAINER AND KEEP AT ROOM TEMPERATURE.
***AT DUSK, POLLINATE THE STIGMAS USING A NATURAL HAIR ART BRUSH. I read years ago online that if it rains within 2 hours after pollination, no fruit will set. I think this is not because the rain will harm the pollen, but because it will completely wash the pollen off since yellow passion pollen is very heavy, dense, and fluffy. This is why wind will not do the job. This is why bees won't do the job either because they steal all the pollen early in the afternoon before the stigmas are receptive. If there is a little moisture on the stigmas at dusk, I think it actually makes the stigmas more sticky and holds the pollen better !
***POLLINATE THE SAME BLOSSOMS AGAIN THE NEXT MORNING AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. THE FLOWERS WILL HAVE CLOSED, SO TAGGING MIGHT HELP IF IT IS HARD TO TELL WHICH ARE NEW. THIS IS REALLY JUST A BACKUP PLAN IN CASE THE DUSK ATTEMPT FAILED. IT MAY NOT BE NECESSARY BUT I FEEL CERTAIN THE STIGMAS ARE STILL RECEPTIVE AS THEY ARE STILL LIGHT COLORED AND THE POLLEN SEEMS TO STICK IN THE MORNING AS WELL.
I don't think many yellow varieties will self-pollinate, but I recommend trying this procedure on any varieties of passion fruit.