Best tasting Passionfruit available in the US?

[simon_grow]

Some good links:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=9288.25
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=2034.msg36104#msg36104
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=12484.msg159920#msg159920

Trellis
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=14324.msg190092#msg190092

Simon

[Mike T]

Pandora,Panama red and Panama gold are flavicarpa but misty gem is edulis.Quadrangularis vines are much like giant alata and these two can cross.

[barath]

I'm growing these in a rooftop container garden, so we had to build trellises for them up there.  The fact that they're in containers (some in #5 pots, some in ~10 gallon pots) means that each vine only produces several dozen fruit rather than the hundreds people get with in-ground vines, but I'm ok with that.  The one thing I've realized in doing these trials is that it's really important to just try out varieties in your microclimate to see how they do -- I had heard there was no way Lilikoi would fruit let alone taste good with the mild summers we have here, but luckily they were good (if not very high yielding, but that I think was my mistake of giving too much nitrogen).

Simon, I'm happy to bring you whichever you think has potential for you -- I'd guess in San Diego virtually all of these will do well, and at that point it's just a matter of growing them all for a year or two to pick the best ones.

[CGameProgrammer]

I found this link on laurifolia which they call "water lemon". Of note, they say it seems not to be self-pollinating and cross-pollination is required, and also that the flowers only open in the afternoon. Sounds like getting fruit might be difficult.

[barath]

I found this link on laurifolia which they call "water lemon". Of note, they say it seems not to be self-pollinating and cross-pollination is required, and also that the flowers only open in the afternoon. Sounds like getting fruit might be difficult.

I think it shouldn't be too bad if grown from seed, or at least the sloppy way I grow from seed where I put several seeds in a pot and usually end up getting a tangled bunch of 4 or 5 vines all in one container.  With that approach you kind of automatically have many slightly different plants which can (hopefully) pollinate one another.  I'd be excited to see one of you in San Diego try out P. laurifolia.  I know it's grown commercially in South Florida by at least one farmer I spoke with, but it does seem to actually prefer a drier climate than other Passifloras so San Diego might be great for it.  (If you really want to ensure cross pollination, you could get a vine of P. nigradenia and try using that.)

[beicadad]

I forgot to add: I'm still looking for seeds of three Australian varieties -- African Gold, Sweetheart, and Supersweet.

Barath, is it possible to update findings of your collection? very useful info BTW

[barath]

The batches of Australian passionfruits I got from various U.S. based vendors were all duds -- while most germinated, they were strange P. edulis plants (they had red stems, which was weird for P. edulis) and didn't ever flower or fruit, even in a greenhouse.

I did get a batch of Australian seed from a forum member that is doing well and just flowered for the first time, so we'll see how that does.

As for other Passifloras, P. alata did well for me and flowered a ton and fruited a bit (with hand pollination), and the fruit was good.  I also got P. nigradenia to flower, but it didn't like the cold winter -- it might do better in San Diego.

I haven't had good luck with tacsonias but the locations I was growing them in the East Bay were probably a bit too warm in the summer.  I have had very good P. antioquiensis fruit grown here by others in the East Bay in near total shade, and I think generally it's a good one to grow in mild coastal California areas (along with "Mission Dolores").  None of the banana passionfruits of other types I've had are worthwhile.

I also have had good luck with grafting Passifloras -- I have generally used P. caerulea as rootstock for the more tropical ones, and it does help their growth, but P. caerulea suckers too much so I wouldn't recommend it.  In San Diego, "Frederick" might be a good rootstock for many of the more tropical Passifloras -- I'm moving to SoCal soon and plan to use it as rootstock.

[spaugh]

barath, I just saw this thread for the first time.  Wow you have quite the collection of passionfruit.  I would be interested in acquiring cuttings from you if they are available.  I have a "red rover" edulis and fredrick and a baby lilikoi that is still getting started in the greenhouse.  The red rovers seem better tasting but smaller than fredrick so far but plants are still less than 1 year old. 

What part of southern CA are you moving to?

[barath]

barath, I just saw this thread for the first time.  Wow you have quite the collection of passionfruit.  I would be interested in acquiring cuttings from you if they are available.  I have a "red rover" edulis and fredrick and a baby lilikoi that is still getting started in the greenhouse.  The red rovers seem better than fredrick so far but plants are still less than 1 year old. 

What part of southern CA are you moving to?

Sure, I'd be happy to share.  I'm moving to the LA area (still looking, so I don't know exactly where).

I realized I didn't update on all of my experiments in my reply above.  Here are a few of the others:

Black Knight -- the fruits are good but the vine is just not vigorous enough.  I mostly gave up on it.

P. edulis flavicarpa Sweet Lilikoi -- it's a nice variety I got and I've been really happy to get fruit from it once in a while.  It's required hand pollination because it's not self fertile and it seems to flower on a different schedule than my normal P. edulis plants.

P. ligularis -- I gave up on this because it was too wind sensitive (and also sensitive to full sun).  Probably worth trying in the shade of a big tree in SoCal.

P. laurifolia -- my vines of this are enormous but have been indoors for years at this point.  I'd probably take cuttings and graft them on Frederick for trying in SoCal.

P. quadrangularis -- I gave up on this because it was a bit too tropical and I haven't heard good things about the fruit.

P. maliformis -- never got this to flower even in a greenhouse.

P. pinnatistipula -- fruit was small and not very tasty.

P. ambigua -- never got this to germinate.

[beicadad]

Thanks Barath. For SoCal what’s your top 5?

Spaugh, I have Fredrick and young Blight Knight vine. Trying to graft BK to Fredrick. How does red rover taste and is it vigorous? Fredrick is very rigorous but is a little too tart to me.

[Mugenia]

Can P. quadrangularis survive Southern California winter? I am planting some this year.

[spaugh]

Thanks Barath. For SoCal what’s your top 5?

Spaugh, I have Fredrick and young Blight Knight vine. Trying to graft BK to Fredrick. How does red rover taste and is it vigorous? Fredrick is very rigorous but is a little too tart to me.

Too soon for me to draw too many conclusions but red rover fruits are more flavorful than fredrick so far.  Both vines are growing crazy fast. 

That said, flowers and fruit look very similar.  They are both edulis cultivars and not significant difference.  I may yank one and replace with a different species later this year.  The problem with these plants is they take so much space.  Hard to cram in a lot of different types.

[beicadad]

You can easily create some structure for the vines with your large lot. Or you can grow them in pots to control size. I am growing them in containers

[barath]

Thanks Barath. For SoCal what’s your top 5?

Spaugh, I have Fredrick and young Blight Knight vine. Trying to graft BK to Fredrick. How does red rover taste and is it vigorous? Fredrick is very rigorous but is a little too tart to me.

I think it depends on taste.  I think P. edulis still is the best all round passionfruit we can grow in California.  I imagine the Australian varieties are better, but for us Red Rover, Black Knight, and Frederick are all worth growing, as are sweet selections of Lilikoi.  You might also try Mission Dolores if you live in a coastal area of SoCal and P. alata if you are frost free and inland with more heat.

[HoangNguyen]

The group of granadilla such as Sweet Granadilla (passiflora ligularis) , Fragrant Granadilla (passiflora alata), and Giant Granadilla (passiflora quadrangularis)  taste much better than passiflora edulis.

[barath]

The group of granadilla such as Sweet Granadilla (passiflora ligularis) , Fragrant Granadilla (passiflora alata), and Giant Granadilla (passiflora quadrangularis)  taste much better than passiflora edulis.

I'm not sure I agree, but I guess everyone has different taste in these things.  P. ligularis and P. alata are pretty tasty but their seeds are annoying and don't taste good (moreso than P. edulis seeds).

I think P. laurifolia is the best I've tasted...

[beicadad]

Thanks Barath. Wish I yard is larger to plant more PF vines. Wonder if I can acquire a few cuttings from you.

Am practicing PF vine grafting and will find out if those take. 

[greenman62]

The batches of Australian passionfruits I got from various U.S. based vendors were all duds -- while most germinated, they were strange P. edulis plants (they had red stems, which was weird for P. edulis) and didn't ever flower or fruit, even in a greenhouse.

i have an Edulis, about 4yrs old with red stems.
 i get a few flowers here and there, no fruit.
pretty sure i bought it as "Purple possum", maybe they grew it from seed ?

glad to know they can graft, i might keep the root which is larger than my wrist now.

i just grew another edulis too. 1 1/2 yrs last fall, had tons of flowers, no fruit.

ive grown Maypop (Incarnata) 4 times from seed... , got fruit every single time.
once, the vine was only 5ft tall in a 3gal pot, produced 1 very tasty fruit.
Maypop is also more cold hardy than edulis... it is vigorous, and can sucker though.
Maypop grows wild on the gulf coast. (i think a type of bananna passi does to)

and i think that is a trick to make them flower/fruit is to constrict the roots.
i would use a 7 to 15gal container.

I have 2 maypop growing from seed now... still kinda small for cuttings
but PM me in a month or 2 , i will propagate 4 or 5 just in case.

I did get a batch of Australian seed from a forum member that is doing well and just flowered for the first time, so we'll see how that does.

   None of the banana passionfruits of other types I've had are worthwhile.

let us know about the Aussie types
the hot climate might be a better match of me in South Louisiana

i just bought bananna passi seeds
is the fruit that bad ? ive read it was good, just not as good as flavicarpa, ligularis.

here my edulis / possum purple (red stems - no fruit)




Maypop vine + flowers.

[barath]

Thanks Barath. Wish I yard is larger to plant more PF vines. Wonder if I can acquire a few cuttings from you.

Am practicing PF vine grafting and will find out if those take.

Sure -- I'd be happy to share.  Remind me later this year.

[barath]

The batches of Australian passionfruits I got from various U.S. based vendors were all duds -- while most germinated, they were strange P. edulis plants (they had red stems, which was weird for P. edulis) and didn't ever flower or fruit, even in a greenhouse.

i have an Edulis, about 4yrs old with red stems.
 i get a few flowers here and there, no fruit.
pretty sure i bought it as "Purple possum", maybe they grew it from seed ?

glad to know they can graft, i might keep the root which is larger than my wrist now.

i just grew another edulis too. 1 1/2 yrs last fall, had tons of flowers, no fruit.

ive grown Maypop (Incarnata) 4 times from seed... , got fruit every single time.
once, the vine was only 5ft tall in a 3gal pot, produced 1 very tasty fruit.
Maypop is also more cold hardy than edulis... it is vigorous, and can sucker though.
Maypop grows wild on the gulf coast. (i think a type of bananna passi does to)

and i think that is a trick to make them flower/fruit is to constrict the roots.
i would use a 7 to 15gal container.

I have 2 maypop growing from seed now... still kinda small for cuttings
but PM me in a month or 2 , i will propagate 4 or 5 just in case.

I did get a batch of Australian seed from a forum member that is doing well and just flowered for the first time, so we'll see how that does.

   None of the banana passionfruits of other types I've had are worthwhile.

let us know about the Aussie types
the hot climate might be a better match of me in South Louisiana

i just bought bananna passi seeds
is the fruit that bad ? ive read it was good, just not as good as flavicarpa, ligularis.

here my edulis / possum purple (red stems - no fruit)




Maypop vine + flowers.

Your red-stem edulis looks exactly like the "Australian" seedlings I got when I grew seeds from U.S. vendors like Georgia Vines, and I never got fruit or flowers.

As for banana passionfruit -- it's a broad category that covers many of the tacsonias, and some of them are good, like P. antioquiensis or "Mission Dolores", but they are among the rarer ones.  The more common banana passionfruits that grow around Northern California are bland or sour.  I'm not sure antio would be well suited to Southern Louisiana.

[roblack]

My incarnata is huge and blooms like crazy, yet haven't seen a single fruit yet.

So far, Panama Red has been the tastiest I've tried. Good producer too.

Waiting for orgiant, nitida, and laurifolia to flower and fruit.

[Sam]

Forgive me for the noob question but how do I hand pollinate Passiflora?

Is it recommend to use flowers from one plant to pollinate another or can I use flowers from the same plant?

[barath]

Forgive me for the noob question but how do I hand pollinate Passiflora?

Is it recommend to use flowers from one plant to pollinate another or can I use flowers from the same plant?

I just rip off the anthers from a flower or two and rub them on the stigmas.  Normal P. edulis is generally self-fertile.  P. edulis flavicarpa is not quite as self fertile, just as P. alata and others, so crossing is better.  Many Passiflora species can pollinate each other.

[Mike T]

Passionfruit are under rated.The enny variety is like a 3vsided pyramid heavy and full and tastes amazing.Rosewster and rich passionfruit and it must the finest I have ever tried.Better than pandora and the Panamas.A new edulis at the market behind the expensive mangoes are really good but humbled by the best flavicarpas.They need to make it big in America I think.

[brian]

Do you guys just slurp down the whole slimy mess of flesh and seeds like an oyster?  I love the taste of passionfruit but the appearance and texture is repulsive to me.