After just a few weeks of research, I took the plunge and have constructed a 40-foot trellis and have planted 2 varieties: Ison (black, self-fertile) and Darlene (bronze, female).

I ordered from Ison's Nursery in Georgia. I found their instructional videos, their website, and their selection to be top-notch.

I got the "2-year plus" bareroot plants. One is probably 8 feet long, the other just over 5 feet. So they are already tall enough to hit my trellis wire.

My main concern is the strength of my trellis and whether I will have to brace the end posts. I sunk 6x6's in concrete as deep as I could get them (not as deep as I wish). One 4x4 line post in the middle, also in concrete about 2 feet.

I am trying these "wire vice" thingies:
https://www.amazon.com/Anchor-Vices-Trellis-Coated-Tightening/dp/B01BMV7E7W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1482611595&sr=8-3&keywords=wire+vice+grape

i haven't actually installed the wire (9 gauge galvanized) yet - it's the last thing I have to do.

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So what are your plans for all the seeds you're collecting?

The ones I keep are going to spend the next 100 days in a big bag of moist peat moss in the fridge like I did with last year's. The first batches will be ready for sowing by mid-December. If last year's pattern holds, I should get the first sprouts sometime in February. Last year's seedlings didn't fare so well because I was out of town so long and I couldn't take care of them. An earlier start and better planning should alleviate this.

The rest I'm going to send off to other people who want to try growing them. I might also use them to trade for some rare seeds, as pawpaw seeds seem to be highly sought-after on this site.

The ones you sprout, are you planting on your property in an orchard setup? No real reason to ask, just curious.
Oh, and also for my benefit, how are you sprouting/germinating your seeds (medium, light, temp, etc)?
Cheers!

Burn in small sections. Once you have cleared your patch it may be a wise idea to rest the beds, if you havnt got anything for the diseases to survive on they die out and then practice crop rotation. If you plant same species or similar species in the same spot season after season you will get a build up of disease in the soil. Hope this helps.

Yes, thanks!!
I will definitely be rotating in the future. Also was contemplating taking next summer off too.

Ok, a few of the wild fruits I last picked definitely had a textbook bitter taste. So what I said above is kind of out the window.

Upon further reading, I believe what i've described as "gamey" is officially called "resinous." Sort of fills the back of the nostrils with a lacquer or varnish - VOC - sensation. Very unpleasant

Room? a simple trellis 5'-6' high 10'-12' in a sunny location will give you grapes.

Hmm, yeah I tend to underestimate the space I have. I might be able to squeeze something like that in. I have a postage stamp plot in an urban (small town) area.

But aren't grapes complicated to grow? You make it sound easy   Clearly I have never studied the first thing about viticulture.

Visited the patches yesterday.

One patch, the smaller of the 2 closest to me, basically has nothing. Maybe 4 small fruits.
The larger patch was loaded with fruits, and contrary to my prior report, there were several hefty ones.

I estimate these at close to 6 ounces:


This behemoth is the biggest single pawpaw I've seen outside of cultivation (and possibly in cultivation). I'd say it's 25-30% bigger than the fruits above:


Perfect shape on that one.

They are all hard as rocks

But another tree I have been monitoring in a nearby urban park was already dropping fruits as of last weekend. Judging by the rotted fruits already on the ground, I would say it started ripening around the first of August. Here are the fruits I gathered:




Beautiful yellow fruits with no phyllosticta and a dark orangey flesh. Tasted great - easily the best "wild" pawpaw I've tasted.

Ok, I've officially wasted too much time on this!

But you can get descriptions of the doodles here: https://www.google.com/doodles?q=2016%20doodle%20fruit%20games


They claim today's animation is a LYCHEE and a Fig. Ok, are they that uninformed or do I not know what a lychee looks like?!?!

(and Rob - it does look like most other fruits have been things like Apples and Pears...sigh)

I really don't think the volley ball characters are a rambutan, fig, or any other fruit...

I hear ya. I was basing that on the website http://g.co/fruit which displays when you hover over the Doodle.
Previous days' Doodles were clearly fruits like grapes, etc

My veggie/fruit garden is plagued with every kind of disease known to man, it seems.

Literally every plant I have, from tomatoes to melons, has one or more diseases. My cucurbit plants are the most affected, but really everything has something.

Things are still producing (except for several tomatoes that were felled by disease) but clearly they are not happy.

So I was thinking of burning the whole area - the beds and the "yard" around it - to hopefully knock back the disease and also the chiggers that make going back to the garden a pain in the rear, literally.

Anyone have experience with controlled yard or garden burns that can offer advice or suggestions? I've already done some research but I always like to hear from folks here.

Very nice. You're ahead of me considering I don't have any in the ground. Good luck!

I always assume that if they drop, they are ripe. The seeds have to be colored up, if they are white then there is usually little flavor. Some people like them heavily wrinkled and others eat them with only a little bit. I'm not sure there are any hard and fast rules. My P. edulis is in full swing so right now that is what I am eating. The fruit comes in waves and there is enough to make a juice from or drizzle over fruit salad. I've got to figure out a way to grow a ton of these.

Thanks for the info - yeah, I went ahead and ate this one 2 days after it fell. It was....okay. I don't have enough experience eating these to really know what to expect.
I have 20 something fruits forming, so I will experiment and see what I can see.

I don't want to take this thread on a tangent, but how are you managing your edulis? In a pot that you bring indoors? If so, what kind of setup do you have indoors?

I am starting to fear that incarnata may not be worth growing for fruit......edulis is so far superior, it seems.

If I had the resources, I would love to try to breed a great-tasting incarnata.

This "Iridescence" vine is supposed to be just that, but I have not tasted yet. So far I am disappointed - the fruits are the smallest of all the vines I have growing - not much bigger than golf balls 

P.S. I actually really like eating the maypop skin...it has the funkiest sweet/savory flavor, makes me think of sweet potato or parsnip chips.

Quote from: Triloba Tracker on July 20, 2016, 04:34:17 PM

Not worth a hill of beans to the conversation, but Passiflora incarnata often has red stems. not always.

Hmm, weird.  I'm growing a bunch of seeds of P. incarnata I got from googer (a forum member) but they're all green stemmed.

Word. If it does manifest, it's often once the vine matures a bit.
Also, it seems to be highly dependent on growing conditions, probably sunlight exposure most of all.

My first fruit dropped yesterday.
A good-sized one, 7 inch circumference (2.22 inch diameter).

So now my new mission is to understand how long I should let it ripen for optimal flavor.
In the past I've waited a few days until it's pretty wrinkly like an edulis.
But it's quite fragrant already - I'm tempted to try it now.

Anyone have any solid experience as to when to crack into these suckers?