Author Topic: Best tasting Passionfruit available in the US? (Read 11494 times)

simon_grow · « **on:** September 25, 2012, 02:08:38 PM »

Hello everyone, I was wondering what is considered the best tasting passionfruit that we can find in the US? I recently picked up some purple passionfruit from the farmers market and gave it a try and thought they were extremely delicious. They had an intoxicating aroma and were kinda sweet with a lot of acidity. Some of the more wrinkled fruit were quite sweet but I have a really bad sweet tooth and prefer extremely sweet fruit. I am also growing miracle fruit at home and when I tried the Passionfruit after taking a Miracle Fruit, OMG, freaking amazing!!!

I'm serious everyone, if you have not tried passionfruit with miraclefruit, you have to put this on your "to do" list, ASAP!!! OK, now I'm going off on a tangent but I have to also mention that I grow strawberries in my backyard but I rarely get any fruit because birds and insects always eat the ripe red strawberries before I can get to them. After taking a miracle fruit, I decided to try some of my strawberries that were white but with just a hint of pink/red on them and they were absolutely amazing!!! With miracle fruit, I can harvest my strawberries when they are fully sized and just starting to turn color. This way, I can avoid competition with birds and insects and I assume they will also last a lot longer in the refrigerator.

OK, to get back on track, I am looking for what you consider the best tasting Passionfruit that we can get(Plants) in the US. I would like a variety that is excellent eating quality out of hand without the use of miracle fruit, so, something that is already sweet and flavorful, ideally self fruitful. I would also like another variety and it is ok if this variety is a little more sour and I am ok with hand pollinating this second variety. I know pretty much nothing about passionfruit so any information you can give will be greatly appreciated including links and contacts to where I might find some of these suggested varieties.

I did a little google search and realize that many passionfruit varieties are self incompatible. From my searches, I have also found that the common P edulis is highly recommended for its full flavor, ease of care and also production. The other variety that gets a lot of good reviews is the Sweet Lilikoi, I believe this is P. flavicarpa? Other species that get mentioned quite a bit are P. maliformis- sweet; maracuja-concoction of leaves can make you sleepy; ligularis-sweet, low acidity; quadrangularis? Thanks in advance for your help!
Simon

tabbydan · « **Reply #1 on:** September 25, 2012, 02:51:19 PM »

P edulis is the tip of the iceberg.
It is REALLY SAD how few passiflora we can get whole fruits of in this country.

If you have the space and you live in a tropical or semi-tropical zone get seeds and grow a whole bunch of different ones.

When I travel I mainly see the big two P. edulis and P. ligularis. Both are quite nice but I'd really like to try more.

P edulis is purple and P edulis v flavicarpa is yellow but they are basically the same thing on the inside.

FlyingFoxFruits · « **Reply #2 on:** September 25, 2012, 03:41:39 PM »

Berto has this one covered for u. His maracuja was amazing...and the best of the 8 or so varieties I've tasted.

hope u find a winner!

I planted some seeds that are supposed to be good varieties, but we won't know until years from now...if I can fruit them without freezing them first!

Tim · « **Reply #3 on:** September 25, 2012, 04:09:05 PM »

I have some seedlings of that Giant Yellow Brazilian you can have, though I'm not sure if it meets your pollination requirements?

red durian · « **Reply #4 on:** September 25, 2012, 07:35:49 PM »

P. laurifolia is amazing out of hand. BTW, I also am impressed with miracle fruit and sour passion fruit. It isn't like using miracle fruit with lime juice where you get a weird extra flavour. The weird flavour is either masked or not present with passion fruit.

bangkok · « **Reply #5 on:** November 26, 2012, 03:51:13 AM »

I also want to grow passionfruit against my fence. I saw nice ones on Chatuchak weekendmarket but will those fruits grow in Bangkok? I think the plants from the market come from North Thailand where the climate is a little colder then here.

If i can grow them here will they flower and give fruits? I have a nice place in the full sun for them but i want a specie that can pollinate itself.

What species should i buy? I saw one with nice red flowers but i dont know if the fruits will be sweet. Here in the supermarkets we can buy very sweet passionfruits but they are imported for some reason. I assume there is a problem with growing them in Bangkok and also a problem with growing sweet ones.

Does anybody have information or tips about growing them in Bangkok?

Mike T · « **Reply #6 on:** November 26, 2012, 04:07:23 AM »

Thailand imports some yellow and red flavicarpas and misty gem edulis from here I am told but no thai people I know were aware of them .I have tried many passionfruit around thailand from chang mai to Ubon and bangkok and they are sour and terrible.Thai visitors here are in a state of shock when they have proper sweet flavicarpas and edulis.My advice is don't grow local passionfruit.Get seeds of supersweet flavicarpas that will thrive in Bangkok such as panama gold or red.Make sure they get potassium and suphur in the fertilzer to make them even sweeter and watch the locals spin out when they try them.
Panamas are self fertile and don't need hand pollination.African yellows are the same and are exquisite in taste without a feather of sourness.

african yellow

panama red,yellow and 2 sweet edulis types.

bangkok · « **Reply #7 on:** November 26, 2012, 06:21:19 AM »

Wow thanks Mike, that purple one i have seen in the supermarkets for a high price. So if i grow the seeds from them i will get the same fruits after some years?

I read that it is best to plant them in a pot, i can do that but also in the soil. I think they will be stolen maybe but that's fine, maybe they pick one and then come to ask me where i bought that plant haha. I hope the squarrels don't like them because we have loads of them jumping around.

Yes the thai ones are terrible, first i only wanted to buy passionfruit for the flowers but i studied a little on this forum and found that i better try to grow them for the fruits as well.

I will go to Chatuchak wednesday again and see what they sell there. If they are sour ones i will grow them from the seeds from supermarket ones.

Mike T · « **Reply #8 on:** November 26, 2012, 06:30:21 AM »

The big sweet purple will grow well in bangkok.Only plant seeds of the sweetest one you can find and it can fruit at around 1 year old.The ones that are heavy and more orange inside are usually sweeter as well.

bangkok · « **Reply #9 on:** November 26, 2012, 07:00:59 AM »

One day i bought the big sweet ones in Villa-market. My wife looked at them and did not even want to taste them.

When i convinced her they are sweet she loved them haha.

I will buy the biggest ones that i can find and grow them in a nice pot against the fence and a tree.

bangkok · « **Reply #10 on:** November 27, 2012, 06:18:09 AM »

Well i bought the sweet passionfruits from Australia again. I can eat them but they are not that sweet, just eatable without sugar. I think for the thai they are not sweet enough but i will test it on them.

I know nothing beats thai fruits in sweetness but are there really sweet passionfruits? If so then i will go to Siam Paragon to find more sweet ones.

I put some seeds in nice soil so let's see if i can grow them.

Mike T · « **Reply #11 on:** November 27, 2012, 06:25:53 AM »

Bangkok you will know immediately when you get them.See if they have a variety name on them.

forumfool · « **Reply #12 on:** November 27, 2012, 03:02:08 PM »

I grow edulis (Frederick) here in Nor Cal. Taste great, self fertile and grows like a weed...

CRFG has a page on Passionfruit..

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/passionfruit.html

The larger type bees do pollinate it but when I hand pollinate the fruit gets much larger for some reason.

Here is a video of my vine:

http://youtu.be/_tVyAvW_tik

red durian · « **Reply #13 on:** November 27, 2012, 06:07:21 PM »

P. quadrangularis is sweet, but not much yummy portion to eat compared to its size and never so many on the plant. It must be in the US. I have seen it in Belize, Dominica, Trinidad and my wife's village in Java. In Trinidad a lady told me that she likes to mix the soft, cucumber-like stuff under the skin (which is not sweet or sour) with milk and sugar in a blender.
Great to read from MikeT that P.edulis can be sweet. I had assumed they would always be sour.
In Oman, supermarkets sold imported P. ligularis for about 3 USD per fruit. P. ligularis is a high-land tropical fruit, so probably won't do well in Bangkok, but maybe in California?

bangkok · « **Reply #14 on:** November 27, 2012, 06:39:03 PM »

You should hear the noises that my wife makes when she ate the passionfruit yesterday haha. They were not sweet enough for her.

I paid 150 baht for about a kg, that is like 5 us$, they were labeled Doi Kham sweet passionfruit from the Royal Project ( i see that now). That is a big farm from the Thai King in Chiang Mai where they grow all kinds of organic fruits to show the thai people how they can grow healthy vegy and fruit.

Which species i got i don't know, Thai don't tell the species i never see that.

Well never mind, i will go to another supermarket to buy the nice ones then.

Mike T · « **Reply #15 on:** November 27, 2012, 07:01:01 PM »

P.quadrangularis is just the common 'granadilla' here with the flesh stewed and eaten like melon and the pulp with juice the best bit.There are a few forms with extra big ones to maybe 3 kgs and much smaller rounder types as well.They vary alot in quality and I assume it is more than just due to environmental conditions.They were very popular before 1960 and the old timers remember them fondly with elderly folks often having a vine in the yard.
When it comes to passionfruit the big sweet red and yellow flavicarpas and some of the sweetest flavicarpa x edulis leave all the rest for dead in my opinion and they are some of the finest of all fruit.Children certainly love them.

red durian · « **Reply #16 on:** November 27, 2012, 07:29:05 PM »

Quote from: bangkok on November 27, 2012, 06:39:03 PM

Which species i got i don't know, Thai don't tell the species i never see that.

If you post a photo of the fruit on this forum, someone will probably tell you what species of passion fruit you have. Alternatively, you could do a google image search with a list of Passiflora species names until you see the fruit you bought.

BMc · « **Reply #17 on:** November 27, 2012, 08:07:19 PM »

I've made a marmelade out of the pulp and inner shell of panama golds. Its not too bad. Needs a bit more sour and could do with a few old sour edulis, but these are getting hard to find now, with everyone growing panama types and sweet blacks.

bangkok · « **Reply #18 on:** November 28, 2012, 07:14:49 AM »

I have to buy new battery's for the camera because they are dead and my cellphone is too complicated to get a pic to the notebook. I will go to buy the sweet ones soon.

simon_grow · « **Reply #19 on:** April 12, 2015, 10:22:16 AM »

Anyone have updated suggestions on the best tasting sweet type of Passionfruit? I'm looking for a variety that will grow here in San Diego that is sweet and still has that exotic tropical passionfruit taste. It doesn't matter if it's self fertile or not. There are several threads regarding passionfruit but I'm looking for the most updated information regarding what you feel is the best.

I think it was Mike T that had a thread regarding several selections from Australia and I was wondering if anyone got a hold of any seeds and if so, has are they doing and how do they taste? I've only ever tasted some purple, purple with some red and a couple yellows from the farmers markets. They were all unnamed but i believe the purple is P Edulis, Fredricks just because this variety is common in this area. The purple can be quite sweet and it has that perfect tropical flavor I'm looking for but if only it were a little sweeter. I hope I can find a consistently sweet passionfruit that retains that rich tropical passionfruit flavor. Thanks for any suggestions!
Simon

Tetsu0 · « **Reply #20 on:** April 12, 2015, 11:25:48 AM »

I'm also looking for a source for a sweet passiflora edulis or hybrid. All I can find locally are unnamed yellow and purple varieties.

barath · « **Reply #21 on:** April 12, 2015, 11:42:48 AM »

Simon, I've been on the same hunt as you, and here's what I'm growing this year. My rooftop garden where I grow these has a San Diego-like climate though it's windy, so you should get better results than I do. I don't have extra seeds at the moment, but I will be coming down to San Diego in June and can give you plants:

P. edulis Frederick -- which is our California standard, but I find kind of boring tasting; egg-shaped purple fruits

P. edulis Black Knight -- which is a little less common, but also another Worley selection that nurseries carry and I think is the sweetest of the standard varieties; slower growing but the yield is higher for me than Frederick (probably because Frederick is too vigorous); small round purple/black fruits

P. edulis flavicarpa Sweet Lilikoi -- I got lucky and got a sweet Hawaiian lilikoi cutting from someone (the more common ones are sour, though there is a large range); the plant is vigorous and produces large yellow fruits that were as sweet as Black Knight but with a bit more aroma to them.

P. ligularis -- reported to be the best tasting species (but some say it's a bit boring because the flavor is not complex), but it's so wind sensitive it gets beaten up for me. It grows fine in our weather, and should fruit well in San Diego. Seems to like growing in partial shade with wind protection.

P. laurifolia -- my favorite passionfruit that I've ever tasted (in Hawaii), so I brought some seeds back and planted them indoors. It's now a huge vine on an indoor trellis but may not get enough direct sun every day to flower/fruit -- we'll see. Egg shaped yellow/orange fruit with leathery skin, and a perfume like aroma and low acidity. I would bet this could fruit outdoors in San Diego given a hot, wind-protected, zone 10b/11a spot in the garden. If I remember right this fruits on old growth, so it takes longer to start producing.

P. parritae x P. antioquiensis Mission Dolores -- a Carlos Rendon cross reported to produce tasty fruit, but more of a cloudforest plant (i.e. something that grows well only in San Francisco). I grew it fine with afternoon shade until we got a week of 80 degree weather and it died in a matter of days. Might do okay for you in 100% shade.

P. alata -- been growing this for a while, but also seems sensitive to wind and so the plant keeps growing and then getting beaten up on windy days, which sets it back many weeks of growth. Not sure about the fruit, but I have heard it's good.

Then there are the more recent things I'm growing this year for the first time:

P. quadrangularis -- got cuttings for this over the winter and started them; very interesting leaves / stems (huge!) but no idea about the fruit.

P. maliformis -- started seedlings of this; supposedly the fruit is good. May be too tropical to fruit here.

P. pinnatistipula -- started seedlings of this; more of a cloudforest plant. Supposedly the fruit is good, a sort of bubble gum flavor. Fruits are small.

P. edulis Panama Red -- one of the Australian varieties I'm trying out for the first time this year.

P. edulis Panama Gold -- another of the Australian varieties I'm trying out for the first time this year. (Might be P. edulis flavicarpa.)

P. edulis Misty Gem -- another one of the Australian varieties I'm trying out for the first time this year.

P. edulis Pandora -- another one of the Australian varieties I'm trying out for the first time this year. (Might be P. edulis flavicarpa)

P. ambigua -- a edible fruited passionfruit I know little about, but am trying this year.

I might be forgetting one, but in any case, I'm hoping some of these new ones (and some of the previous ones that didn't fruit yet) will be good.

barath · « **Reply #22 on:** April 12, 2015, 12:08:38 PM »

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

SocalKoop · « **Reply #23 on:** April 12, 2015, 12:15:54 PM »

Damn Barath... you must have a hell of a long fence....

When these get full grown aren't you worried about not being able to find your house under them?

simon_grow · « **Reply #24 on:** April 12, 2015, 01:32:52 PM »

Wow Barath,

You've got quite the collection. I'm very interested in the Australian selections and I recall reading about them on another thread. I wish I could taste all the different varieties so that I can decide which one suits my palate. I know that these passionfruit can get huge but I'm going to try to keep mine well pruned to keep it under 15 feet. Please keep the suggestions coming!
Simon

simon_grow · « **Reply #25 on:** April 12, 2015, 01:50:20 PM »

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 · « **Reply #26 on:** April 12, 2015, 03:52:33 PM »

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 · « **Reply #27 on:** April 13, 2015, 12:55:30 AM »

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 · « **Reply #28 on:** April 13, 2015, 01:30:31 AM »

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 · « **Reply #29 on:** April 13, 2015, 01:49:47 AM »

Quote from: CGameProgrammer on April 13, 2015, 01:30:31 AM

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 · « **Reply #30 on:** March 14, 2018, 09:01:40 PM »

Quote from: barath on April 12, 2015, 12:08:38 PM

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 · « **Reply #31 on:** March 14, 2018, 09:15:28 PM »

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 · « **Reply #32 on:** March 14, 2018, 09:22:25 PM »

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 · « **Reply #33 on:** March 14, 2018, 09:44:02 PM »

Quote from: spaugh on March 14, 2018, 09:22:25 PM

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 · « **Reply #34 on:** March 14, 2018, 11:40:13 PM »

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 · « **Reply #35 on:** March 15, 2018, 12:18:13 AM »

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

spaugh · « **Reply #36 on:** March 15, 2018, 12:46:28 AM »

Quote from: beicadad on March 14, 2018, 11:40:13 PM

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 · « **Reply #37 on:** March 15, 2018, 01:16:34 AM »

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 · « **Reply #38 on:** March 15, 2018, 03:28:41 AM »

Quote from: beicadad on March 14, 2018, 11:40:13 PM

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 · « **Reply #39 on:** March 15, 2018, 06:00:20 PM »

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 · « **Reply #40 on:** March 15, 2018, 06:06:44 PM »

Quote from: HoangNguyen on March 15, 2018, 06:00:20 PM

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 · « **Reply #41 on:** March 15, 2018, 09:00:16 PM »

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 · « **Reply #42 on:** March 16, 2018, 01:56:53 PM »

Quote from: barath on March 14, 2018, 09:15:28 PM

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.

Quote

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 · « **Reply #43 on:** March 16, 2018, 02:04:24 PM »

Quote from: beicadad on March 15, 2018, 09:00:16 PM

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 · « **Reply #44 on:** March 16, 2018, 02:08:31 PM »

Quote from: greenman62 on March 16, 2018, 01:56:53 PM

Quote from: barath on March 14, 2018, 09:15:28 PM
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.

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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 · « **Reply #45 on:** March 16, 2018, 02:30:14 PM »

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 · « **Reply #46 on:** March 16, 2018, 05:26:16 PM »

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 · « **Reply #47 on:** March 16, 2018, 05:50:33 PM »

Quote from: Sam on March 16, 2018, 05:26:16 PM

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.

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