If you live in a warm climate where there are no harsh winters, you can grow tropical passion fruit at home. The plant can be a bit difficult to handle and needs room to grow, but with enough attention and care, it will provide you with a steady harvest of the delicious fruit.
Steps
Part 1 of 4: Starting with Seeds
Step 1. Use fresh seeds
Freshly harvested passion fruit seeds germinate quickly, but old, dry seeds can take months to germinate if they do manage to develop.
- A few days before you intend to plant the seed, buy ripe passion fruit at a store. Open them and collect at least half a dozen seeds.
- Spread the seeds on a burlap and rub them until the juice sacs open.
- Wash the seeds in water and let them dry for three to four days before washing them again and drying them in the shade.
- If you plant the seeds right away, they should germinate within 10-20 days.
- If you need to store the seeds, place them in airtight plastic bags and refrigerate them for up to 6 months.
Step 2. Prepare a seedbed container
Ideally, you should start the passion fruit tendrils in a separate, protected container and then transplant them to the spot in the garden you have prepared. Choose a container no larger than 90 square centimeters.
Fill the container with a soil mixture made in equal parts from compost, good quality soil, and coarse sand. Fill the container with 10 cm of this mixture
Step 3. Dig shallow grooves
Scrape the soil in the seedbed container with a stick, spacing the grooves about 5 cm apart.
These furrows will serve as surface drains, useful for preventing moisture from soaking the seeds or their budding roots
Step 4. Plant the seeds
Place the seeds at a distance of 1 cm from each other within each furrow. Protect the seeds by covering them with a very thin layer of the mixture you have prepared.
- Water immediately after planting the seeds. Moisten the soil, without soaking it.
- After planting the seeds, all you need to do is provide an occasional splash of water when the soil surface dries.
Step 5. Transplant the seedlings
When the seedlings grow to a height of 20-25cm, they are ready to be transplanted to a permanent location in your garden.
Part 2 of 4: Start with the Cuttings
Step 1. Prepare a sand bed
Fill a plastic flower pot with a mixture of three parts of agricultural sand and one part of good quality soil. Mix the components carefully so that they are evenly distributed in the container.
Cuttings draw most of the moisture they need to grow from the atmosphere, as they have no roots at this stage. Consequently, it is not recommended to use soil that tends to retain a lot of moisture
Step 2. Take a cutting
Choose a healthy adult passion fruit plant to take a cutting. Cut off a portion of the tendril that contains at least three buds, if not more, by cutting it directly under the lowest shoot.
- Newer growths are more viable, so it is advisable to choose a newer part of the tendril rather than the older ones.
- Immediately plant this cutting in the sand bed.
Step 3. Keep the cutting in moist conditions
The best place for cutting a tendril is a greenhouse. If you don't have one, you can still build a humidistat by stretching a clear plastic sheet over a bamboo frame.
- Make sure any humid chamber used remains moist. Keep it in full sun and place it where the air is humid.
- If you need to have additional moisture, you can get it by turning on a humidifier or by inserting dishes with gravel filled with water around the base of the cutting.
Step 4. Transplant it once the roots have formed
The cuttings should form new roots within a week or two. They are now ready to be treated as described for the seedlings, and can be transplanted into a permanent space in the garden.
Part 3 of 4: Transplanting the Seedlings
Step 1. Choose the right position
Ideally, you should find a place that receives full sun and has no competing roots, such as tree roots, nearby.
- "Full sun" means six full hours of sunshine a day, if not more.
- The area should also be free of weeds. If there are some weeds, be sure to remove them before planting.
- Tendrils need space to climb and also to spread. Ideally, you should look for pre-made support structures, such as a wire fence, balcony or arbor. If none of these are available, you may want to prepare a trellis instead.
Step 2. Amend the soil
Passion fruit needs a light, deep soil that contains a lot of organic material. What is available in your garden is probably not of sufficient quality for the passion fruit needs, so you will need to improve the soil before planting seeds or tendrils.
- Mix the soil with compost before planting anything. Compost improves the texture and nutritional value of the soil. You may also experience rotten manure, leaf mulch, or other green plant waste.
- If the soil is particularly compact, you may want to lighten it by mixing a handful of coarse sand.
- Also pay attention to the pH of the soil. The pH should be between 6, 5 and 7, 5. If the soil is too acidic, mix in dolomite or agricultural lime.
Step 3. Transplant each seedling into a large hole
Dig a separate ditch for each seedling. Each hole should be twice as wide as the width of the plant to be planted, and the depth should be at least equal to that of the container in which the seedling to be transplanted is located.
- Carefully dig up or extract the passion fruit seedling and its root system from the container.
- Place the root system in the center of the hole, then fill the rest of the hole with loose soil until the plant is stable.
- Handle the roots as little as possible during the transfer. The roots are very sensitive, and if you damage them in the process, you could destroy the plant.
Step 4. Mulch and fertilize around the plant
Sprinkle balls of dung or other organic, delayed-release fertilizer around the base of the plant. Also spread organic mulch, such as wood chips or straw, around the base of the plant.
The entire root system must be able to come into contact with the fertilizer and mulch. For best results, gently push or dig some of the top soil cover after you spread the fertilizer and mulch around the base of the plant
Step 5. Water well
Use a watering can or garden hose to gently water the seedlings after they are planted. Make sure the water is plentiful, but don't allow muddy puddles to form, as that would mean you have provided more water than the soil can absorb and drain.
Part 4 of 4: Daily and Long-Term Care
Step 1. Feed the plant regularly
Passion fruit plants are strong eaters, so you will need to provide plenty of water and fertilizer throughout the growing season.
- You should apply fertilizer in the spring and once every four weeks throughout the summer season. A final feeding should also be provided in mid-autumn. Use organic, slow-release fertilizers that are low in nitrogen. Chicken manure pellets are a good option.
- If you live in an area with plenty of rain, it may not be necessary to water the plants too often. During a dry spell, however, or if you live in only moderately humid areas, you will need to water the tendrils at least once a week. Never let the soil surface dry out completely.
Step 2. Train the tendrils
As tendrils spread, it may be necessary to guide them so that they climb along the fence, trellis, or any other prepared support structure. The plant will be healthier if the tendrils are encouraged to climb, and a healthy plant will produce the maximum yield.
- Pushing the tendrils to climb is a fairly simple process once there is support. As the new tendrils or antennae begin to elongate, tie the tendril around the base and around the wire of the structure using a thin string or string. Keep the knot loose to avoid strangling the tendril.
- When it comes to a new plant, the lateral branches that come from the main trunk should be cut off at the height of the wire. Two of the lateral branches coming from the main trunk must therefore be bent around the upper edge of the support structure and forced to grow in opposite directions.
- Once the side branches are kept open along the fence, other side branches can develop from these and climb freely.
Step 3. Eliminate weeds around the plants
Because passion fruit plants require a lot of food and water, enriched soil often becomes a target for unwanted weeds. It is necessary to remove as many of these neighboring weeds as possible, so that resources are not stolen from the passion fruit plant.
- Keep 60-90 cm of space around each side of the base of the weed-free tendril. Use organic methods for weed removal and do not use chemicals. Mulch can help prevent weeds from growing out of the ground, and pulling them by hand is another good solution.
- The rest of the garden may have other plants and weeds, but plants that can spread disease or attract pests should be kept away. Legumes, in particular, are dangerous to keep around passion fruit plants.
Step 4. Prune when necessary
The main reasons for pruning the plant are simply to keep the tendrils in check and to provide sufficient sunlight to the lower parts of the plant.
- Prune in the spring every two years. Make sure you do this before the plant blooms. Pruning after flowering can weaken the plant and reduce the yield.
- Use gardening scissors to cut branches below 60 cm. By doing so you eliminate weak, old growth, while also improving air circulation around the underside of the plant.
- When pruning, be sure not to sever a main branch by checking the stem down to its base before cutting.
- Leave three to five knots near the base of a branch when cutting. New growth may emerge from the stump you left behind.
Step 5. Take action to promote the pollination process, if necessary
Usually, bees will take care of the pollination without any help from you. If there are no bees in your area, however, you may need to do something about it.
- To hand pollinate plants, take a small, clean brush and collect pollen from male flowers. Sprinkle the collected pollen on the female flowers, using the same brush.
- You could also touch the anthers and the surfaces of the stigmas of each flower with your thumb and forefinger as you walk along the rows.
Step 6. Protect the passion fruit from pests
You don't have to use insecticides until you've identified the early stages of a pest problem. When using pesticides, choose organic solutions because chemical ones can ruin the fruits produced and make them unsafe for consumption.
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The biggest pest problems come from aphids, tendril truss and beetle larvae.
- Aphids can usually be discouraged by sprinkling red pepper around the base of the plant.
- Get rid of the tendril truss by mixing a tar-based organic insecticide. Sprinkle this solution around the base of the main stem and eliminate the damaged tendrils.
- To get rid of the beetle larvae, it will be necessary to use a systemic insecticide, before the plant blooms.
Grow Passion Fruit Step 21 Step 7. Protect the plant from disease
There are some diseases that you should try to avoid. When you discover signs of disease on plants, you also need to do what you can to get rid of them and prevent them from spreading.
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Passion fruit tendrils can be prone to rot and viral diseases.
- Cell and root rot must be avoided early through adequate soil drainage.
- You can attempt to treat virus-infected plants with a commercial solution, but usually you have to cut and burn the affected tendrils in order to preserve the remaining plants. Passion fruit mottled virus, ringspot virus, and cucumber mosaic are the most common threats.
Grow Passion Fruit Step 22 Step 8. Reap the rewards
It can take anywhere from a year to a year and a half for the plant to bear fruit, but once it does, you can harvest this fruit and eat it.
- Typically, the ripe fruit of the passion fruit will come down from the tendrils as soon as they are ready for consumption. The fall is not bad for the fruit, but they must be harvested within a couple of days after the fall to ensure the best possible quality.
- If you have a variety that does not drop fruit, simply peel them off when you notice the skin starting to wrinkle.
