Paphos People

hi,
There is an established Passion Fruit in our garden which was neglected and rambling outside the garden with long branches and no leaves. I have cut these off and trained the rest along a Trellis. I don't know anything about Passion Fruit growing [not much call for it in Scotland] eg when does it flower, fruit etc and when/if to feed with what quantity of fertiliser and when to prune? Any help would be gratefully received. Thanks
Ruth

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Ruth x

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum

Hi Ruth

We have a passion fruit in our garden...and it is without doubt, our collective favourite fruit - bar none. I'm concerned when you say you have no foliage, because that suggests the vine is dead. Both our, and the passion fruit vine at my daughter's house, is still very green...and both are bearing the occasional fruit - even now! Though I love passion fruit to bits, I am not an expert on them. I know that grape vines shed their foliage over the winter, but I don't think passion fruit do. The fact that yours has, suggests that all may not be well. We don't feed ours anything, but it does need copious amounts of water, as the fruit is just so juicy. I think it flowers in the Spring (I should know, shouldn't I?) and the fruit comes along in July/Aug/Sept. Though I am told that passion fruit bear fruit year round, which in a sense ours does. They grow so furiously you might just want to start again with a new plant. Not sure if this helps, but hope so. Lloyd

I planted a 60cm specimen in April last year it wouldn't stop growing ! I think for every 2 foot it grew i had to remove 1 foot (over the last 8 months). It flowered in July/August (i stopped heavily pruning mid June) and we are eating the fruit that drops now.

As Lloyd says its an evergreen and from what i have seen (not even 12 months yet) its "boom time" appears to be April-October so maybe your plant has just slowed right down .. give a few months more to get back up and running

sorry, i think I may have misled you - the rambling branches outside the garden - which were over 6 foot long - had no leaves - just a couple of unripe fruits - but the branches in the garden have good lucious leaves which I have tied onto a trellis. Thank you so much for advice - very helpful. I love them too [it sold the house to me!] I was worried that they flowered/fruited the same as the Citrus and that I had missed the boat. Looking forward to the spring/summer then!
Ruth

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Ruth x

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum

im planning to give a last major prune in Feb/march in the hope that if fruit takes seven-eight months that we will have some for end of summer .... i think Lloyd has a few more seasons under his belt so will probably know better !

Minerva, Just seeing you live in Theletra which is a few hundred metres above us down on the coast, so have you considered trying to grow Kiwi ? I was told that they don't like humidity and would probably therefore grow like a weed without any product Haven't managed to find anyone or anything to suggest i would be successfull.

I did the business on the passion fruit vine over the weekend. It was thickly covering approx 4sq.m and i cut right back to 4 main vines, laid them on the floor and ran 4 wires (horizontal against a fence) at about 30cm distance apart to the length of about 12m ..... the green net "backing" i put is a terrible eyesore but am hoping (desperately now!) that the Passion Fruit will quickly grow into its new 12sq.m enclosure soon as possible !!

Hello Ruth and Alistair,

Hope you and Alistair are well and enjoying the sunshine, sorry I have not been in touch sooner.

I cant believe the time has past so quickly, it feels like only a few days ago I was up having coffee with you. Since Graham arrived to be honest we have not had much free time and alot of bitty things to sort out, fridge, car tax, ins, money transfers etc, etc all taking our time, but we had an idea we would be busy on this visit.

Still need to find balcony furniture and sunbeds but it can wait until next month. I am due out to Cyprus again on the 19th April and Graham two weeks later, it would be nice to meet up with you and Alistair then, maybe a leisurely lunch one day?

We have not been using the computer much because it has been so slow, but tonight it appears to be OK, a bit hit and miss thou we are using vodaphone connect and I surpose it is better than nothing. We may think about a landline at some point and get Broadband.

We leave for Scotland on Wed so I will send you an e-mail in a few weeks time, keep in touch.

Best wishes,

Jan and Graham

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ALWAYS MOVE FORWARD

I was SO excited yesterday - I had my first 3 Passion Flowers!! The vine is spreading +++++ but I have got good advice from the Fairtrade Website so feel more confident - can't wait for the fruit!!

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Ruth x

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum

my vine is going like the clappers now ! i`m confident it will fill its allotted area by end of June which no doubt means i`ll be filling a few carrier bags a week of cuttings ! Plenty of flowers at the moment and flower buds, seems like most of the flowers are falling off once dry though instead of creating fruit.

We don't appear to have many bees - do i need to help on the pollination - i reckon an unused (!!) ear bud will be cracking to transfer pollen - is it required !?

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My opinion; worth price charged.

Geoff,
My vine is going crazy, too! Have loads of formed fruit - quite large as well. My visitors swear they saw them growing whilst they were here for a fortnight. Haven't had bees, but butterflies - and wind! Can't wait until they go crinkly brown and fall off! Have found a great web-site that gives me 25 recipes for using Passion Fruit - either that or there will be an 'Honesty' Box at the end of the road!!!

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Ruth x

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum

Ruth ... do the flowers need bees to pollinate or will not ? Last year we didn't get ripe fruit until December (!!!) but i didn't plant until April that year so once it got going wasn't until June/July so was expecting the whole process to be a few months sooner this year. No fruit as yet

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My opinion; worth price charged.

Hi Geoff,
Our vine is 3 years old I believe - I cut it back end of last year as it had been neglected [as previous] and have kept it in check since, pinching out the growing tips etc. haven't seen any bees near them - there are definitely male and female flowers on the one vine [as some flowers drop off with no fruit] I think it is the wind [quite windy in Theletra] that fertilises them and I also shake the branches when tying them in - haven't used a paint brush!! I give it loads of water from the kitchen waste, and haven't fed it. Not sure if the same goes as for the flower 'Passiflora' when you shouldn't feed it too much Nitrogen or have too rich a soil as you will get lush growth only and minimal flowers.
Saw some Passion Fruit in Pap's today, from Kenya, smaller than mine are at present, and Euro9.99 per kilo!!

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Ruth x

Qui me amat, amet et canem meum

The last two weeks the fruit is starting to fall off in various colours of purple and whilst we are letting the others get more colour on the window sill, the ones we have had are sweet and tasty !

Great plant and easy to grow, but very invasive !

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My opinion; worth price charged.

Watch your root systems they tend to spread over a great distance.