Which variety
Usually only Nelly Kelly is a available – a good, vigorous passionfruit. Avoid seedlings, as they don’t grow as strongly as grafted ones. Banana passionfruit are best for cooler areas, with long yellow fruit, not as sweet as the black ones. In tropical areas try Granadillas too.
How to grow
My favourite passionfruit vine grows in a pot in its owner’s bedroom. It then twines out a specially drilled hole in the windowpane and clambers along the wall outside. (To pick the fruit you lean out the window at grave risk to life and limb
Passionfruit also grow very well in large pots on a balcony. They would be worth growing even if they didn’t fruit – complex white and purple flowers, glossy leaves – and the banana passionfruit, which is even more cold tolerant and vigorous than ordinary passionfruit, has great, vivid pink flowers too. Ordinary passionfruit do best in temperate to sub-tropical climates; try banana passionfruit in cooler areas in protected spots against a sunny wall or granadilla in tropical areas. In all cases do buy grafted vines – they are much hardier and faster growing. They need full sun, shelter from winds. Passionfruit do well growing on netting against a sunny wall, but you can also train them up posts so they take up less room.
A poorly growing passionfruit usually gets sick. Feed each month with a scatter of hen manure; give at least one dose of seaweed fertiliser a year and MULCH!
Passionfruit is very susceptible to viruses, root rots, insect attack – which makes it sound like the least likely plant to succeed in your garden, EXCEPT – a strongly growing passionfruit vine outgrows almost all problems.
Most passionfruit are grafted and the graft suckers. Pull them up at once or they can wander all over the place.
Harvest
In warm areas the vines fruit most of the year; in colder areas in late summer. Pick them when they change colour and shrivel just slightly. Choose heavy ones – light ones have less pulp. They will keep for several months in the fridge or a cool cupboard, but will gradually lose their sweetness. Passionfruit pulp can be frozen in iceblocks for later use.
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