Daleys Fruit Tree Blog

Passion Flower

There is a lovely place in our orchard at the moment near the passionfruit vines. The aroma is the first thing that I notice as I near the trellis, there is a heady spicy scent in the air. I am then stopped in my tracks by these strikingly beautiful flowers which are produced in great numbers. We have the hybrid vines in the orchard these are a cross between the Giant Grandilla, Passiflora quadrangularis and the Sweet Lilikoi, Passiflora alata, both of which have equally beautiful flowers. It can be a little difficult to get them to set fruit and often hand pollination with a soft paint brush is the only way to ensure fruit set but they are worth the effort for their delicious fruits and are stunning if grown for the flowers alone. Picked flowers can be used in shallow saucers as table decorations or they are gorgeous when used to scent rooms with their magnificent fragrance, I often bring them up to the office to enjoy both the amazing complicated flower and the unusual perfume.

Labels: passionfruit

Published: Kath ,Thursday, May 03, 2007

Comments so far: 5

 Correy said ...

"It can be a little difficult to get them to set fruit"

1. What does the passionfruit do when it is not pollinated properly does it start to fruit then shrivel up and die?

2. How exactly do you hand pollinate with the brush?
Time: Thursday, May 03, 2007  

 Kath said ...

If the flowers are not pollinated they will either drop their fruit as Correy describes or they will just not set and the flowers will drop. Pollination problems can be caused because there are no pollinating insects in the orchard or the plants may not accept their own pollen, in which case they will require cross pollination with the pollen from a different plant.
To hand pollinate you will need a small soft paint brush to move the pollen from the anthers of one flower to another, collect the pollen and move from flower to flower.
Time: Thursday, May 03, 2007  

 Greenfoot said ...

Hi Kath
I just love the scent of passionfruit flowers, not to mention eating the fruit. I put in a Gold Panama vine last Spring and had loads of flowers and bees but no fruit. I have another well established vine in the garden too. I have heard though a vine can take a few years to fruit - could this be why I didn't get any fruit this time?
cheers
Time: Monday, May 28, 2007  

 Kath said ...

Greenfoot, is your vine in the full sun? It could be a pollination problem, you could try hand pollinating with the pollen from your established vine, use a soft paint brush to move some of the pollen onto the flowers of your panama gold. As the weather is cooling off now you may have to wait until spring time to try this.
Time: Tuesday, May 29, 2007  

 Anonymous said ...

We have a giant granadilla (badea/granadilla real)with lots of flowers, some just opened, some will open in the next few days and others are closed already. We have only one fruit. We want to hand pollinate but don't know how. Can we use a Q-Tip or do we need a special brush and where would we get it. What time in the day is best and exactly where do we brush off the pollen? Please HELP
Time: Saturday, July 05, 2008  

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