4 responses |
Minky starts with ... Hi I have a panama gold passionfruit which has been flowering continually for over two months now. The vine is extremely healthy and large. I have a large number of fruit of different sizes but some of the fruit is now dropping off, varying in size from medium to large fruit. The skin is still green. When cut open some haven't produce the pulp where as others have a huge amount of pulp but the flavour is extremely tart (still green outer skin though). What should I do to assist them to ripen before the fall of the vine? | About the Author Minky2 Newcastle NSW 22nd April 2010 2:37pm #UserID: 1278 Posts: 9 View All Minky2's Edible Fruit Trees |
amanda says... Hi Minky - is your soil sandy-loam? if not clay - try some seaweed fertiliser and water....lots! I water (with a sprinkler) my vines nearly every second or third day - they have very shallow feeder roots - mine only 1cm below the mulched surface - so a sprinkler gets a good radius for them to spread out. I go for low nitrogen fert's when they are in fruit (like manure), and trace elements, a handful of slow release fert's like blood n bone or dynamic lifter too. Mature vines support a huge amount of foliage and (hopefully) fruit - it just seems logical to me to water lots and feed little n often - so far so good! I hope this helps. | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 22nd April 2010 6:14pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
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Minky says... Thanks Amanda My soil is actually clay but I have removed a fair bit and put in a good layer of organic soil to about 15-20cm deep. We have had a couple of dry spells lately and I have only been watering every four or five days during this (I had a black passionfruit that died suddenly last time and I think I watered it too much so have been very careful with this one) so maybe I need to water a little more reguarly. Will increase a little and give a bit of blood and bone and see how we go. The vine was only planted last October so I think I am doing extremely well as it has a couple of hundred fruit and the amount of foilage looks like a vine that is at least two years old. During it's really high flowering stage I was getting around 15 flowers a day, but it is back to about 5 a day now. Looking forward to getting a few to ripen up. | About the Author Minky2 Newcastle NSW 25th April 2010 3:49pm #UserID: 1278 Posts: 9 View All Minky2's Edible Fruit Trees |
amanda says... Hi Minky - well it sounds like vine is doing really well - there is a topic on moisture meters in here which u may want to read - I ended up buying a cheap moisture probe from Bunnings and it's been invaluable. This is how I realised my vines needed a ton more water than i was giving them - but I have sand - and rapid drainage. I don't know about clay tho' Minky and I don't want to give u the wrong advice. It seems odd that some have pulp and not others....the vine may need some low nitrogen fert' to sustain the fruit to maturity - that's all I can think of - apart from lots of sun n warmth. My panama red is dropping some fruit while it's yellow - but it's still perfect n sweet inside...the vine 2yrs old tho' - maybe yours will behave better next season ;-) | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 25th April 2010 5:44pm #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |
amanda says... PS Minky - my yellow ones that drop are from deep inside the foliage. I keep meaning to get in there are take out some foliage and the dead leaves etc. More cos' I don't want the vine to get a fungus started in there. But I am also curious to see if it improves the ripening aspect....(the vine is out of control, huge and very dense). | About the Author amanda19 Geraldton. WA 26th April 2010 11:29am #UserID: 2309 Posts: 4607 View All amanda19's Edible Fruit Trees |