passionfruit problem

senjimine starts with ...
I have a Big Boppa Passionfruit vine, and it is flowering masses, but won't set fruit. The immature fruit is yellow, before the flower opens. It is getting the same care as the other plants. Fertilizing with CK88 and granulated nitrogen, through fruitigation.
Many thanks,
Senjimine

Tim says...
Mine and my father in-laws Big floppa passionfruits are exactly like you have both said, both big healthy plants with plenty of flowers that don't set to fruit, they die and fall of the tree. I was given a tip on adding trace elements to the soil and leaves but all that achieved for my plant was to grow bigger and lusher with big healthy runners full of flowers. Maybe these are a sterile plant species that do not fruit. Exactly like a politician, promise alot but deliver bugger all....

senjimine says...
Hi,
My son Craig has been told by an aquaintance, that the Big Boppa is self steralizing. The person he found out from, suggests it is a genetic problem! as the Boppa is a hybrid yellow. This might be true. Craig is pulling his out, and not waisting any more time and money of them. His vines are glorious, but no fruit....

Cheza says...
My passionfruit has leaves shaped like a star with 5 lobes on each. In the past couple of years the fruit is yellow & drops off. This year some of the fruit is staying on the vine. Not sure if it will be OK though, as watching every day to see if it goes yellow and drops off. I was told because of the shape of leaves that the graft had died and the unproductive passionfruit has taken over. Giving it a bit of a chance before I pull it out. Any ideas.

ant says...
In the past I have seen a number of recommandations to apply boron/borax to passion fruit to prevent them from shrinking and falling off. Any idea on dosage?
Thank you Ant

au0rey says...
Reading this thread just makes me wonder if my panama gold will do the same...lots flowers and no fruit...hope not!!! The vine is a very pretty sight but if it isnt going to produce edible fruits...ehhhh that's unacceptable!

Can I ask everyone here if the passionfruit vines you have, having loads flowers and no fruits...are from seeds or grafted? Thanks!

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au0rey says...
Hi Brendan! Keen eye! Yes it has been in the ground for only short while perhaps somewhere in late spring or early summer. Mine is from seedling, not grafted. I hope it does not give me lots flowers and no or lousy fruits. :P

Where do I buy Condys crystals? Will potash powder be good enough (I have that).

Thanks!

Brad says...
Please tell me these yellow dots on my <3 month old nelly kelly isn't a virus

The plant is otherwise healthy, having reached a 1.8m top wire and now growing again after pinching out. It's growing in a fresh planting site (used to be paving).

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Brad says...
ta Amanda. Is that pathologist, someone I could eMail? agric.wa isn't loading for me at the moment to see if there's a contact

Brad says...
thats a suburb away, I'll see if they'll help out. thanks

Can I assume if its a virus, that it would have come from the nursery? I've not even had it 3 months.

ant says...
Thanks for your suggestion.
My grafted panama gold, and panama reds (4 in total)are doing fine, plenty of flowers, a reasonable amount fruit. Have already picked about a dozen, they are very sweet and tasty.
I use: Liquid chicken & cow manure, sulphate of potash, some blood & bone and lately borax.
Good luck to all readers/passionfruit growers

Kira says...
Hi there, We just put in two Nellie Kelly vines about a month ago but then noticed that whilst one is small but has two fruit on it, the other has the wrong shaped leaves, no tendrils, but is growing above the graft, not below. So ok what is this plant? Please email me if you have any idea? or reply. thank you.

kevin says...
Hi Amanda, My passionfruits are growing to a nice size but only turn green Icannot get them to brown I dont know the brand name.

rogar says...
my friend had the same problem flower dropping off i cloned the vine and put it in my back yard and it it fruiting now don't know why but i do pollinate mannually with a brush
rogar

amanda says...
Hi kevin - so what's happening to the green fruit - are they falling off? If they are staying on the vine then it should be ok - they may need a bit longer to ripen. Sydney is much cooler than where I am - I think most tropical and sub tropical fruit ripens sequentially down the coast over there too? Wonder if they are ripening in Brisbane yet?

amanda says...
Hi kevin..I have no idea! Do they reach full size and is the pulp is normal? Do they have mostly pith? Can u post a pic of the fruit and the leaves? (and the fruit cut in half?)

amanda says...
Hi james - how old is the vine? When did this happen? (maybe weather too cold etc..) This is not unusual (in that it is not a disease etc) Is a black/purple nellie kellie or a panama?

james says...
hi amanda.
the vine is in its first year and is a black nellie kelly. maybe the cold snap was the cause. the vine itself put on heaps of growth with regular fertilising and watering.

Brene says...
I have a black passionfruit vine and a panama red vine. Both grow very well and produce lots of flowers and fruit but all fruit is so sour you can not possibly eat it as it should be straight from the cut fruit. I fertilize and have fed sulphate of potash and pruned at the correct times.
Can someone tell me why they are so sour. Should i take the exisitng vines out and start again.

Brene says...
Thanks Brendan, I will try this and see how the next crop tastes.
Also can you help me with a Lychee tree that i have had for about 3 years and is about 2ft tall. I was told they were slow growers but this is rediculous. Should i be giving it more than the fruiting tree fertilizer that it gets now.

Pete says...
Have been getting this on two passion-fruit vines that are less than six months old and have not yet given any fruit. This is a leaf of 'just past new growth' stage. The two features that stand out when you are looking at these leaves that have the disease is the wrinkling it causes and the effect is more on the outside edges than close to the inside vein at the beginning on most of the leaves! Does anybody know what this is and how to treat it? Thanks Pete

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amanda says...
Looks like a passionfruit virus to me - sorry :(
There are different degrees of woodiness virus - feed it up and water well/regularly (they have shallow roots) a good cover of manure under the canopy is great.
It may overcome the worst of it - but will likely never be a rampant producer.
If you have a Govt Pest and Disease information service (like with Primary Industries or Agriculture Dept) it's a good idea to send them some leaves in a snap lock bag. The service should be free - as there are many viruses that are detrimental to horticulture industry - so they like to know about them.

Peter says...
Masses of fruit but no flowers.
Bees are very active
tree is exploding with life and in good condition

Wayne says...
Well done Peter

Wayne says...
Could it be an iron defeciency snottiegobble, perhaps try iron chelate and some potash with it.

Pauline says...
Hi everyone, I have a passionfruit growing really well, 2 years old, great leaves, lots of flowers, buds etc but the flowers appear to eventually die and fall off. I assume the fruit is in the middle of the flower. Can anyone help, can only think of potash and will go and do that. Thanks

peter says...
hi guys,
those three posts are above are not
mine, i have no flowers at the moment.
i have just got 50 nelly kellys staight
from them, will plant half and sell
half so i hope they go ok.

snootiegobble,
i think when wayne sees your picture
he will say that its not an iron
dificiency.
id be inclined to prune it back to a strong side shoot if it has any.

Wayne says...
plenty of flowers vine looks great but no fruit,grafted black 2 years old, has Flowered all year but still no fruit

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Wayne says...
Thanks Amanda tried it 2 weeks back after reading it on here will let you know if it works

Brendan says...
Hello Wayne,
Just realized you're not the Wayne from Mackay, no problems.
Try spraying your vine with Condys crystals. A pinch of condys in 10L of water with a 'good' wetting agent. Spray the whole vine twice a week for 4 weeks, that should 'fix' the problem.
Oh, and as Melissa says, fertilize with Sulphate of Potash as well.

Kath says...
Hi Jem,
This sounds like Passiflora caurela, which has most likely been used as a rootstock for one of your passionfruit vines. Try an image search for passiflora caerulea in google.

Rani says...
Hi all,
Stem swelling and cracking of passion is a big problem in Sri Lanka. After this disorder,the vine beyond the affected area dies gradually. I suspect this as a nutrient deficiency. please help me to recover this problem

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amanda says...
Hi Rani, can you tell us a bit more? I would be thinking that it is more likely to be a fungus, virus or bacterial pathogen - made more likely by your weather there?

If you do get any fruit - what are they like? Do they have really thick skins and little pulp?
What fertilisers do you use?
How wet and humid is your weather?
Is the ground damp or often soaked?

amanda says...
Rani - this problem may require professional advice? Do you have an agriculture/horticulture office of some kind there?

If the pH is that low and you are already adding extra Mg - then a fine lime can be used to bring the pH up. Any mechanical damage/injury will allow fungi, bacteria etc, to get in and do their work. Is it wind damage?

Anyway - this is just one possibility (from another website):

Fusarium wilt, arising from the soil-borne fungus, Fusarium oxysporium f. sp. passiflorae, can be reduced only by grafting the purple, or, better still, purple-yellow hybrids, onto the Fusarium-resistant yellow passionfruit rootstock. However, Bedoya et al. have reported that, in the zones of Palmira, Cerrito and Ginebra of the Cauca Valley of Colombia, but not in the zone of Unión, collar rot limits the life of yellow passionfruit plantations to 3 years, and they found, in inoculation experiments, that Fusarium solani produced the symptoms. The first signs are chlorosis, necrosis and defoliation; next there is splitting of the trunk and separation of the bark. The root becomes progressively discolored and red rays extend to the surface of the soil.

I am not suggesting this is the problem - it is just one example of trunk-splitting.

This one may be more useful:

Stem Bulging :
Stem bulging is a severe problem in most passion fruit cultivations. Due to this disorder either the main stem or lateral branches may get swollen or bulged and blocks the vascular system. This leads to disruption of upward flow of nutrients causing poor growth and ultimate death of vine. A coleopteran beetle larva is suspected to be causing this problem. Further work is being conducted to confirm the pest.

Control
Use of a systemic insecticide (Furaden, Marshal, Reagent) after plating & before flowering may help to control this problem.

(link: http://www.agridept.gov.lk/more.php?morelink=Crop%20management%20&pagelink=Passion%20fruit&heading=)


You really need to contact a horticulture expert and maybe get some testing done.

amanda says...
Two dead passionfruit vines this summer - due to a root nematode infestation...another two not looking good (all grafted varieties so far) :(((

amanda says...
Thanks S.Gobble - but I am easing up this year! :) I have finally got some seed envelopes to send u and Jantina your seeds! I am incredibly slow I'm afraid....LOL.

Brendan says...
Too wet?

Dragonlady says...
Hi
to the person who has the spots - I read somewhere that some vines produce spots that look like a virus but are actually a deterrant for a type of butterfly. These spots actually protect the plant.
My problem is lots of flowers, lots of fruit but its all hard and woody - could it need more water??

amanda says...
Hi Nicole/Dragonlady...are u able to post a pic? Dragonlady - your vine could have passionfruit woodiness virus (not uncommon) Can u post a pic of a cut section of the fruit?

Nicole - it sounds like u may be growing the rootstock - can u post a pic of the leaf and a fruit?

Nicole says...
I'm not gaim enough to taste them. I read on another site about passionfruit that the problem has something they do when grafting a passionfruit to get rid of diseases to make a stronger problem free passionfruit, and this new graft to do this is called suckering, but when they do this, the one they grafted often shows up instead of the new super passionfruit and it's called suckers. Basically I need to rip out my passionfruit and start again, the wrong graft came through. Stuff happens.

Janyce says...
I have a healthy vine with lots of flowers but few fruit. Despite using granules on the trellis and dusting the vine with anti ant powder ants are in the flowers right from when they are first forming. Is this the reason for flowers dropping from the vine.

Olivia says...
Hi.... how did you go with your Big Boppa? Did you find a solution? Mine is having the same problem :(

Wazzbat says...
Hand pollinate maybe???

Chris says...
Sometime they like a bit of humidity in order to set.

tracy says...
My passionfruit are many and very tasty but the pith is very thick and pulp reasonably small. Is there a solution to decreasing one and increasing the other.

amanda says...
Just to add tracy...are u able to post a pic of a cut fruit? Not to alarm you - but when a p/fruit has Woodiness Virus - this can also cause thickening of the pith/shell and little pulp.

Are the fruits nice and round and smooth? Do the leaves look healthy - or are they spotty and bunched/crinkled..?

Just worth checking - as it is not uncommon...and it's not curable.

Roxanna says...
Why do my vines flower but never set fruit?


There are several reasons for this, including:
■poor pollination. This is the main cause and can be due to bees not working the flowers (for example, during heavy rain); temperatures being too low or too high for pollination (as optimum temperatures for pollen germination are 20-35oC); or rain directly reducing the viability of the pollen (as moisture causes the pollen grains to split)
■boron deficiency
■extended periods of overcast weather, which can cause flower drop regardless of pollination problems.

Roxanna says...
Spots on fruit and leaves are usually caused by fungal diseases. The most likely causes are:
■Alternata spot
■Brown spot
■Septoria spot.

Roxanna says...
Why is my fruit dropping off the vine?


Three possible reasons are:
■irregular watering
■fungal diseases
■fruit fly and severe mite damage, particularly with young fruit.

maureen says...
My passionfruit is abundant with fruit however, they won't ripen

Sirma says...
Can someone plant passion fruit from a farm that had beans on it?

ed from cranbourne,vic says...
Hi can i get a tip as to why my 2 nelly kelly's are not ripping, the fruit is full grown, but still green with no sign of changing purple.
the oldest fruit have been on the vines since late november last year

i have learnt to cross polinate the flowers, and that has been quite productive as the bees won't do the job

the vines are down one side of the house and get lots of mid morning to late afternoon sun,plenty of water and every 3-4 weeks get all my tea bags from my morning cups of tea( i dry out the bags then cut them open place all the leaves into the watering can with about 8 or so liters of water, then pour around both plants)

any advice would be nice, please?
i have about 15-20 passion fruit at different stages of growth aswell

BagLady says...
I have buckets full of young passionfruit vines from seeds I spat, but only two have compound leaves and the rest are simple leaved. I presumed the compound leaved plants were the females. Am I wrong?

Birdman says...
Healthy passionfruit (Nelly Kelly) about 3 years old. Last year plenty of flowers, but NO fruit. Three flowers in Jan this year during the heatwave,but they dropped off and no fruit. No flowers since. Watering regularly, haven't fertilised since mid Oct.Keeping roots cool with mulch.
What should I do? Pull it out and start again?

Birdman says...
Thanks Boris! Good move! When they next (?) flower I will be the busy bee if the buzzing ones aren't around.

superstar says...
I have dozens of passionfruit on my vine. I haven't tried this years fruit but last year they were terribly sour. I have 2 types growing together one lot is yellow & the other green that eventually go speckled.

superstar says...
fruit are starting to fall off now. only a few all yellow ones

emjay1940 says...
hi,
with nematodes, try using 1 cup malt to 2 litres of water and water in with a watering can around the plants once a week.
A few years ago my mate and I were small crop growers, and had the same problems. We used malt in our fertigation tank a couple of times a week. That solved the problem.

Bev13 says...
Cheza, the big boppa is grown from seed, not grafted, and it is self fertile or self pollinating. However, we have been hand pollinating ours and it still is not producing fruit. This is its first year, so perhaps that's the reason.

Amada says...
Here are pics.

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Oldragon says...
Big Bazz, We had a similar problem until we found that ants will stop pollination. Our vines had ants running all over them. Once we got rid of the ants we got hundreds of passion fruits yeh.

Waterfall says...
I have had ants on mine and its never been a problem, I'd say they help with pollination just like on mango trees.

I did have trouble with birds or possibly possums eating the flowers but after I netted the vine that has stopped.

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Oldragon says...
Sprayed the nests

bronwynne says...
I have tolerated vines growing amok for a year now. Lots of flowers and fruit, large and starting to go yellow. But even yellow ones have inside white/clear pulp. Wondering if they will ever mature or will go rotten first. Are some vines just duds like that? Or is it because the vines are not mature?

bronwynne says...
Hi Waterfall. The leaves have 3 lobes. If the fruit ever do ripen they will be big and full of pulp. I have an old vine with smaller awful looking (also yellow) fruit which is orange and tasty even when they are a bit green. They r a bit tarty but I have to get them before the bats and other critters do.

Bigbazz says...
Can any one identify this grey material that has infested my Nelly Kelly plant.
It appears to be doing no harm to the vine as it is healthy and while there is an hundreds of flowers I get few fruit.
I wondered if it might be snail droppings as it is found fairly thickly on the stems the leaves and on the ground below the plant.
There is no signs of other pests and I am hoping it may be the cause of no fruit.
I have hand pollinated, and seen the bees doing there work. The dozen fruit I do get each year are delicious. Plant is now 4 years old

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MattD says...
Hi all,

Planted this Nelly (black) about 2 months ago. About 3-4 weeks later the leaves started to curl and "break" ?? There are no aphids on the plant, well watered, not over watered though. I have another in the yard and it's going gang-busters. I'd appreciate any ideas as how to get this sorted. Can post more photos if you need them.

Thanks

Matt

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Naomi74 says...
No flowers to be seen!
I have two passionfruit vines - 2.5 years old - 1 is a black passionfruit and one is a gold. Neither of them have produced any flowers, they are enormous vines and super healthy but don't seem to produce any flower buds at all. Is this an age thing? What will help them to produce flowers?

Julie says...
Bev,when you reply to an old post, check the date. Brad hasn't posted here for years - that post is from 2010!

SueBee says...
An old remedy for ailing passionfruit is to dig a hole or place at planting and put a liver (lambs fry or beef liver) in the hole- oldies say it is the best remedy of all). Epsom salts also good.

Rhys85 says...
Thanks for your reply Matt. Do you think it was Passionfruit woodiness virus? I still haven't found any other answers unfortunately. I have a few ants on it - they seem to be attracted to the two little nodes at the base of each leaf. I have one fruit on it at the moment (only had it a few months), but if leaves don't improve and fruit is not pulpy I may put it down to the virus and replace.

A picture of mine is here:

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CGiff says...
Brad, did you come to any conclusions about the spots and leaf drop? I'm having the same problem.

Daley says...
In regards to Big Boppa fruit not setting, I have just been told it is because it needs boron sprayed onto the leaves. Hope this works for us all. So many flowers and no fruit.

mr D says...
my big boppa is growing crazy. i apply citrus food and potash
so much fruit i cant believe it

MirandaB says...
Could anybody please advise what is going on here? bought this vine a few weeks back and have potted up in premium potting mix with some perlite, compost and I *think* (from memory) some aged cow manure. haven't gone crazy watering the pot, though have kept it moist as we have had no rain and it's getting pretty hot. top of pot has had sugarcane mulch to prevent it drying out. leaves have been starting to turn yellow, and lack vitality - they're quite weak and soft, and not vigorously growing as I thought it should. Stem has swollen and sort of split open as seen in the picture. do I need to add chelated iron? I think I recall this happening with a previous vine at another property, and the iron perked it up. What do I keep doing wrong??

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David01 says...
Hi MirandaB,

I think you over-fertilized your Passionfruit and it's dying. For the young Passionfruit just premium potting mix is enough. You need to wait 3-4 months when there is signs of strong growth then slowly adds cow manure/fertilizer, a small dose at the time. If I was you just repot it in a smaller pot with new potting mix and don't put too much water and keep it in the shade for 1 month to see whether it can be fixed/recovered. Cheers.

Moein0110 says...
Hello leaves of my plant are falling new leaves no problem I wanted to know if this plant has a problem?

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