Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 4: Growing from seed
• Part 2 of 4: Growing from cuttings
• Part 3 of 4: Transplanting Seedlings
• Part 4 of 4: Daily and Long-Term Care
• What do you need

If you live in a warm climate where there are no harsh winters, then you can grow tropical passion fruit on your site. The plant is a little capricious and needs nourishment space to thrive, but with enough care and attention, you will get a steady crop of delicious fruit.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Growing from seed

1. 1 Use fresh seeds. Newly harvested passion fruit seeds germinate quickly, while older, dry seeds can take months, if ever, to germinate.
   • A few days before you plan to plant the seed, buy ripe passion fruit from the store. Open the fruit and select at least 6 seeds.
   • Spread the seeds on a burlap and rub until the juice bags open.
   • Rinse the seeds in water, let them dry for three to four days, then wash and dry again in the shade.
   • If you plant the seeds immediately, they should germinate within 10 to 20 days.
   • If you need to store seeds, place them in airtight plastic bags and refrigerate for a maximum of six months.
2. 2 Prepare a container for growing seedlings. Ideally, you want to grow passionfruit seedlings in a separate, protected container, and then transplant them into a garden-prepared area. Choose a container no larger than 1 square yard (90 square centimeters).
   • Fill a container with a potting mix made from equal parts compost, topsoil, and coarse sand. Fill a container 4 inches (10 cm) deep with this mixture.
3. 3 Make small grooves. Run the stick over the soil in your seedling container, spaced 2 inches (5 cm) between the furrows that form.
   • These furrows will divert excess water away from seeds and nascent roots.
4. 4 Sow seeds. Place the seeds in the furrow 1/2 inch (1 cm) apart. Cover them with a very thin layer of soil.
   • Water immediately after planting. Moisten the soil, but don't make it wet.
   • After planting, you will need to periodically moisten the soil as the surface dries out.
5. 5 Transplant seedlings. When the seedlings are 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) tall, they are ready to be transplanted into a permanent garden location.

Part 2 of 4: Growing from cuttings

1. 1 Prepare a sandy soil. Fill a plastic flower pot with a mixture of three parts agricultural sand and one part fertile soil. Stir the soil and sand well so that it spreads evenly over the container.
   • Most of all, moisture is needed in the aerial part of the cuttings, since the cuttings have no roots yet. Therefore, it is not necessary to use soil that retains a large amount of moisture.
2. 2 Prepare cuttings. For cutting, choose a ripe, healthy passion fruit. Cut off a portion of the shoot containing at least three buds, if not more, and cut directly below the lowest bud.
   • Younger shoots grow more vigorously, so it is recommended to take cuttings from younger branches or from a younger part of a branch.
   • Plant the cutting immediately in sandy soil prepared in advance.
3. 3 Keep the cutting in a humid environment. The best place would be a greenhouse. If you don't have access to a greenhouse, you can build a humidity chamber by stretching clear plastic wrap over a box frame made of bamboo.
   • Make sure the chamber is kept humid. Keep it in full sun and place where the air is damp.
   • If you need to increase the humidity in the chamber, you can do this with a humidifier or by placing bowls of water-covered gravel around the handle.
4. 4 Transplant as soon as roots are formed. Cuttings should form new roots within a week or two.From this point on, they can be treated as ready-made seedlings and transplanted into a permanent place in the garden.

Part 3 of 4: Transplanting Seedlings

1. 1 Choose the right location. The ideal would be to find an area in full sun, with no competing roots nearby (eg tree roots).
   • Full sun refers to a site receiving at least 6 hours of sunshine daily, if not more.
   • Also, the site must be free of weeds. If there is still a small amount of weeds, clear the area before planting.
   • Liana passion fruit needs a place to grow upward and outward. Ideally, there should be pre-built structures such as a wire fence, balcony or pergola. If these are not available, you can install a trellis for climbing plants.
2. 2 Improve the soil. Passion fruit requires light, deep soil containing a lot of organic material. The soil in your area most likely does not have these qualities, so you will need to improve it somewhat before planting.
   • Stir in the compost to the soil. Compost improves the structure of the soil and enriches it with nutrients. You can also use decomposed organic matter: manure, leaf humus, and other plant waste.
   • If the soil is very heavy, it can be improved by adding a little coarse sand.
   • Also pay attention to the pH of the soil. PH should be between 6.5 and 7.5. If the soil is too acidic, add ground dolomite or lime fertilizer.
3. 3 Transplant each seedling into a large hole. Dig a separate hole for each seedling. The hole should be twice as wide as the width of your plant at the moment, and its depth at least as deep as the depth of the container in which your seedlings were previously growing.
   • Carefully remove the passionfruit seedlings from the container along with the root system.
   • Place the root system in the center of the hole, then loosely fill the rest of the hole with soil until the plant is fixed.
   • During planting, touch the roots with your hands as little as possible. The roots are very sensitive and if you damage them the plant will die.
4. 4 Mulch and fertilize the soil around the plant. Spread pelleted bird droppings or other slow-release organic fertilizer around the plant. Also cover the soil near the plant with a layer of organic mulch such as straw or wood chips.
   • Fertilizers and mulch should be available for the root system. For best results, after spreading, gently press or dig some of the cover into the topsoil.
5. 5 Water well. Use a garden watering can or garden hose to gently water the seedlings after planting. Make sure the soil is very wet, but avoid puddles as this is a sign that there is too much water and the soil cannot absorb it.

Part 4 of 4: Daily and Long-Term Care

1. 1 Feed regularly. Passion fruit is a big food lover, so you will need to water it well and feed it with fertilizer throughout the growing season.
   • You should apply fertilizer in the spring and once a month in the summer. The final feeding should be done in the middle of autumn. Use a slow release, low nitrogen organic fertilizer. Granular chicken manure is a good choice.
   • If you live in an area where it rains frequently, water the passion fruit less often. However, in dry conditions or in moderately humid areas, you need to water the vine at least once a week. Never let the soil surface dry out completely.
2. 2 Guide the vine. As the vines grow, you will need to guide them upward along your fence, trellis, or other support. The plant will be healthier if the shoots twist upward and a healthy plant produces a great harvest.
   • Directing the vine is a fairly straightforward process once you get the hang of it.When new shoots or tendrils begin to stretch, tie the base of the vine with a thin rope or twine and tie the supports to the wire. Leave the knot loose to avoid squeezing the vine.
   • When new side branches grow from the main shoot, they should be pinched at the level of the wire fence. The two lateral branches growing from the main stem must then be bent over to the top wire of the support lattice in order to grow in opposite directions.
   • Once the side branches begin to grow in different directions, their side branches can grow and hang freely.
3. 3 Weeds around the plants. Since passion fruit requires very nutritious soil and increased watering, such a favorable environment often becomes a habitat for weeds. You must remove as many of these weeds as possible so that they do not take nutrients and water from the passion fruit.
   • Clear weeds with a 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm) radius around the trunk of the passion fruit. Use organic weed control methods and don't use chemicals. Mulch can keep weeds from growing. Another good method is to manually remove weeds.
   • Other plants and weeds can grow in the rest of the garden, but do not keep any plants near the passion fruit that can spread disease or attract pests. In particular, plants from the legume family are dangerous for passion fruit in this regard.
4. 4 Trim as needed. The main purpose of pruning is to keep the plant in good shape and to provide sufficient sunlight for the lower parts of the vine.
   • Prune every two years in the spring. Make sure to do it before flowering the plant. Pruning after flowering can weaken the plant and reduce yield.
   • Use scissors to cut the branches below 2 feet (60 cm). This will remove weak old shoots and improve air circulation around the base of the plant.
   • When pruning the plant, do not cut the main large branches that grow from the trunk.
   • When you prune a branch, leave three to five buds at the base of the branch. New shoots can emerge from the cut that is left behind.
5. 5 Help the plant to pollinate if necessary. Usually bees pollinate themselves, without your help. But if there are no bees in your area, you have to do something yourself.
   • To manually pollinate the plants, pollen from male flowers is collected with a small, clean brush. Use the same brush to brush the collected pollen onto the female flowers.
   • You can also touch the anthers and stigmas of each flower with your thumb and forefinger as you stroll along the hedge.
6. 6 Protect passion fruit from pests. In the early stages of the problem, it is not necessary to use insecticides. When using pesticides, use organic varieties as chemicals can spoil fruits and make them unsafe for consumption.
   • The greatest problem is posed by such pests as aphids, grape snails, and beetle larvae.
     • Aphids are usually scared away by sprinkling red pepper on the ground around the base of the plant.
     • You can get rid of the grape snail by preparing an organic tar-based insecticide. Pour this solution around the base of the main shoot and remove the damaged vine.
     • To get rid of beetle larvae, treat the plant with a systemic insecticide before flowering.
7. 7 Protect the plant from disease. There are diseases that you must try to prevent. Once you have identified the symptoms of a disease, you need to do everything you can to get rid of it and prevent it from spreading.
   • The passion fruit vine can die from rot and viral diseases.
     • Root and root rot can be prevented by providing adequate soil drainage.
     • You can try treating virus-infected plants with a purchased drug, but usually these plants are cut and burned so as not to infect the rest.Passion fruit mosaic virus, passion fruit ring spot and cucumber mosaic virus are the most common diseases.
8. 8 Collect fruit. Passion fruit can give its first fruits in a year or a year and a half, but as soon as that happens, you can harvest these fruits and eat them.
   • Typically, ripe passionfruit falls from the vine as soon as it is ready to eat. The fall itself cannot harm the fruit, but it must be harvested within a few days after the fall to ensure that the quality does not deteriorate.
   • If you don't want to pick up the fallen fruit, just pluck each of them as soon as you notice that the skin on it has begun to wrinkle.

What do you need

• Ripe passion fruit (if you want to collect seeds)
• Adult passion fruit (for harvesting cuttings)
• Seedling container or sandy area
• Knife or garden shears
• Sackcloth
• Plastic protective cover
• Fertile land
• Sand
• Compost
• Shovel or scoop
• Granular organic fertilizer
• Garden hose or watering can
• Lattice or other support
• Small brush (for pollination)
• Insecticides (if needed)