Passion Vine ‘Frederick’
Question from Randy:
Randy in Santa Barbara again. I have a question. I started a passion vine ‘Frederick’ from a cutting from my other ‘Frederick’. It’s about a year old and is totally covering my chicken coop. I got a few fruits a few months ago when the plant initially flowered but then I had hundreds of flowers and almost none have gone to fruit. The vine bloomed heavily and none of them went to fruit. I contacted the passion fruit guy in Santa Paula and he thought that since many small bugs and bees pollinate the plant, it probably isn’t a lack of pollinator problem. However, I do not see many bees out there lately. Maybe the recent hot spell? Any info? Also here is a link to the paper that I write a garden column for. http://santabarbarasentinel.com If you scroll down all the archived issues are there.
Answer from Pat:
I was in Vermont all last week for my grandson’s wedding followed by a week of vacation with my family, so sorry this answer is a little late. I was also thinking about you and your problem, which may not be a problem at all.
In order to cross-pollinate ‘Frederick’, since it is a red variety, you should not need another variety of passion vine. Bees going from flower to flower should be enough. If you had a vine with yellow fruit, on the other hand, it would need cross-pollination with another compatible seedling. However, I do not think pollination was the problem here. I think it was temperatures and time of year. Passion vines growing in Southern California usually do not bear much, if any, fruit until summer and fall. Thus I think you were worrying too soon!
Another thought: The location of your vine is on top of your chicken coup. Does this mean it is in a cold wind? If so this is not good, since passion vines need a warm and sheltered location protected from wind. Sounds as if there was no problem with lack of bees when you began worrying about the lack of fruit. However, make sure that there are enough bees in summer when you should begin to be able to harvest fruit. Fruit usually falls off when ripe. Will you be able to find it on your chicken coop roof?
There is another possibility and that is temperature. Yes, a swing of extreme temperatures might have produced the problem of flowers falling off as can happen with many fruiting plants. Extremes of heat and extremes of cold can both cause this problem. So don’t be discouraged. A problem one year may be no problem another year. Meanwhile, if the problem persists in summer, I suggest try hand pollinating then with a long feather duster that can reach up onto the vine.
I know nothing about gardening, but I am enthusiastic. I have passion fruits in California and they have no fruits. The gardener told me I need better soil and fertilize. Problem is, I read on this website and other places and I am all confused. Chicken manure might burn, fish is not enough 6-6-6- or 10-5-20..
Could you please tell me what is the best and dummy proof fertilizer and/or soil?
Most likely your problem is not lack of fertilizer but the fact that the flowers on your passionfruit vines need pollenating and your garden might lack bees. Yellow passion fruit vines need to have 2 vines in order to be pollinated, but all vines usually need the help of bees, particularly native carpenter bees. If your gardener or next door neighbor is spraying against pests he is killing bees and all beneficials. Unfortunately also many systemic pesticides made by the Bayer company are included in rose, lawn and flower fertilizers and used unthinkingly in gardens. These products kill bees.
Please read the label on the lawn fertilizer used by your gardener. If it kills white grubs it also kills bees. Please also look at the rose food used by your gardener. If it is made by Bayer it kills bees.
Your next problem might be you only have one passion vine. You need two in order to have fruit.
Since you say you know nothing about gardening I have one further question: Are you sure that you have a passion fruit vine or might you have an ornamental passion vine? There are several species of passion vines that have lovely flowers but no fruit. So make sure you have a fruiting variety of passion vine.
Also, by the way, I recommend you purchase one of my month-y-month books from Amazon.com and read each monthly chapter as you live through that month of the year. You will soon learn a lot about gardening and doubtless a lot more than your gardener has ever known. Don’t purchase the first edition published in 1991. It is out of date. The other two editions are perfect for you.
Now for how to hand pollinate your passion vine: Purchase a small watercolor brush and in the morning after the dew has dried, make like a bee and transfer some pollen from the stamen of one flower to the pistil of the same or another flower. Go from flower to flower doing this. Remember, if you have a yellow variety make sure you go to a flower on another vine.
Also the male part of the flower is the stamen and on the tips of the stamens you will see an anther that bears the pollen. There will be 5 stamens on each flower. The female part is called the pistil and it is sticky. You need to pick up some pollen from an anther and transfer it to the pistil of the same flower or another or in the case of yellow varieties to the pistil of a flower on another vine.
I hope you will have fun doing this job and if you have a fruiting vine that your efforts will make a beeline to success.