I've had seedlings hang onto immature leaves for months at a time before suddenly starting to grow "normal" foliage. I suspect it will pick up as the weather warms and daylight increases. Don't give up yet!

I have read that passi seedlings, as a defense mechanism against butterflies, do not grow their multi lobed leaves until they are mature enough to survive. The butterflies therefore do not recognize them until they are bigger and more likely to survive the famished caterpillars. I have watched butterflies hover over the seedlings but do not land. Later they do not have that problem. Has anybody noticed that occurence?

The reason I am so worried about this particular seedling is that I had a trey of p. Alata seedlings and a tray of guava seedlings and my 3 year old son knocked them both into a large banana plant. I tried to retrieve as many seeds as I could but nothing grew. Than, long after IÂd given up hope this seedling appeared in the banana pot. IÂve since gotten some of the guava to grow and the seedlings look different so my guess is that it must be the Passiflora. Because I live in Canada, IÂve found it very difficult to get companies to ship seeds over the border and I had a REALLY hard time getting those P. Alata seeds in the first place. (I got them in a seed trade from the U.S.) and wanted at least one plant from them! I guess IÂll have to wait longer to figure out weather I need to try and find more or if I did get one.

Thanks,
Julie

Woe, good luck with the plant! By the way, if you're in Canada you might have more luck trading with somewhere like the UK as we don't have the restrictions that Americans do - I've done trades with Canadians in the past with no problems. :)

Melanie

Do you know any sites that have international seed trades? I know its not allowed on this one.

julie