Yeah, I found #1 to be relatively accurate, but...

I never tried to produce plants in large numbers so dumping seeds straight from the fruit into the dirt gave me more than enough plants to replace mine when it died and extras for friends to plant.

Your experiments are likely useful to anyone wanting to start growing them in volume for nursery re-sale. Thanks.

the only thing i can see a a potential problem
is that by cleaning them on a strainer by rubbing them
you are potentially "scarifying" them.
or, even just the pressure against the seed is creating a fissure along the area it naturally splits. ?

happy someone did this experiment though
your right, lots of people had opinions, but nothing really to back them up.

The Passiflora edulis species produces an ok fruit but is inferior to the fruit and hardiness of the cultivar Passiflora "Frederick". The latter will not produce true from seed - it must be propagated by cutting. Further, both of these are easy to grow from cuttings - and in large quantities. And, as anyone growing the vine outdoors will tell you - it is so vigorous you'll never be short on cuttings. Here in coastal southern CA a single plant will easily span a 100' fence in 1 year and cover it in 3 years.

Another good method is to ferment the seeds in their own juice. No Passion juice? Use tomato or other juice. I also did some work in this area. I even passed them thru myself and the germination was great. Aside to Gnappi: If someone only had one seed, you would certainly want to use the method which provides for best success.

I do much the same as Gnappi, get seed from a fruit, which ends up far more plants than I need. It's a matter of what gives satisfactory results for your own purposes.

Thanks for the comments.

Yes Greenman62, I had thought of the same thing. The cleaned seeds are actually likely scratched as well as they are rubbed against a wire strainer, so this would potentially affect them as well. I tried cleaning them by hand but getting them out of those little sacks they are in, along with their small size, simply took far too much effort and time

Flatwoods, I had read what you suggested as well before (some others also suggested vinegar), "Another good method is to ferment the seeds in their own juice." What exactly do you mean by it? Do you mean to clean the seeds (remove them from their pouch) then soak them in an acidic solution basically or just take them out of the fruit and let them sit longer?

Certainly this experiment produced way too many sprouts if you are planting from seeds gathered in a fruit, but if you bought seeds online and only had 10 I would be interested in knowing which produced the best germination rates. Here in Washington DC it is hard to come by passion fruit, I went to over 15 different grocery store chains and markets and only one had them for $2.50 each.... But if you have access to fruit and don't really care about two weeks versus four, they all germinated more than well enough for individual use purposes. When starting this experiment I had not expected nearly this many sprouts, one source I had read said its germination rate can be around 10% at the low end so I was overly zealous with the number of seeds.

PinkOkapi - Are you still growing your passion fruit vines? If so, how's it going (did they flower and/or fruit) and are you growing them in containers?

Thank you for doing this! I will be using this in a few days!

I'm in zone 7 so I have to grow mine in a pot and shelter it in the winter. I've never had a problem getting the seeds to sprout but getting the vines to thrive has been an issue. Luckily I have one strong performer that gives me all the fruit I need. The vine is only a couple of years old and that and the fact that it is growing in a container I think keep the fruit on the small size. Every once in a while I get a normal sized one though so I'm not complaining.

trianglejohn - Thanks for the post and for the photo. I have a few questions. How do you shelter your plants in the winter? And how large is your container? How tall is your vines? I know that they can grow high, but I wonder if the size of the container inhibits its height (or not). Lastly, did you use a store-bought passion fruit for the seeds? Thanks!

I have a large hoop house where I shelter all sorts of tropical fruit trees. Some are too large to move in and out. I heat it with a wood stove and have an electric heater as back up. Most of our winters are mild with lows around freezing and highs in the 50's. Lately we've been having single digit nights and a few daytimes that don't get above freezing. For a container I am using a horse feed barrel. It's black plastic and maybe 35 gallons. I stuck a giant tomato cage into it for the vine to grow on. It raced to the top of the cage (the pot is tall and the whole mess is maybe 7.5 feet tall) and now kinda drapes down without rambling off. I haven't had to trim it all summer. I was prepared to have to prune it off of my deck railings which it sits beside but so far it has been well behaved. It looks like a giant green thumb.

I do think that being in a pot holds it back, growth wise. My seeds were from a grocery store fruit. Out of all the seedlings this is the one plant that grew faster and stronger than all the rest. I got rid of the rest and kept this one. I have a few ornamental forms and a special wild passionvine around the yard but they don't seem to bloom at the same this one does so I don't think they are influencing this ones fruit production.

trianglejohn - Thanks so much for the detailed answers. You've been incredibly helpful.

One more question. Do you keep the passion fruit outside all year round or are you able to move it into the hoop house? Sorry I've been unable to find out if the passion fruit vines wither/die down in the winter and then regrow in the spring/summer, so my question may be seem silly.

I wait until first frost and then move it into the hoophouse with a dolly. In the past it only made a few fruits. I guess it has matured because this year it has stayed covered with fruit. If it continues through the winter I will most likely rig up some sort of trellis inside the hoophouse and leave it in there all year long.

I think most of the hardy forms of passionvine die back to the main root mass and re-sprout when things warm up. My native Maypop (P. incarnata) seems to sprout from runners, usually not from the same spot each year but the roots might be winter hardy, it just doesn't appear to be.

trianglejohn. i get the same thing with Incarnata ... runners tend to sprout up in different areas, sometimes 30ft from the plant.

also, i remember reading if you have problems getting them to fruit, restrict the roots.

mine (P Incarnata) would not fruit at first, so i grew a cutting in a 5gal bucket, and it produced 2 fruit 2 years in a row. the vine was never over 12ft long.

the Edulis will not fruit now. i get a couple of flowers, but no fruit. - this past winter only had 1 night at 32F. the plant lost leaves and such, but was still fairly large in spring, and took off again.

its over 2 years old, and must have 80ft of vines. its in a front planter, but the roots could be going under the driveway, or, under the house. maybe it just keeps trying and cant find a spot ? i keep cutting back the new growth hoping that will promote flowering, but - nada... i give it fish emulsion and sometimes worm tea.

i may try to transplant it into a 15gal and keep the roots contained.

trianglejohn - Thanks again for your answers. I'm in zone 6, so if I do grow it, it will have to be indoors by a south-facing window. I might try and see if I can grow it outdoors and move it inside, but I think my best option is to grow it indoors.

greenman62 - I wonder if you're giving your P. edulis too much nitrogen based on your description and lack of fruit. I found this: "10-5-20 NPK . A good
choice is 10-5-20 NPK applied at the rate of 3 pounds per plant 4 times a
year. Too much nitrogen results in vigorous foliage growth at the
expense of flowering. Passion fruit vines should always be watched for
deficiencies, particularly in potassium and calcium, and of less
importance, magnesium."

miscel

your probably right about it needing something.

i dont use chemicals. and i use organic dry ferts VERY sparingly... i used fish emulsion mainly, but i did try 2 oz of dry organic fert on the passiflora which made no difference . guess i will have to try again...

its just that i have 2 identical plants (from cuttings) doing the same thing in different parts of the yard.