How to Grow Passiflora Passion Fruit from Seed

Growing passion fruit from the seed of a passion fruit.

PASSIFLORA EDULIS

I don’t know about you, but I’m not terribly fond of passionfruit (passiflora edulis), finding the taste sickly sweet and a bit strange. However, the juice is apparently a very good health tonic, with claims of helping sufferers of asthma, reducing cancer cell growth and regulating high blood pressure, among other still ongoing claims which studies will one day confirm or deny.

It is known as an antioxidant.

However, passiflora edulis are well worth growing in the garden because they are the most beautiful plants, with gorgeous flowers.

PASSIFLORA CLIMBERS

Passiflora are climbers with three-fingered leaves and so attractive you’d want to grow them in your conservatory if you live in an area of severe frost. They can take mild frost, though the leaves (and perhaps the stem) will be killed back to the ground; however it should shoot again from the roots when the frost is past.

PASSIFLORA SEEDS

Take the seeds from a shop bought passionfruit, clean and dry them, and plant to their depth in moist compost. Else just throw a few seeds into some moist compost inside a sealed plastic bag. Leave in a warm and light place, but out of direct sunlight, and you should be rewarded with some green showing within a few weeks.

PASSIFLORA SEEDLINGS

Carefully transplant the passiflora seedlings into individual pots and keep on a sunny windowsill or sunny terrace in a frost free area, as move on up pot sizes as they grow.

The first true leaves of passiflora are almost heart shaped, and it is not until they have produced maybe 10 sets of leaves that they first show finger-shaped leaves.

At this stage it is worth offering the plants some support in their pots, in the form of a stick, as they will be throwing out tendrils looking for something to hold on to as they begin their climb.

They can reach 20 metres in the right environment and in a very short time as they are extremely vigorous climbers.

There are two main types of passionfruit grown in the world. The one that is most often sold in the shops is the passiflora edulis. This is the purple passionfruit that can be grown in cooler climates in the world, and is a slightly sweeter passionfruit than passiflora flavicarpus, which is otherwise known as the tropical passionfruit. Passiflora flavicarpus tends to be yellow in colour.

Passionfruit vines like rich soil with pletny of nutrients. They put out a lot of growth each season and so use up a lot of nutrients at the same time, so fertilise well.

Like all passiflora they need someone for their tendrils to hold on to while climbing, so plant over a fence or other growth frame.

Passionfruit do not like to sit on water logged soil, so it must be free-draining. They like a lot of water, so water well in dry spells.

They like warmth and sunshine, so choose a position for them that is out of the wind, a protected corner of your garden is perfect for passionfruit.