There are 3 types bear fruit, and all three can be grown from seed. They may or may not need to be scarified. I'm not sure how deep to plant 'em, but I guess they need to be sprouted away from direct sunlight. They germinate in a week and a half to 3 weeks. Once they're about a foot tall, stick 'em in their permanent full sun to scant shade position. Or that's true at least in MY zone. If you live in a superhot sunny area, these babies need to be protected a bit from the hot hot sun. Oh yeah, the seeds are only viable for about a year. And they seem to like somewhat acidic soils to germinate.
I had 5 purple passionfruit fruits. Three were pretty dry externally, but had more internal "meat." These ones had the seeds in little sections in pockets comprised of something that looked and acted a bit like the whitish bits in oranges, except it was tannish. One was rotting a bit, but was mostly dry. Inside that one looked a bit like soft spiderwebbing. I was a bit nervous that it may HAVE BEEN spiderwebbing, but I think it was just part of the rotting process. I picked the seeds easily out of that one. The final one I thought was as rotten and/or dry as the others. It was a bit wrinkled outside, and purpley while the others had been blackish. Inside was juicy and orange! The seeds were surrounded in a bit of a jelly, with each seed encased in a bit that jelly. Although someone online described it as a pomegranate type fruit, this reminded me much more of a tomato. Okay, now for the part that might gross you out. I tasted this last one. Since I had rotted bits on my fingers, I just stuck my tongue in the midst of one half. A bit tart, a bit sweet. I wasn't brave enough to eat anymore than just that little taste. And while the rotted and mostly dry fruit smelled a bit like grape fruit, a bit like wet dog, and a bit like armpits, this last juicy fruit smells w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l. The carcasses are sitting in our compost bucket, waiting to go outdoors to the Big Compost Pile in the Yard, and the whole bucket smells great now!
On to growing the little buggers!
They need to be trellised. They can grow pretty quick and strong. The trellis I had planned in my head was made of string, but it sounds like galvanized steel is more the passionfruit's speed.
According to the interweb, slugs and "sucking bugs" like it. Does that mean aphids? My guess is yes. Sounds like my future babies are gonna have a rough go of it in my yard. That is, if they even germinate. We'll see how well this little experiment goes! I just planted four seeds in little peat pots. I forgot to mention earlier how many seeds are in each fruit. There are a lot, about 2 dozen or so in each. So if these guys sprout, I'll share some of the seeds!
Also, I guess lots of folks have trouble with their flowers falling off and no fruit showing up. One of the major causes of this is overcast skies!%^@#!!! Well, the flowers sure look pretty.
Thanks to:
The University of Florida
Plants Free For Life
Permaculture Research Center
Trade Winds Fruit
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