Tropicals & Tender Perennials: New Passiflora...need pod help, 0 by LouisianaMark

LouisianaMark wrote:
Flutter,

If the closed flower falls from the vine within a few days, then the flower was not successfully fertilized. When they are successfully fertilized, you will see the "pod" start to grow unmistakeably after 4 or 5 days, and get greener. The fruits usually take a few weeks to reach full size then another 6 to 12 weeks to ripen. Most passie fruits are at least 2 inches long when mature. You should always allow the fruits to fall from the vine naturally, then let them further ripen inside until the fruit gets shriveled (anywhere from a few days to a few weeks). When you cut open the fruit, you will find dark seeds (if they are not dark they are not ripe) surrounded by pulp sacs (called arils). There are different methods for removing the pulp sacs, but what I usually do is pop the sacs between my fingers, and spread the seeds out on a plate. Make sure they are not touching one another. Within a couple of hours, sometimes more, the pulp sacs will have dried enough to be easily removed. You should probably plant a few seeds at that time, since fresh seeds are said to germinate better. Here is a pic of 2 Passiflora "Incense" pods (these are actually the ovaries) that were not successfully fertilized, along with an incarnata fruit that fell a few days ago

Don't be discouraged if you didn't get a true fruit. Most hybrids will set fruit only rarely, and usually have to be hand pollinated in the bud stage to do so. Also, most hybrids are pollen sterile, but can accept pollen from another flower. I hope this helps.

Mark