Vitifolia Red

I saw this one open and just had to share.

WOW so beautiful flower and Red.

This message was edited Friday, May 31st 8:52 AM

wow, I can't wait til mine blooms!

Breath taking! That is so pretty.........

Wow... Very pretty! I can't wait for mine to bloom.. They are starting sending new vines... Red is my favorites.

MiniSchnuz
Don't forget, it only set flowers on new growth, whatever you do, do not trim it or you will have to wait.

Bonnie,
How's your doing, any new growth yet?

it's just starting to put out. Still looking great!! how heavy do you feed these?

I got one from Hibiscus and can't wait for it to bloom for me. Such a pretty bloom. Cala, you have got to feel like you are in heaven most of the time with all your gorgeous plants. We are so lucky to have you here along with your digital camera.

Susie,
Great shot!! Are you going to hand-pollinate it?
I have one fruit on the viti right now, hope it comes to term before something happen to it.

I have been waiting for the P. racemosa fruits to ripen, Monday I found one disappeared from the vine. At first I thought it was one of the dogs, but after examining the way it was chew-off, I knew the slugs got to it. I found a portion of it, no seeds, all eaten.
Yesteday I found the last two fruits eaten up the same way, but this time I found the jumbo slugs and leech like creatures still attached to the peel, once again seeds were eaten up.
A table spoon of salt and 5 hours of FL sun took care of them!

Bonnie,
As stated on the container. If you want more growth first, then give it something high in Nitro to get it going, and don't forget, give it as much sun as you can.

Tim, tell me about the tablespoon of salt and the 5 hours of sun. What are you doing with the salt? I've had slug problems in the past and would like to be informed and ready if it happens again.

Shirley

Shirley,

Let just say I wasn't happy with the slugs. I tossed them into one of my empty bonsai pots, dumped the salt on them and left them out to dry. :) I forgot to mention that I found a few good seeds under one of them afterward. Not sure if seeds came from P. racemosa or P. racemosa x vitifolia.

This is the first time that I have slugs munching on the passion fruits! Loss several P. morifolia fruits too.

Tim, are there certain ones that need to be crossed? I wasn't sure how to pollinate them, so I took some pollen on a paint brush from Lavender Lady and put it on vitifolia. The stigma(?) is the part that's upside down above the anthers/staymens?

Yes, that is the upside down part. No, it does not need to crossed pollinate, but considering that the plant is inside the green house, hand pollinating may require if you want fruits. According to Vanderplank, pollen will ripen in the afternoon, and the stigma is caple able of receiving pollen as soon as the flower opens.

I noticed the flowers of foetida, gracilis, and a few others close by 11am, some even earlier.

Tim, that's great to know. I'll get out the paint brush. Might as well pollinate some of these if I'm crawling around in the Jungle House anyway.

First: How long does it take passifloras grown from seed to flower? This is my first experience with passifloras.

Second: Passiflora alata, do the leaves on this plant start out oval and then later become trilobed? I think I may have mislabelled my plant.

Third: Tim can you post a pic of the leaves of p. gracilis and p. edulis pink flower? I think also mislabed another one...must be an oldtimers moment or two.

Joy,

#1: According to Vanderplank, many will flower within seven (7) months after germination, given the right growing conditions. Some will flower sooner http://davesgarden.com/showthread/212026.html.

#2: Have no experience with alata, but many pf's seedlings will not show true leaf shapes for awhile. Some vines, even if they are mature, if new sprouts appear, the new leaves aren't true either until at least several nodes later.

#3: Try this http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/passiflora/ , click 'Pictures', it will take you to P. gracilis and edulis with pink center.

Joydie, I've grown Alata from seed, yes, they start out oval and change to lobed later.

Tim at least six of the vines have flowered already and the red one last week. I took pics but will have to wait to go into town. I've been so busy lately hence the reason I didn't mail you and tell you about all the blooms!!

Margaret,
There is one in particular, P. platyloba, that should open within days after I left, its first bloom for the year. The nursery owner gave me a cutting last year while I was out shopping for a birthday plant.
The red one was blooming before I took it up there, should be flowering nicely again.