How do I know when the seeds are ready to be harvested? My Foetida is covered in fruit. They are very little though and I was told that the birds would eat them and disperse the seeds. So far no birds are taking.
Fruits on Passiflora
Hows a bout saveing me one of the Fruit? Paul
I can do that. My question is when is it ok to pick one? (by the way even though they are for the birds I tried one and they are very sweet.)
iwhen ever they are ripe
ok so what do they look like ripe? I have not seen any change colors.
what coulr is the fruit now
Green
when its yellow
Ok I will watch them then and let you know when I have yellow ones. Once they turn yellow do I cut them open to let the seeds dry out?
no
Marie, is Paul being ornry? He seems to be giving you tidbits....... I'm curious, too. I have 4 fruits on Constance E and I'd try to germinate the seeds if I knew what I was doing. Today IS Paul's birthday, any celebratory plans, Paul?
Paul,
Although I have been growing Passifloras few a few years now and know alot about them, I don't don't have much experience with fruits and seed handling. If you would kindly provide a more complete response to Marie's questions, I would learn from it as well.
From what I understand, Passiflora seeds are ideally sowed fresh (like every other seed). However, they can be stored for some time, with declining viability, of course. For the latter, isn't it reasonable to cut open the ripe fruit and let the seeds slowly dry, and then store them in a cool, dark, dry spot?
Regards,
Erick
No ive been told that they do best really fresh to plant some of the pulp with the seeds. i have some very young seedlings growing that i planted that way regards Paul
Orny is a understatement!! But amusing non the less.
"Happy Late Birthday to you" Paul.
.
D-mail me your address and as soon as I find a yellow one I will mail it to you. I am going out to do some planting right now! The sun is just starting to ome up and it is nice a cool outside.
I'll be experimenting also as my edulis is starting to fruit like crazy. 5-6 so far and covering with blooms.
Jan...
Ahh, Jan pretty! Flowers and fruit. The fruit is shiny.... mine are dull and empty, I think.... What fun for you.
Those don't look anything like mine. I need to make some pics, be back this afternooon.
Betty
okay on my molifolia the fruit turns a prune color purple. i guess it actually depends on which one you have as to the color of fruit. i know we also have a wild white one here and it turns brown in color.
I had edulis and edulis "black knight" but I don't remember which one this is as the tag wore off. The picture of the bloom on here is much lighter than in person but does not have as dark of a ring as some of the PF pictures of edulis. Time will tell.
Ok Paul the fruit is starting to fall off the vine but it is not really turning yellow.
Marie-
Hello
I've grown foetida before, and the pods (when ready) turn an orangey color and shrivel, or wrinkle. This is when they are ready. Also when you look inside the pod/fruit, the seeds will be black. If they are white still, they are not ready.
To clean them you can squish them out onto a paper towel. Press them around in the paper towel, to rub off the goo. Depending on how many you clean, you might need several paper towels to get them clean.
The goo is reportedly a germination inhibitor. Some soak the seeds in orange juice before sowing to make them extra clean and prepped, for germination, and the acid in the orange juice is supposed to help degrade the hard shell, so water can more easily penetrate.
I don't do it that way...I use nail clippers to chip a tiny chip out of the side of the seed, and then pre-soak in hot(but not boiling) water. Then, sow twice the width of the seed.
They are always best sown fresh. The older passie seeds are, the lower their germination rates will be.
-T
Thanks T. I will stat watching and hopefully be harvesting some seeds soon!!
You are welcom.
There aren't many seeds in each fruit/pod, but the vine is usually a heavy producer of pods, so you should still end up with a ton of seeds.
-T
They will grow if not to fresh or I was very lucky. My seed sat for 2 years before I decided to plant it.
I wonder if heat & humidity can affect bloom color. I went out and checked my new blooms and they are all pretty much solid white. The pictures of edulis in the PF show a purple ring of varying depths.
Hi Jan-
Both are normal color variations for this particular passie. Mine never changed with the weather, or temps. Some were just lighter and some had more color. I guess it is just the difference between each seedling's genetics...
I think both are pretty.
-T
Thanks Taylor,
It's good to know it is what it is. LOL
Since you all seem so knowledgable about Edulis, could you give me some pointers on how I can best care for one? I planted a largish one in the spring, and it's doing pretty well but seems to grow more slowly than I remember past Passies I've had. I've seen a few flowers, but they only last a day or so and I miss them frequently. I've sadly seen a couple buds shrivel up and drop off prior to bloom. Definitely no fruit yet. I have space enough for it to fill a large "trellis" that we created out of stainless steel wire, which spreads about 20' wide and 8' high. It's reached the outer perimeters now, but has a lot of filling in to do. Would it benefit from some pruning? I'm still pretty new in the garden, and unfortunately I had one passie failure in this same spot (I think I overwatered?). The current one is looking a little yellowish, so I'm wondering if it's needing less/more water or food?
Thanks, Christina :)
I can only speak from my own experience as this is my first year. I did not intend for it to grow where it is but I had it in a 1 gal pot and it rooted through the bottom of the pot into the ground and it took off from there. It has taken over more than half of a 8x16 ft structure including the 2x4 rafters of the open roof. My grew like gangbusters but did not bloom until about a month ago and just started fruiting a couple weeks ago. In fact is still has the 1 gal pot around the base of the plant. I don'l do anything special to it as far as fertilizing. It gets watered with a common fan type sprinkler that wets the entire vine every day to every other day depending on the temperature.
Jan...
ok, good to know - thanks! It sounds like yours is similar to mine, aside from the fruiting. I'll wait and see. :)