Guv's Gardens
Photo: Rarani, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Sun
- Full sun (at least 5-6 hours), sheltered from strong wind.
- Soil
- Rich in organic matter and well-drained.
- Soil pH
- Varies, about 5.5-7.5; around 6.5 suits most guidance.
- Water
- Keep moist with regular watering, especially during flowering and fruiting.
- Hardiness
- Subtropical and temperate (also tropical). Frost-tender, especially when young; 'Panama' types and grafted 'Nellie Kelly' are more cold-tolerant.
- Height and spread
- Vigorous vine to about 5 m; needs at least 2 x 2 m of strong support (can cover about 10 sq m).
Guv's tipPrune passionfruit in early spring, taking up to a third of last season's growth. Remove all rootstock suckers on grafted vines, too.
Through the year
Timings are for temperate Australia. Tropical and arid gardens follow different seasons.
When to plant
Spring (Sep-Nov) is best; can plant into early autumn in warm areas.
Harvest or flowering
Flowers mid-spring; fruit summer to autumn. Good crops from the second year.
Pruning
In early spring once established, remove up to one-third of last season's growth plus dead or diseased wood. Remove all rootstock suckers on grafted vines.
Making more plants
Grafted plants (better disease and soil tolerance, but the rootstock can sucker) or seed.
Watch out for
Queensland fruit fly
Look for: Pin-prick stings; maggots in fruit; premature fruit drop.
What to do: Bait and trap; bag and solarise infested fruit.
Sap-sucking pests (aphids, scale, mealybug, passionvine hopper, mites)
Look for: Wilting new growth; sooty mould. Aphids spread viruses.
What to do: Registered pyrethrum spray; control weeds that harbour aphids.
Passionfruit woodiness virus
Passionfruit woodiness virus (aphid-transmitted).Look for: Puckered, distorted, yellow-spotted leaves; leaf yellowing; hard, woody fruit.
What to do: No cure. Control aphids and remove badly affected vines.
Always read and follow the label on any treatment, and check it is approved for use where you live.
Safety and spread
Pets and people: Ripe pulp is edible. Unripe fruit (and peel) contain cyanogenic glycosides - avoid eating unripe fruit. Not listed by the ASPCA.
Weed risk: Not a declared weed in Victoria or Queensland. However, P. edulis is listed as a bushland weed by the Sydney Weeds Network, and banana passionfruit (P. tarminiana) is a separate regulated weed.
The Plant Doctor and the Guv's book
Printable pest and disease charts with real photographs, and all 50 Australia plants in one book.
