Passionfruit problem

Julia · 18 May 2009

Any horticultural experts here?

Have a passionfruit vine which has had a couple of prolific crops and is still flowering quite well and setting fruit.
But when the fruit is anything from a couple of weeks to a few months old (obviously still completely green) it is shrivelling up and falling off.

The vine is healthy, and shows no sign of any obvious disease.

Any suggestions?

jono1887 · 18 May 2009

are you sure you're looking in the right forum

wabbit · 18 May 2009

If there are no signs of insect damage to the fruit, stems or leaves of the plant, then my suggestion is you might have a boron deficiency. See Jerry Coleby-Williams' article here : http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s1801782.htm

Hope this helps.

wabbit

Julia · 19 May 2009

Thanks for the suggestion, Wabbitt. Now that you bring it up, I've previously heard the area is deficient in boron.

Jono, it's in the General Chat section. If you're not interested, why not just ignore it?

Calliope · 19 May 2009

Have a look at this link Julia.

http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/horticulture/5524.html

It's a funny thing about passionfruit, when you let them grow wild on your fence or among other shrubs, they fruit prolifically but when you cultivate them with TLC they spurn your efforts. Much like some women I have known. Perhaps that's how they got their name But I still love them.

Col Campbell gets large numbers of questions on passionfruit and mango fruit drop. I suppose it is a Queensland thing.

bassmanpete · 19 May 2009

We moved to FNQ in October last year. A local fruit grower had a small field full of passionfruit vines laden with fruit. In late November/early December he pulled them all out. I asked him why & he said although the vines looked healthy the fruit was rotten - fungal disease I think it was.

During December he replanted the whole field. Not only have those vines now grown to the top of the support wires but they're bearing full sized fruit. I planted a vine in Melbourne several years ago and it was two years before it even showed a flower! Everything grows fast up here, particularly the weeds

Happy · 19 May 2009

From my experience Passion Fruit loses vigour after about 7 years. So best to have something started in 5th year of the previous one's existence.

This way continuous cropping can be achieved.

Julia · 19 May 2009

Calliope said:
Have a look at this link Julia.

http://www2.dpi.qld.gov.au/horticulture/5524.html

It's a funny thing about passionfruit, when you let them grow wild on your fence or among other shrubs, they fruit prolifically but when you cultivate them with TLC they spurn your efforts. Much like some women I have known. Perhaps that's how they got their name But I still love them.

Col Campbell gets large numbers of questions on passionfruit and mango fruit drop. I suppose it is a Queensland thing.

Thanks for the link, Calliope. Info there is comprehensive. They also mention boron, as in Wabbitt's suggestion.

This vine is actually one which was planted about 15 years ago, didn't ever flourish, and I thought it was dead. Then about 18 months ago after heavy rain it appeared and has grown really well through and over shrubs since then. The fruit is the large purple Panama and is delicious.

I agree with your suggestion that ignoring them is best. But I'll try a dose of boron.

Another vine in a different area is still doing really well, large yellow fruit and no problems. That garden does get fertilised.

Is Col Campbell from Gardening Australia?

Thanks for other responses, also.

Duckman#72 · 19 May 2009

Julia said:
Thanks for the link, Calliope. Info there is comprehensive. They also mention boron, as in Wabbitt's suggestion.

This vine is actually one which was planted about 15 years ago, didn't ever flourish, and I thought it was dead. Then about 18 months ago after heavy rain it appeared and has grown really well through and over shrubs since then. The fruit is the large purple Panama and is delicious.

I agree with your suggestion that ignoring them is best. But I'll try a dose of boron.

Another vine in a different area is still doing really well, large yellow fruit and no problems. That garden does get fertilised.

Is Col Campbell from Gardening Australia?

Thanks for other responses, also.

Hi Julia

I'm experiencing exactly the same problem with my passionfruit!! The foliage looks fantastic. It has a healthy shine and is a beautiful deep green and plenty of fruit is setting but the fruit never fully develop. I looked up a couple of home remedies (one involving me and the little male ducklings weeing at the base of bush daily), however nothing seems to be working. Maybe wabbit is onto something with the boron, please keep me informed.

My cherry tomatos have nearly finished but had a great crop this year. Silverbeet is the current vegie of the moment at the Duckman house.

Duckman

Happy · 20 May 2009

Duckman#72 said:
Hi Julia

I'm experiencing exactly the same problem with my passionfruit!! The foliage looks fantastic. It has a healthy shine and is a beautiful deep green and plenty of fruit is setting but the fruit never fully develop. I looked up a couple of home remedies (one involving me and the little male ducklings weeing at the base of bush daily), however nothing seems to be working.
Duckman

Fantastic folliage is in response to abundance of Nitrogen

Duckman#72 said:
Hi Julia

Maybe wabbit is onto something with the boron, please keep me informed.

Duckman

There are number of other elements including trace elements: Potassium, Calcium, Iron, 'Boron' and many more.

Hard to say what is missing, having detailed analysis done is too expensive for little backyard garden, so try and error method is the best we can do.

Suppose fertiliser with trace elements could help here, as there is good chance that within supplied elements is missing one too.

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