Passion flowers are admired widely among the gardeners for their colorful vines and eye-catching red, blue, purple, white flowers. They are easy to grow and have quite rapid growth. Bees, hummingbirds, squirrels, monkeys are their daily visitors.
They are mostly found in the warmer environment as they require proper sunlight to have a healthy growth.
All passion flowers produce fruit
All passion flowers produce fruit; depending on the color, some are edible some aren’t. After flowers, passion flowers need pollination to produce fruits and it normally takes 60 to 70 days. Typically passion fruits appear in March or in the middle of the summer when they get direct sun exposure.
When given the right nourishment, mostly passion fruits are renowned for producing fruit. There are many types of passion flowers, and depending on the color, the purple passion flower grows mostly edible fruits.
Other varieties, such as the white and red passion flowers, also produce fruits, but those are all not edible.
In addition, hybrid passion flowers typically do not produce fruits, but all varieties are capable of doing so if given the right cultivation conditions, fertilizer, and environment for the flower to bloom.
The red or purple varieties of the sweet-smelling, passionate flowers bear fruit between the middle of March and the end of the summer. Other types with yellow vines primarily bear fruit in November, which is the start of winter.
Typically, it takes 24 to 28 months for seeds to sprout before flowers appear, and 60 to 70 days later, following pollination, fruits appear.
If the climate is not conducive to the passion flower’s needs for a hot climate to grow fruit, the fruits will not germinate or the production of fruits from flowers may be delayed.
Passion flower fruiting is affected by a variety of factors that will also have an impact on whether the flowers will give off fruit or not.
White passion flower:
When fertilized, white passion flowers typically take a minimum of seventy days after flowering before bearing fruit. Depending on the soil’s composition and the climate, some fruits may bloom in spring.
The development of fruits can occasionally be delayed as a result of disease in these white flowers. After being sown, white passion flowers are known to produce acidic fruits that are typically not edible but are known to produce fruit once the flowers begin to bloom.
Red passion flower:
This variety of passionate flowers also produces fruit at the end of March when the weather is favorable. However, if the weather is unfavorable, they may not produce fruit entirely or may delay it.
Thus, red passion flowers will also give off fruits in the middle of summer after the flowers have bloomed properly.
Blue Passion Flower:
Blue passion flowers are also known to produce edible fruits like other varieties, but the fruits have a different flavor. One example is the blue passion flower, Passiflora caerulea, which also produces fruits with a bitter flavor but is similar to the purple varieties in appearance.
Purple passion flower:
These varieties of purple passionate flowers have a broad variety of growing fruits that are also edible, one of which is passiflora incarnata. In the summer, they often produce fruit. Evergreen fruits with a tropical flavor are produced by them.
Another popular flower for growing fruit is Passiflora edulis.
Which passion flowers produce fruit?
Most of the passion flowers can produce fruit. The red type of passion fruit produces fruits that have a mildly tangy taste, whereas the purple variant mostly produces fruits that are edible but have a different flavor.
Soon after flowering begins, the red passion flower, Passiflora coccinea, produces fruits. Passiflora edulis is most recognized for producing flavorful fruits, as opposed to other varieties that produce fruit but are typically bland in flavor.
The tropical-tasting fruits from the purple passiflora incarnata passion flower are also produced at the end of March, when the weather is ideal for these species of plants to bear fruit.
Typically, after the flower has begun to bloom and been fertilized, the purple and red kinds of passion flowers begin to bear fruit.
Purple and red passion flowers are well known for producing fruits that have a better flavor than other varieties, while certain white varieties of passion flowers also produce fruits, albeit those are typically not edible.
How long does it take for passion fruit to bear fruit?
In accordance with the weather, soil, and surroundings, the passion flower will produce fruit. The passion blossom often bears fruit in March or in the middle of the summer.
After sowing, the flower appears in two years at the latest, and after blooming, when the pollination process begins, the flower will bear fruit in seventy to eighty days. When seeds are sown during the summer, they begin to sprout after three weeks.
After six to seven weeks, the seeds will produce a central vine, and after proper watering, the vines will produce fruits and flowers in two to three years, depending on the variety of passion flower being grown.
If the weather is favorable, the purple passion flower normally bears fruit eighty days after it has flowered. The generation of fruit from the flower, however, may occasionally be delayed due to flower ailments or low nutrition supply.
Why doesn’t my passion flower have fruit?
Proper fertilizer, pollinators, sun exposure and regular water are the essential elements for passion flowers to produce fruit. Drying, unwanted or pest infested branches hampers the growth that also causes fruit deficiency. Here are some reasons given below.
Lack of pollinators:
If your garden has a few bee or bird visitors it’ll hamper the production of fruit. Passion flowers require cross-pollinate passion fruit flowers to have fruits. Bees are the most effective pollinators that only visit the garden if you have sweet smelling flowers.
Drying or diseased branches:
Unwanted or decaying branches can hamper the healthy growth of the plant as they don’t allow light to penetrate the canopy of the plant. Therefore, improper growth of the passion flower results in fruit deficiency.
Insufficient water:
Passion flowers require water regularly for their healthy growth. If the plants lack water, it’ll cause stress to the plants that results in not having fruits. However, be careful about overwater as it can cause further disease.
Bugs or other insect infestation:
Insect or pest infested branches are one of the major reasons for not having fruits to your passion fruits.
Bugs, nymphs or other insects suck all the juice from the flower that eventually withers the flower which decreases resistance, hampers the growth and as a result flowers can’t produce fruit.
How to get passion flowers to fruit?
To get passion flowers to fruit you need to make sure the followings:
Attract the pollinators in your garden:
You can attract the bees by planting sweet smelling, aromatic flowers like lavender, sunflower, borage, goldenrod, aster, zinnia or hollow logs in the garden.
Another trick you can use is hand pollination by picking a flower and gently transferring the pollen using a soft brush or anything similar like it.
Watering regularly:
Passion flowers are not drought resistant. Insufficient water can do a great harm to its growth and withers the flower and as a result, passion flowers won’t have flowers.
Well-draining locations are best for passion flowers or frequent watering will work as moisture soil is highly required for them. However, you must be careful about the limit of water for passion flowers.
Fertilize the soil:
Proper fertilizer ensures passion flowers to fruit. Minimum of 4 times nitrogen feedings; in the rate of 3 pounds (1 kg.) per plant, is necessary to promote fast, spindly vegetative growth of the passion flower that will result in passion flowers to have fruits.
A certain amount of fertilizer is fixed for passion flowers, anything more than or less than that will be bad for the plant.
Pruning:
Pruning is required to ensure the proper development of the branches.
Pruning encourages the flowers to produce fruits as the drying or infested or decaying branches are cut off and the new branches get proper sunlight and other essential elements directly from nature.
But make sure, for pruning you can’t cut any major branches. However, pruning is effective mostly in spring.
Sunlight:
To produce fruit, every plant requires sun exposure for a long period of time that ensures creating lots of food for them by using the energy. Passion flowers require direct sunlight for a minimum of 8 hours to have flowers and turn these flowers into fruit.
Final Thoughts
If the right cultivation conditions like proper fertilizer, soil’s composition, direct sun exposure, and regular watering is ensured, passion flowers will surely produce fruit. Typically the purple, blue varieties are edible but the red and white species produce acidic fruits that aren’t edible.