Wandering if anyone has had success with fruiting any passiflora in cold summer areas like Seattle? I had a passiflora incarnata that bloomed beautifully at my last house but never attempted to fruit. I moved after 2 years in the ground so I wouldn’t expect it to have fruited in the time I lived there and the new owners ripped it out. I’m hoping for one with worthwhile fruit. I know Incarnata is said to produce a nice flavored fruit. If there are any others that are hardy to zone 7-8ish that have nice fruit it would be great to know about as well.
I know it’s not terribly helpful to eliminate one from the list that probably wasn’t on your list to start with, but the P. maliformis that I planted out in spring hardly grew all summer even with a couple heat waves, while the one in the ground in the greenhouse grew 30+ ft.
That being said I’d love to try any that might be hardy here, so I’ll follow along with this thread for sure, even though I’ve already got a few healthy vines that will be confined to the greenhouse for life.
Some websites/nurseries list them as self-pollinating, but most of the scientific literature notes that P. incarnata is often self-incompatible. I’d plant at least two vines. That might’ve been your problem.
They’re native here. They die back to the ground every winter, pop back with a vengeance in spring, and start ripening fruit toward autumn. I would think that having some above-ground structure survive—and I understand they can become woody vines in warmer climates—would give you a little jump on flowering/fruiting, maybe enough to get some fruit to ripen by fall in your cool summers. Do the above-ground portions of the vine survive the winter in the maritime PNW? If so, you might have a shot at successfully fruiting—especially if you plant your vines in a warm microclimate.
P. incaranta fruit are pretty variable in size/taste. The ones here are pretty good (to my palate), but I understand that some can have “off” flavors. I think a few folks are growing interested in breeding/improving them.
I agree with JeremiahT, they are typically self-incompatible, so you need compatible genotypes for cross-pollination. Even with different clones, they may not always be compatible. Here in their native range, bees will always bring in wild pollen, so it’s not much of an issue. Sometimes, a self-incompatible clone will self late in the season, when no fruit has been set, but I doubt they ever reach the “late season” stage in a cool climate.
That’s good advise on the cross pollination. I’ve seen many of my 200+ fruiting plants that cross pollination can make a big difference in fruit ripening, size, flavor and so on even when advertised as self fertile. I don’t think I would have winter dieback every year but for sure some. Last year I never got below mid 20’s in the winter but a few years back I hit 8 degrees. That is much lower than average but a once every 5-10 year occurrence.