Mrs. G, Perfect purée of Napa valley makes an amazing passionfruit purée (nice tropical tart without over sweetness). When I looked into ordering the shipping was pricey because they ship on dry ice to keep frozen but they have a ton of different fruit purées if you could recruit friends or family for a group order or use their website to find out if there a distributor in your area. I infuse a habanero vodka and make passionfruit cocktails with it but I’m sure you could whip up some out of this world baked goods!
I’m growing the Red Rover cultivar of Passionfruit. It survived a few hours of 26F fine. The tender tips had some dieback but the main vine looks healthy. It has about 6 fruits ripening on it right now from last year. No idea if it’ll taste any good.
Any guesses on when you’ll be harvesting Mid Pride this year? I’m getting my first MP peaches this year and I’m not sure what to watch for to know these are ready (was a graft from last year). I’m usually pretty close to you as far as ripening up here in the OC. Thanks. Bob
The “shoulders” (near stem end) should be softening. Press very lightly to avoid bruising. But otherwise, taste is the best indicator – and it’s a quick teacher.
I do spray with copper when they’re dormant. Sometimes I spray with pesticide (Bayer Leverage) for aphids around April but it wasn’t necessary this year. The same is true for late July for larger insect pests – we’ll see how it goes.
