I’ve never seen one in the wild that big and I’ve seen a lot of them. That sweet-tart taste you describe is similar to mine. Some of mine were really good this year, and then the fritallary butterflies arrive and their caterpillars almost stripped the foliage off the plants.
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Good point about possible climate influences on color change. I suppose it’s possible but if I had to guess I would say there’s no effect.
They may get a little lighter green, but never ever “orange.”
I really think this is a simple confusion with P caerulea.
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Here’s the biggest I’ve been able to grow.
https://growingfruit.org/t/what-fruits-did-you-eat-today/5021/2770
I also have a couple videos on my YouTube channel of this vine.
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I pull the seed bits. I’m not sure what they are actually called, but they look like pomegranite arils. Then blend those on low, and then strain through a mesh strainer, potato ricer, or (preferably) a cone strainer. It ends up sounding like you are crushing ice, but as long as the seeds don’t break it doesn’t matter.
The seeds in my fruits are kind of hard, and while I could eat them like a pomegranite it just didn’t really seem worth it. The flesh and juice stick to the seeds harder than on a pom, IMO.
I originally just planted the thing to colonize the hottest part of my lawn, a little spit of ground surrounded by the street, my driveway, and a concrete culvert. Even the crabgrass and other weeds die during the summer there, but the maypop doesn’t care. I ran a soaker hose through my berry patch and the very end reaches across the culvert so it gets some water.
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Thanks!
Yes they don’t seem to want or need much moisture.
I think that’s part of the reason they don’t do well in pots.
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Quick update for those interested in such things: I stratified seed taken from my local P. incarnata plants in the fridge for three months, then started indoors on a heating mat in February. Got very low germination rates. Ended up with only about 10 plants out of 70 or so seeds planted; most of these germinated within three weeks, though I had a few that took their time and didn’t show up for a month or more. Don’t know if that’s the nature of these maypops or if I could’ve improved germination by treating the seed in some other manner.
Five of the plants—the most advanced ones—are already planted and fruiting. Three of them show some promise size-wise.
The other two seem to want to make smaller, egg-sized fruits. Of course, all may size up some next year, when they’ve gotten established root systems. And flavor’s the #1 thing, anyway.
Speaking of which, I ordered some tropical passion fruit (P. edulis) from Florida a while ago, just to see how they compare, and I actually found the taste inferior to the local P. incarnata. (To be fair, I suspect those passion fruits may have been picked a little prematurely—though I did let them sit and wrinkle up a little before trying). The one thing that I did like better about the tropical ones was the smaller seed. The maypops do have lots of big crunchy seeds. But I don’t mind them too much, and they’re a great source of dietary fiber.
Wild ones bore like crazy this year, and we ought to be seeing some ripening before long.
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Wow that is great! Those are huge! Perhaps a good seed source! These are neat plants and fruit! Mine are not very productive yet since i havent got another seedling to sprout yet so i have a pollenation issue, with all of my suckers being from one seedling, but perhaps this fruit will give me a shot at sprouting another seed to get pollenation rige for better crops!
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Mine produced some nice fruit, Not as big as nice and as yours. They were tasty, I like them, but they have become extraordinarily invasive, and if they can over my whole garden center runners under a 3 foot wide concrete walkway
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Thats great they were tasty! Wow yeah they could get out of control in eastern climates. Here it is dry enough to slow them down a bit.
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Yes, do they get around! I planted mine in an area some distance away from other plantings and where the lawnmower can get most of the unwanted suckers that come up. Had a critter-dropped one sprout in my blueberry/gooseberry patch and it tried to take over this year! They develop an extensive root system—and suckers—very quickly! Great native plant, but they definitely require some planning for containment in moist climates.
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A few of the native passion fruit have been ripening and dropping here. Very sweet, with just the right amount of tartness, and a refreshing tropical flavor. Critters love them, too!
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Mine have been a big mix of disappointing and outstanding flavors. They’ve been ripening here for about six or seven weeks. The ones ripening now are excellent, the previous ones ranged from spitters to o.k. Once again the fritillary butterfly caterpillars feasted on the leaves of most of the earlier ones, which probably contributed to the poor flavors.
The skin of the one in your picture looks exactly like most of mine when they are ripe.
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I’ve been germinating a few seeds of my native strain of P. incarnata this winter. Germination rates still seem a wee bit low so far—though I’ve beaten the sub-10% rate I got last year. At nearly three weeks I’m at about 15% germination; more could pop up in the next few weeks, though, as these tend to be unpredictable and uneven germinators: I’ve had a few germinate a couple of months after planting. To save space and materials, I’ve been germinating the seeds in my “germination chamber” (which is my grandiose name for a sealed Coolwhip bowl full of moist sphagnum moss, sitting on a heating mat!) before potting them up.
I don’t know whether drying is detrimental to passionflower seeds (anybody know?), but since these are from a cold winter region plant, I figured moist stratification couldn’t hurt, so I always store the seeds in moist sphagnum moss in the refrigerator for a few months before attempting to germinate. Before storing the seeds I remove pulp and clean them by fermenting for around a week in filtered water, then rinsing in a mild hydrogen peroxide solution.
What methods are you other growers using for processing/germinating P. incaranta (and other passiflora) seeds? And what sorts of germination rates are you getting?
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I’ve been advised by the breeder I know that dry storage is fine. Though like you said I initially used moist storage by default, like a pawpaw seed.
Stratification should speed the germination process.
I have had very fast (7 days) and high germination rates with the following:
Basic mechanical cleaning of the seeds - no soaks or bleaches etc.
Moist cool stratification in peat moss for 3 months or so
Sowing about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep in seed starter mix and using a heat mat with humidity dome. Keeping the temp below 90. Do not let mix dry out.
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The fermentation process could be the germination rate-killer. I’ll try mechanical cleaning next year. If it’s not that, maybe it’s just a characteristic of the local maypops? The few that have come up this year have been very fast—the first one within 4 days.
I’m going to try propagating a few of the nicer ones by root cuttings this season.
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Could be. That’s the only thing that stood out to me too.
Good luck with the cuttings. It definitely can be done but maybe requires some skill,
Practice, and the right setup. I’ve only tried it a couple times and had limited (but some) success with DIY methods.
Of course nurseries do this all the time with the “pro” equipment.
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Update: two weeks later and I’ve got a little better than a 50% germination rate. These maypop seeds just take time and patience. A few will pop up in days, many others over the course of a month or more. I do think germinating the seeds in moist sphagnum moss on bottom heat is a good way to go with these. It saves space and material, spares one the frustration of looking at (and having to water!) empty pots for weeks at a time, and I do believe it ultimately nets a higher germination rate. The germinated seeds are not nearly as delicate as they look, and transfer readily to pots; I’ve even had a couple that I’d overlooked (it pays to check daily!), which had already developed 1" taproots in the moss, and with careful handling these transplanted fine into potting soil, and are now growing happily.
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So far I’m at about 25% germination for the ~40 seeds I got from @JeremiahT. I gently sanded the seed coats and they’ve been in (non-sterile) potting mix for about a month and a half in my greenhouse. They took a few weeks to start popping, but they are still continuing to come up. Two new ones came up over the weekend:
I am not sure what nibbled on one of them, but suspect an earwig since the nibble pattern looks similar to when they nibble my avocados.
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