Mine were mulched heavily, so didn’t require much supplemental water. Several of the plants were absolutely destroyed by gulf frittalary caterpillars, though. Those that survived and produced had fruit that was pretty good, but not great.
I may give heavy mulching a try. I’m trying to see how close I can get these vines to zero-maintenance, because I think that’s their best niche. (Also because I am lazy.)
I think I saw a single frittilary caterpillar last year, which was kind of exciting. Presumably more will follow this year, especially as I plant out more seedlings. I’ll continue to report in this thread if they become a problem pest.
Great thread. I’m trying to get a plant going indoors. It’s happening but I’m going to need a second plant for fruit. Gorgeous flowers…that only last for one day…but still.
I’ve got incarnata (Maypop), Caerulea, Incense, Lavender Lady, Capsularis and edulis. Never seen a fritalary caterpillar in a decade…
Maybe they need a map…
Scott
I bought 2 varieties of edulis this year. I plan to put them in 15 and 30 gallon smart pots. Maypops grow native in my area so I hope the edulis will do well.
You asked about variability in flowers and fruit. I posted some pictures here that you can compare.
Do you find that your varieties interbreed at all? I’m still hopeful somebody will manage to cross edulis flavor with maypop hardiness.
Only Capsularis ripens fruit consistently for me. (And the darn things explode open when ripe shooting seeds into other plants.)
I don’t believe it is compatible with any of my other varieties.
With the exception of incarnata, all the rest are potted.
Scott
I forgot I also have p. Lutea in the ground as well.
The leaves all seem tri-lobed. Mine pushes 5-7 lobed leaves as well.
Scott
I’ve never seen them here before June…
Definitely nothing from them here yet. I do have a lutea which is showing growth, but it’s potted.
All my others went out this week and got cut back very hard.
Scott
The vine has grown. I stuck some things in a ground for it to climb. It has sent runners out much further into the lawn, which I just mow down. So far it hasn’t crossed the driveway.
Most importantly, fruit is beginning to form!
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That vine will eat somebody!
I saw a wild passionflower vine out back. Maybe I’ll mow around it for awhile and see what happens. I’ve never seen fruit on them around here, but they show up in new places, so there must be seeds coming from somewhere?
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… or they are popping up from underground runners.
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I guess that was ambiguous. A passionflower vine will show up in a garden bed with no other plants within a hundred yards. I’ll fear for my safety if you tell me they can send runners that far!
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Maypops hide their fruit. It stays green, and just drops off when ripe, so you really need to be looking for it to find it.
(They also need cross-pollination, but if you’ve really got seedlings popping up (easily tested by pulling one up and seeing if you get the whole thing, or if it is a runner), then you probably have that.)
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The harvest has begun, and that vine is about twice as big as in the previous picture.
I think I need to find some other passiflora to cross these with just to get colored fruit, because it can be hard to find the ripe ones as they drop off the vine.
I suspect I’m too far north for gulf fritillaries to visit me, but a relative of its has stopped by! Here’s what I believe is a variegated fritillary caterpillar. A few hundred more and they might actually keep the vines in check.
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My wild vine is finally dropping fruit. These are more oblong and the inside is yellower.
Unfortunately, I did not like it. There’s an off taste to it.
Luckily, my Edible Landscaping vine is raining fruit down on me, and it is delicious. I’m now at that awkward point where there’s too much fruit for me to just browse, but not enough for me to process into anything. Right now, I’m throwing them in the food processor every few days and just making juice out of them. Next year I’m going to have to come up with some proper recipes.
I’ll follow up with a fuller report at the end of the season.
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Wow. The EL maypop strain tastes good, eh? Very encouraging.
Do all your other Maypops have off flavors?
@tjasko my wild maypops taste good when they are harvested before they get to the stage where everything inside is yellow. Once they get to that yellow stage, mine also develop an off flavor. They never taste great, though.
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