Passion fruit care guide

Pets and children

How often to water Passion fruit

Spring–Summer (Mar–Sep)

Every day

Leafy and thirsty: water a pot thoroughly about daily once the topsoil dries, sometimes morning and evening in midsummer.

Autumn (Oct–Nov)

Every 2 days

It flowers and sets fruit again in fall: about every two to three days once the surface is dry.

Winter (Dec–Feb)

Every 7 days

Growth stops while it winters indoors: about once a week, a few days after the soil dries.

Light and placement for Passion fruit

As a guide, full sun outdoors with the vines trained on a trellis or net; short of light it generally will not flower, and in midsummer heat above about 30°C flowering pauses.

Overwintering Passion fruit

Overwintering guide: 3°C (37°F) or above

Tender and killed by frost: as a guide, cut the vines back by about two thirds when nights drop below 10°C and keep it at a bright window above 5°C, or simply treat it as an annual and start again from a new plant each spring.

Fertilizing and repotting Passion fruit

Fertilizer

As a guide, slow-release fertilizer about monthly or liquid feed about every two weeks from April to October; too much nitrogen generally means all vine and no fruit, so pick one higher in phosphorus.

When to repot

Spring–Summer (Mar–Sep)

Common problems with Passion fruit

• It flowers but sets no fruit for lack of pollination.
• Flowering stops in midsummer heat and the grower assumes it has failed.
• Left outdoors, the first frost kills it.

Tips for growing Passion fruit

• Each flower lasts a day, so hand-pollinate with a brush the morning it opens.
• Fruit drops when ripe; let it sit a few days until the skin wrinkles for the sweetest flavor.
• Grown as a green curtain it shades a window and is easy to train.

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