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cocobananas

Passiflora Mystery: 'Incense' with tons of blooms but no fruit.

cocobananas
13 years ago

2nd year, new sunnier spot, big and bushy and happy, 7+ blooms a day but no fruit all summer. Bees all over it, no hand pollinating.

Waddya think? Too young? Need to hand pollinate?

Comments (10)

  • eristal
    13 years ago

    We had our P.'Incense' in the ground for 9 years with not one single fruit. The trunk is the size of a baseball bat, and it grow about 20 feet each direction on our fence, with literally thousands of flowers each year.

    Since we are amateur hybridizers, we have hand pollinated it dozens of times, but with no success. This year, something different happened. We got our first P. incarnata to bloom. We now have hundreds of fruits hanging on our P. 'Incense', with only the bees doing the work.

    The moral of this story is that you need the proper pollinator to go along with your vector, else you will never get fruit on a Passiflora that is not self-fertile.

    Good luck!
    Eric

  • karyn1
    13 years ago

    I've had incense from a few different sources and have never had any fruit even though I've attempted to hand pollinate with just about any other passie that happens to be in bloom. Eric I've even tried incarnata with no success.

  • eristal
    13 years ago

    Hi Karyn,

    You must need a different P. incarnata. We just had our first fruit fall naturally from the P.'Incense' yesterday. It had just started to turn a bit yellow, but still had some green color to it, just like our P. incarnata, and our P. 'Guglielmo Betto'. Inside were 10 very large black seeds in juicy arils. Oddly, they tasted a little like sour peaches! Never have I tasted a Passiflora quite like it. Upon breaking one open, it does indeed appear that it would be quite viable as well.

    Now that our P. incarnata has stopped blooming, the P. 'Incense' is no longer setting fruits. I do not think this to be a coincidence.

    Also, when we first started to see fruits forming on a vine that had never given us any, we did a test. It seemed quite obvious to us what was happening, but we wanted to try it out ourselves. So, we covered an 'Incense' flower bud that was about to open with netting, took off all the anthers as soon as the flower opened, then pollinated it with incarnata pollen and put the netting back on. This indeed set fruit just as the others that the bees were handling for us.

    So... as I said, I think you need a new P. incarnata. You should email Crystal...

    Eric

  • karyn1
    13 years ago

    I have a couple unrelated incarnatas that were started from seed earlier this year. They haven't reached blooming size yet but I'll try them as pollinators next season. Unfortunately my season is almost over.

    How was the passiflora society meeting?

  • eristal
    13 years ago

    Yeah, we have a few incarnatas from seed that did not reach blooming size this year either. Hopefully, they make it fine over winter.

    The PSI meeting was great! Instead of posting something up here,I am writing an article about it for the next newsletter.

  • karyn1
    13 years ago

    Eric if possible can you send me a copy by email? I'd love to read it and see any pics that you might have taken. I don't get to the other passie boards. BTW another seedling of that unknown decaloba (green foliage w/pink spots) popped up in a tray of mixed seedlings. As soon as it puts on a bit of size I can send it. I know Crystal was interested.

  • eristal
    13 years ago

    Karyn,

    When I say the PSI newsletter, I am talking about the printed one that comes in the mail. You are a member of the Passiflora Society, aren't you? If not, shame on you! Just kidding... though you should be a member.

    We would love your unknown Decaloba.

    You and Crystal really should email more. I know she has a couple of things set aside for you already, and we have a few extra plants we need to find a good home for before winter. I believe a small rooted cutting of P. murucuja was one, but I am not certain.

  • karyn1
    13 years ago

    I know you were talking about the PSI news letter, and no, I'm not a member (hangs head in shame LOL). That's why I was wondering if you had a copy of what you wrote that you could send by email. I'm the same with brugs which I've been growing and crossing for ages but have yet to join BGI.

    I'll send Crystal an email. I'd love to hear about your trip.

  • louisianamark
    13 years ago

    Incense needs to be bud pollinated, but even then it sets fruit rarely. I have successfully pollinated mine with caerulea 2 different summers. My overall success rate is less than 5%. I have tried different times from bud opening, pollinating on less humid days, etc; and still cannot figure out any pattern. You just have to keep at it. Last summer I successfully pollinated it with nephrodes, and got 6 seeds (still waiting on those). Some fruits will produce a lot of flat seeds--those are usually not viable.

    Here is a link to a pic showing my 5 variations or strains of this cross that have bloomed so far. The first and third look nearly identical, but overall it is amazing how different they look. The 4th one (right middle) is actually a little darker than the photo. The 5th one is mutated, but looks very interesting when multiple blooms open. My favorite was the second, but unfortunately I lost that one this part winter.

    Mark

    Here is a link that might be useful: 5 strains of Incense x caerulea

  • louisianamark
    13 years ago

    Here is a pic of the 5th hybrid with 3 open blooms

    Mark

    Here is a link that might be useful: Incense x caerulea #5

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