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californian_gw

Passion fruit vine taking over yard

californian
17 years ago

I planted a purple passion fruit vine about three years ago and it is now huge. I planted it at a point where one fence intersected another to form a T. It has vines 50 feet long growing in three directions making the width of the plant about a hundred feet and still growing. I had an 8 foot high 8 foot wide playhouse that it completely covered where I can hardly see it anymore. Now it has jumped the gap between the fence and the house and may be preparing to cover the house. It has also jumped onto a Eucalyptus tree and may soon try to cover that. Does anyone know how big it can get if I just let it keep going? It produces buckets full of fruits and the vine looks extremely healthy and the leaves are a beautiful dark green color. The base of the vine is over two inches thick. I live in Orange County , Californa, so the growing conditions must be just right, even with my terrible clay soil. But I did plant it next to a retaining wall that was backfilled with sand and gravel so maybe thats why it is growing so good.

Comments (5)

  • Krstofer
    17 years ago

    I've seen caeruleas down there (burbank / van nuys) *completely* cover those tall skinny juniper-looking trees... My sis had 10 - 15 in her back yard along the fence.. Couldn't even tell what kind of trees they were.

    The bushes along the back of the pool? (Where the helicopters dip during the fires...) Covered.
    Neighbor's fence? I think there was one under there...

    The vines were as thick as my wrist in some spots- Looked more like 'tree wood' than 'vine'.

    I don't think it's the parent vine that's covering the whole thing (in your yard or hers) as little 'volunteers' were coming up all over the place. Don't know if they were suckers or from seed- As hers had fruit all over it as well, some seeds had to fall & sprout.

    I'd imagine they might be like the blackberries up here- Give them space, eventually they'll fill it. If it has no natural controls (butterfly larvae, disease, those weird bugs who eat the seeds) & manages to avoid attacks from the weed-eater & lawnmower I don't think it has a limiting factor.

  • baci
    17 years ago

    Mine seemed to take off the third year. I was afraid of the plant encroaching on neighboring property, so I placed mine in deep pots. They grow great they way, & are producing fruit. They will probably continue to grow, but you might consider the fact that they could go onto neighboring properties. It takes quite a bit of continual digging to get rid of one, & they are not that difficult to transplant. If an animal ate the fruit, they could also reseed.

  • eloise_ca
    17 years ago

    I wish I had planted my p. Incense in a container! It has sprouted all over the place and I have to cut it down &/or severely trim to keep it from swallowing my other plants. On the opposite side from where originally planted, it has covered a fence; the problem is that it keeps climbing up a pine tree and onto my neighbor's cable wires so I have to be vigilant and cut it back before it reaches the wires -- never ending job! It attracts lots of butterflies and bees, and has beautiful scented flowers and lots of fruit which I just leave alone. One does get excited about how big passiflora can grow, but be warned as it can destroy other plants and property!

  • kw9erfan
    6 years ago

    My neighbors made the choice to build a wooden trellis over their sidewalk that is next to the fence that separates our property. The passion fruit grows over my fence and has basically found a friend in my orange tree. I'm in Orange county too and just got a notice about a plant disease that is fatal to citrus trees and has no cure. On my way to californiacitrusthreat.org to find out how to protect my orange tree. The disease is called Huanglongbing (citrus greening disease). Notice sent with my water bill this month.

  • emmettb_gw
    6 years ago

    There is a class c motorhome under all this