passion flowers canbe funny concerning germination. I have had fresh seed germinate in a week, I've also had seed take 6 months to germinate. Your planting set-up sounds good, you might want to scratch the seed with a nail-file (just enough to encourage water to more easily absorb into the seed) and soak the seed overnight after scratching.

As far as getting flowering before frost, it will depend upon a number of factors. The most important of which being what kind of passion flower the seeds are for. I have had incarnata bloom in a single season. I also have an edulis (the kind whose fruit one gets at the grocery store) which is 4 years old and it hasn't bloomed yet. If you want to guarantee blooms before frost, try to get a cutting started from a blooming plant.

~Chills

What species do you have? P. incarnata, P. careulea, and P. lutea are the only ones you'll be able to grow outdoors in your zone, and so far as I know, all three need some cold-treatment to germinate. P. incarnata grows wild here, and they self-seed like the dickens! (*grin*)They generally do flower the first year around here.

Tropical passies are a bit harder to germinate, and 'ideal consitions' vary by specics. If I were you, I'd try to figure out what species I have, then post this question on the Passiflora board.

Some passifloras grown from seed flower within a few months, others take years, and some NEVER flower.

Hi,

I have three pkts that I traded for. One is a Passionflower Mix, no latin name. One is Passiflora incarnata, which I am not sure what that will look like, but have been told it can become invasive if planted in the ground and I was thinking of maybe trying it in a container. The third is Passionflower 'Constance Elliott' If that helps.

I thought I would grow it as a houseplant that summered outdoors and hopefully would get flowering during the summer while it was outdoors. I have a West window that gets sun from about 12:30p to 3:30 pm. Hoping that would be enough to keep it going over the winter to bring it out in the summer again.

Thanks for your help.
adam

Incarnata would be very unlikely to become invasive in your zone (mine either, if my experience is a good guide). They can be grown in containers (I've got 7 different varieties of passion flowers in containers), but they are large plants.

~Chills

Thanks Chills for that clarification. I guess the person with the problem with them was in a warmer zone and I didn't notice.

So you are growing passionflowers? Did you start them from seed or cuttings? Do you grow them outside and bring them in for the winter? Have any photos of them? If they are really large, how do you bring them in? Do you put something in the containers to grow them up?

Thanks Chills..
:-)

Hi Adam,

Your suggested potting method and placing over the heat vent will work very well.

Passiflora seed like lots of heat to germinate. You do not need to file or scratch the seed coat, it is naturally porous.
Old seed will benefit from a soak in a naturally acidic juice like Passiflora or Orange juice.

Germination of even the freshest seed can be sporadic at best. I planted some fresh edulis seed over two years ago and had germination occur sporadically over the full two years.

Keep your seed moist but not wet and as warm as you can. You should start to see germination within the first two months. Sooner if the seed is less than three months old.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Sean

I have trellises (hoops of bamboo) in each pot. The pots are 10 gallon pots. The plants are not easy to move, but I bring most of them in each year. Incarnata stays outside in the ground.

I have grown edulis, incarnata, Caerulea (I'm misspelling that one) and one that I have not identified from seed, the rest are all from cuttings or purchased as plants. They all go outside in early May, and they get cut back at the time I bring them outside. I sometimes get a bit of a problem with spidermites in the winter (which causes leaf drop, especially on the Lavender Lady and Incense) but otherwise they are easy plants to care for over the winter.

My wife takes blooms into work with her occasionally, her co-workers find it hard to believe they are real.

~Chills

Thanks sean, I had heard that somewhere else about the orange juice soak and didn't quite understand it, but the acid makes sense. I also could add a heating pad to my set up, which I have used before for starting seeds.

Chills, those are LARGE containers..lol. They sound gorgeous. No photos of them? I don't blame you, I hear GW is claiming copyright now to all our text and photos from this point out. I'm having a real problem with that. Well, since you seem to be able to winter them over then I will keep trying even if these seed don't germinate. I will get myself a plant or cutting and start growing them this spring. Thanks for the encouragement.

:-)
adam

I've got 2 large incarnata growing outside that I'll be digging up this spring. They are invasive as heck in my garden. I'll be replanting a portion of it in another location where it can't spread as readily. I could send you the remaining rooted shoots if you want them.
Carol

Ok,

I'm a little confused. One post mentions a cold period for incarnata and another mentions that passiflora needs a lot of heat to germinate. I have some incarnata seeds from '05 that I got in a trade that I am desperate to try and germinate. Could someone clear this up for me.

Thanks

MBT

adam,

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Cheers
MBT

Adam, the 2 incarnata were listed as "maypop" in the catalog I bought them through. Described as having green center accented by purple to cream filaments. Mine seem to be more purple. They are growing on an 8' arched trellis. They climb by tendrils and easily take over the trellis in about a month. Flowers usually appear by June. It dies to the ground every winter & is a little slow to re-appear but boy, when it does it goes crazy. My problem with it comes from shoots sprouting everywhere. I find them in the beds a good 20' from the main plant. I'm tired of pulling them out every day. The shoots will quickly grow to 4-5' if I don't catch them soon enough. I'm not going to take cuttings, but am going to dig the entire root ball out once it sprouts. That's the "rooted sprouts" I was talking about. You can have an entire plant if you want it! It would certainly fill out your trellis in no time. The flowers are unbelievably gorgeous. Too bad it is so misbehaved! Just let me know if you want any.
Carol

My pleasure MBT :-)

Carol...when you get around to digging it up, check with me. Thanks very much for the offer. Very generous of you. Wow, I don't know how you stand having a plant that comes up 20ft away from the original. I would be pulling my hair out! Hope you can get it under control. I definitely will only try it in a container and will pass that info on to anyone I hear that is thinking of putting it in the ground.

:-)

Adam, sounds like a deal. As I said, they are a little late coming up, so expect to hear from me around May. Might be a little sooner this year due to the unseasonable temps. I'll dig them up as soon as they pop their heads up. And you're right about the hair-pulling! I can't imagine what kind of root system they have going. I'll probably still be pulling up shoots years after I dig up the main plant. Shame, too, it's such a lovely flower. Oh well, they should do great for you in a pot. Until then!
Carol

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