[conspire] Fwd: Re: Fw: [scv-crfg] passion fruit

[paulz at ieee.org]

 Personally, I don't like to use "invasive" for plants that are delicious.  Oregano can be, shall we say, vigorous, but everyone is happy when Rick puts it on garlic bread.
IMHO, better to have to prune, than to have to coax a plant to grow with specific kinds of fertilizer, watering schedules, etc. I now have a lemon tree I need to cut back so my caladonin (aka calamansi) can get more sun.  

It used to be the accepted wisdom that trees should be allowed to grow to whatever the tree thought was full size.  Typical commercial orchards planted trees 20 ft apart.  Now it is known that trees will do just fine if pruned to a smaller size.  If you don't like using a ladder to pick, cut the tree back.  But this needs to be done over time, not cutting more than 1/3 in a year.  Vines might tolerate more severe pruning.  Best to plan from the start how big an area will be allowed for passionate plants.

There are now serious projects in commercial orchards with trees 15 or even 10 ft apart.  The trees need to be pruned to keep them small.  Each tree has less fruit, but more trees per acre might have a bigger total crop and require less labor on ladders.

    On Thursday, August 29, 2019, 10:37:58 PM PDT, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:  
 
 Quoting Fred Brockman (fbrock at att.net):

> Greetings from hurricane watch Florida. First know that passion
> flowers are invasive vines on an order with ivy and wild blackberries.
> I had one floral variety plant take over the east side of my yard in
> Hayward with little fear of frost.
> 
> I would guess that P. edulis would grow very happily in Northern CA on
> a southern exposure with lots of sun. On a frost warning you could
> protect it if necessary. In South FL we haven't locally had a freezing
> winter in several years but previously I have used incandescent
> Christmas tree lights on tropical fruit trees sometimes covered with
> old bed sheets secured by clothespins with minimal damage. Young
> plants are much more sensitive to cold.
> 
> Check that whatever variety you plant is self-pollinating. Some
> varieties require pollen from another plant, occasionally not
> genetically identical.

Hey, Fred, thanks for filling us in -- and stay safe, out there.


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