Is Passionflower the Same as Passion Fruit? A Full Analysis of Growing Conditions and Techniques

When it comes to passionflower, many people do not even know what kind of fruit passionflower is? They only know that its nutritional value is quite high, and it currently has fairly good growing prospects. So is passionflower the same as passion fruit? What are its growing conditions and techniques?

1. Is passionflower the same as passion fruit?

Passion fruit and passionflower are the same fruit.

Passionflower (Passiflora edulis) is a perennial evergreen climbing woody vine and an aromatic, delicious fruit known as the “king of fruit juices.” It is also known as egg fruit, passion fruit, Brazilian fruit, passion fruit, vine peach, passion fruit, zhuanxin lian, xi yang ju, zhuan zhi lian, yang suan qie hua, and shi ji cao.

2. What are the growing conditions for passionflower?

1. Temperature

The most suitable growing temperature for passionflower is 20°C-30°C. Generally, it grows well at temperatures not lower than 0°C. At -2°C, the plant will suffer severe damage or even die. It is suitable for planting in areas with an average annual temperature of 16-18°C or above.

2. Water

Generally, passionflower grows best under conditions where the annual rainfall is above 1500 mm and evenly distributed.

3. Light

As a tropical fruit, passionflower likes ample sunlight to promote vine growth and nutrient accumulation. Long-day conditions are favorable for passionflower flowering. In areas with an annual sunshine duration of more than 2100 hours, passionflower has good vegetative growth, accumulates more nutrients, grows vines quickly, fruits early, and yields abundantly.

4. Soil

Passionflower has strong adaptability and does not demand much from the soil. However, for large-scale production, the soil layer should be at least 0.5 m deep, and the soil should be fertile, loose, and well-drained, with a soil pH of 5.5-6.5 being suitable.

3. What are the key growing techniques for passionflower?

1. Variety selection

For commercial planting, it is advisable to choose the hybrid varieties Zixiang No. 1 and No. 2 bred in Brazil. Zixiang No. 1 is early-maturing, with a single fruit weight of 60-130 grams, and can be picked and marketed as early as June. Zixiang No. 2 is slightly later. Planting in the same year brings harvest in the same year, with a yield of more than 1000-1500 kg per mu.

2. Site selection and excavation

For passionflower planting, the orchard site should be chosen in areas with relatively convenient transportation, facing the sun and sheltered from the wind, and with a relatively thick soil layer. It can be gentle sloping land, terraced land, or flat land, requiring deep, relatively fertile soil with good drainage, and ideally irrigation conditions. The planned orchard land should be excavated throughout the field with an excavator to a depth of 50-60 cm to facilitate the vigorous later growth of passionflower.

3. Trellis building

Passionflower is a climbing plant and depends on trellis support for normal growth. A flat-topped trellis can be used. The post spacing is 4×5 m. Generally, the trellis height should be 1.8-2 m. For trellis materials, 10×10×250 cm cement posts can be selected. On top of the posts, 16 mm2 steel strand should be laid along the horizontal and vertical main lines, and a 2.0 mm2 steel wire should be pulled every 100 cm along the row spacing direction and tightened with wire tighteners.

4. Planting

Passionflower can be planted all year round, but early spring is the most suitable. Planting should be done on cloudy days or sunny days after rain. When planting seedlings, old leaves should be properly pruned off, and the nutrition bag must be torn open and removed, not buried in the soil. When setting the seedlings, mix an appropriate amount of decomposed organic fertilizer with sandy loam soil to use as planting soil or covering soil. When planting, straighten the root system, fill soil in layers, and tread firmly. Water the roots promptly after planting. For newly dug planting holes, when planting, the root crown of the seedling should be slightly 8-10 cm above the ground surface, and after planting, form a tree basin. After checking that no roots are exposed, cover the tree basin well with plastic film and press it down. After the seedlings survive, remove the plastic film in May-June.

5. Fertilization

For newly planted passionflower, nitrogen fertilizer should be the main fertilizer in the early stage to promote plant growth. After planting, the root system begins to grow in 10-15 days, and 0.5% dilute urea or dilute human manure and urine can be applied, then applied once every 20 days, with 5 kg of decomposed human manure and urine or 0.1 kg of compound fertilizer per plant each time.

Each year, apply 20-30 kg of farmyard manure, 0.6-0.7 kg of urea, 0.6-0.9 kg of phosphate fertilizer, and 1.2-1.3 kg of potassium fertilizer per plant. Farmyard manure and phosphate fertilizer should be composted and decomposed, then applied in furrows around the Beginning of Spring. Urea and potassium fertilizer should be applied once a month during the flowering and fruiting period, with 0.3-0.4 kg of mixed fertilizer per plant.

6. Watering

Passionflower is a shallow-rooted plant and likes moisture. It is both intolerant of waterlogging and afraid of drought. Therefore, first of all, drainage ditches should be opened well to prevent water accumulation in the orchard; if it does not rain for a long time, consider irrigating once.

7. Pest and disease control

(1) Main diseases and control. The main diseases include seedling damping-off, mosaic disease, phytophthora blight, and stem base rot.

Control methods:

►Choose clean soil for seedling raising, maintain field moisture, especially prevent the soil from being too wet, stay away from cucurbit and solanaceous vegetables, and promptly remove and burn diseased plants and diseased leaves.

►Chemical control: use Ridomil, 75% chlorothalonil 800-fold solution, and 50% carbendazim wettable powder 1000-fold solution for control.

(2) Main insect pests and control. The main insect pests include small fruit flies, mites, scale insects, and scarab beetles. Use 90% trichlorfon 800-fold, Lorsban 800-fold, phoxim, etc. for control.

8. Timely harvesting

Generally, harvest 10 days before fruit drop, when the fruit color turns purple and has a slight fragrance, but fresh fallen fruit can also be picked up from the ground.

3. The growing cost of passionflower

In many areas, passionflower cultivation still continues to use the bamboo and wood trellises used for monk fruit, with relatively low investment. From simple trellis planting at about 1000 yuan to standard planting at more than 2000 yuan, and for less than 3000 yuan, drip irrigation facilities can be included. Later, it gradually shifted to using cement posts plus steel wire mesh and plastic-steel materials for trellis building, increasing the investment per mu to about 4000-6000 yuan. This specifically depends on whether drip irrigation equipment is used.

As for output, the quality of management affects yield, and yield directly affects income. In the first year of passionflower planting, the yield is about 1000-1500 jin (yield varies somewhat depending on the variety), in the second year about 3000-5000 jin, and from the third year onward it enters the peak period at more than 5000-7000 jin. One planting can last 5-8 years. Under normal growth conditions, the full production period should be reached only in the second and third years, but now most bases reselect sites and replant in the second year, and some even plant once a year. This year's purchase price for passionflower also ranges from 3.6 yuan to 10 yuan/jin depending on the variety.