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How to prepare, germinate, and grow passion fruit seeds to cultivate a high-yielding, fruit-producing vine for your garden.
If you want to add a high-yielding edible fruit to your garden, passion fruit is one of the best options.
Best grown in tropical or subtropical climates, passion fruit vines also do well indoors in a large pot if your area experiences regular frost or freezing temperatures.
If the process goes smoothly, you can even have fruit within about 5 months!
The only downside to passion fruit is that it is difficult to germinate from seed…at least in my experience and from what others in my community have told me.
However, this is the optimal way to grow them if you want to keep the process inexpensive and avoid hybrid vines.
I recently wrote about the passion fruit custard recipe, which I developed after being gifted a few dozen from a friend’s prolific vine in the community.
While I’ve used some of the seeds to make a syrup topping for the puddings, I’ve saved some to sprout and grow into my own passion fruit vines for my garden.
Thought I’d share my method in case some of you would like to tackle this gardening project this spring.
Where to find passion fruit seeds
The best place to get passion fruit seeds is from a friend who has an established vine.
The second best place would be to buy some fresh passion fruit at the farmer’s market or a local health food store when they’re in season.
I even recently noticed that local passion fruit was featured in the fruit and veg section of a Publix supermarket.
The reason I suggest growing them fresh locally is so you can then be confident that the passionfruit variety you choose to germinate and grow will do well in your particular climate.
If none of these options are available, you can purchase non-hybrid passionfruit seeds online in a pinch.
How to grow fresh passion fruit seeds
There are several ways to prepare fresh passion fruit seeds for planting.
One method shared by a friend suggests refrigerating them for a couple of weeks before planting to increase the likelihood of germination!
I tried two different methods before settling on one approach that worked quite well for me.
I had a 50% germination rate, which is quite high considering fresh passion fruit seeds don’t germinate easily unless you take steps to improve the process.
Preparation
The first thing you need to do to sprout passion fruit seeds is to remove them from ripe fruits.
To do this, simply cut the fruit in half and scrape out the seeds, juice and pulp with a spoon.
After enjoying the juice and pulp, rinse the seeds in filtered water. Use a paper towel to pat dry and gently rub away any remaining pulp.
At this point you can try to plant them. However, I would suggest the extra step of soaking them overnight first.
Soaking has greatly improved my germination success.
soaking
We all know that soaking seeds overnight is an important prep step before consumption.
This often overlooked but simple traditional method removes the antinutrients present in the skins.
The result is better digestion and nutrient absorption.
As it turns out, soaking seeds overnight can also increase chances of germination if cultivation is the goal.
While the soil’s warmth and moisture naturally break down these antinutrients, you can increase your chances of success by removing these substances yourself by soaking them first.
Simply place the passion fruit seeds in a small glass jar and fill with room temperature filtered water to cover.
After soaking the seeds overnight or up to 24 hours, carefully drain the water and pat the seeds dry with a small cotton towel.
You are now ready to plant!
germination
I used organic potting soil from my local nursery in small seedling pots to sprout my prepared passion fruit seeds.
The picture above shows you the size of the containers.
Plant two passion fruit seeds about 1 inch deep in each container.
Keep the soil moist, but don’t overwater or let it get too dry.
I applied a small amount of non-chlorine water every day or every other day depending on the temperature of the day.
If your nights are still fairly chilly (less than 60°F/15°C or so) I suggest leaving the containers inside until the sprouts appear and are well established.
I have a 50% germination rate, which seems to be very good.
Note that it also takes a few weeks for the sprouts to appear. One of my seedlings hasn’t come up in a month!
Don’t be discouraged if you see that the seeds don’t germinate quickly, which is common with many other types of plants such as sprouted pumpkin seeds.
Transplanting in the yard
Once your seedlings are 6-8 inches tall, they are ready to be transplanted.
The best place for this is under an established tree on the south side.
This allows the passion fruit vine to quickly grow up the side of the tree for support.
The tree also offers protection from frost if your area experiences occasional colder temperatures.
The passion fruit vine won’t kill the tree, so don’t worry!
If you don’t have suitable large trees, a fence works well too.
Passion fruit vines love full sun. However, in areas that are very hot in summer, like where I live, the penumbra of a tree is perfect.
I have chosen magnolia and oak trees as the best locations for my passion fruit vines.
I can’t wait to see how fast they grow in the summer and early fall. With a bit of luck I should have some fruit by then!
Passion fruit is best picked as it falls from the vine to the ground. When they’re crumpled, they’re at their sweetest and ready to eat!