You can get bags with the seeds of exotic passion flower species in specialist shops everywhere - the temptation is of course great to use them to grow new passiflora for your own collection. Of course, you can also get the seeds yourself from ripe fruits or propagate existing plants using cuttings.
How to propagate passion flowers?
Passion flowers can be propagated by seeds or cuttings. When propagating seeds, you need ripe fruits from which the seeds can be obtained. Propagation from cuttings requires a he althy shoot, which is planted in potting soil and kept evenly moist.
Growing Passiflora from seeds
In contrast to propagation from cuttings, breeding from seeds does not produce genetically identical clones of the mother plant, but rather new plants. This is important if you want to breed yourself - clones of the same passion flower plant cannot cross-fertilize in many species. Speaking of fruit: To propagate seeds, you first of course need ripe fruits from which the seeds can be obtained. You can either buy these in the supermarket (e.g. passion fruit) or grow them yourself, although this usually requires fertilization by hand. In addition, many Passiflora are not self-fertile, i.e. H. You need a second plant. With a bit of luck (and in good summer weather with lots of sun and warmth) the passion fruits will ripen on your passiflora. However, not every species is edible.
Passiflora seedlings need a lot of patience
Cut the ripe fruit and remove the pulp with the seeds inside. You can either suck these off (for the edible varieties) or clean them carefully with the help of kitchen paper. Afterwards, some passiflora growers swear by soaking the seeds in warm orange juice for a day or two to simulate the rotting process. But this is not absolutely necessary; fresh seeds can instead be sown in coconut substrate or potting soil. Only dried seeds should be soaked in lukewarm water for at least 24 hours to increase their germination. You need a lot of patience to grow young passionflowers from seeds, as it may take months for them to germinate.
Particularly uncomplicated: propagation from cuttings
Propagation of passiflora from cuttings is significantly faster and also more promising. In addition, these plants bloom much faster, as passion flowers grown from seeds usually only open their beautiful flowers for the first time in their second year.
Cutting and growing Passiflora cuttings
- Select a young but mature and he althy shoot.
- Cut it off with a clean and sharp knife.
- Divide the shoot into several cuttings, each with a maximum of two leaves.
- Remove excess sheets.
- Cut the remaining leaves in half.
- Dip the end to be rooted into a rooting powder (€8.00 on Amazon).
- Plant the cutting in potting soil.
- Keep the substrate evenly moist.
- Put a transparent plastic bag with air holes over the young plants.
- Place the potties in a warm and bright place.
Tips & Tricks
If you are growing a new, perhaps particularly rare type of passion flower and want to buy seeds for it, choose offers from well-known brand manufacturers if possible. Many exotic passion flowers offered on various trading platforms are simply P. edulis, i.e. commercially available passion fruit or grenadilla. Their seeds also lose a lot of their germination ability due to improper drying, so you have most likely thrown your money out the window.
