Growing Passionfruit And/or Avocados, Any Experience?

[Smithson]

Does anyone know anything about growing passionfruit and/or avocados in LOS? Both plants like warm weather, so I would bet they are suited. I've got a few seeds which I will plant, although I've been told grafted seedlings are much better. Does anyone know if they are available here. Growing tips would also be much appreciated.

[Pond Life]

I have both growing for about 6 months.

The passion fruit came from a sprout dug from beneath a friends vine/tree,

I dont know if it grew from a seed or was a shoot from a root.

I have it growing over the roof of a workshop, it grows easy & fast, but Im told they can cause problems for the roof.

It gets full sun for about half the day.

There seems to be 2 types of passion fruit, yellow & red, red is much sweeter.

Im told they will fruit no problem, no need for grafting.

I bought Avacado trees from a nursery when they were about 60 cm high.

I was told they had been grown from seed & there was no sign of grafting.

I seem to remember from some googling I did that they like well drained soil with lots of organic matter & good supply of water, not to much sun.

Mine seem to be growing well but Im told the chances of getting fruit from them without grafting is slim & if it happens at all it could take 10 yrs.

Anyone got fruiting avacados I could take a graft from ?

[Smithson]

I was told 20yrs for fruit from avocados, but it could be 10. You need female and male plants also.

I'm not sure if the grafting will improve the chances of fruiting, but it will reduce the time until they do so.

Passionfruit grow quickly and have plenty of fruit. I haven't seen them for sale here, but imagine the Thais would really like the sweet/sour taste.

Edited January 3, 2008 by Smithson

[JungleBiker]

Does anyone know anything about growing passionfruit and/or avocados in LOS? Both plants like warm weather, so I would bet they are suited. I've got a few seeds which I will plant, although I've been told grafted seedlings are much better. Does anyone know if they are available here. Growing tips would also be much appreciated.

See: Avocado Production in Thailand

http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/x6902e/x6902e0b.htm

Passion fruit is also grown in many places - grow like weeds.

[tracker]

I grow 4 avocado trees, all from seed, around the house. I'm around bkk area. Wet clay soil. It grows slow but steady. The oldest tree is now 5.5 years old. No sign of any fruit yet. I read that it takes 7 to 10 years for fruit.

I have a passionfruit plant climbing next to the house, to keep the wall inhouse cool from rising sun. It grows fast and is about 3 years old. No fruit. I read up on the subject and found out that you need a second plant (not grown from the first!) for getting fruit. I'm now in the process of growing new ones from seeds which i pick out of the fruits i bought in the market.

[sbk]

If you want fruiting avocado trees then you must buy grafted seedlings. Fruit from trees grown from seed will be inferior. We bought ours in Tak at the Agriculture Research station there, but they are also available in Nakhon Ratchasima, sorry don't know exactly where, but I am sure they are there. Ask at the Amphur Ag office for directions.

Between 5-10 years for avos, you do not need male and female, as they don't work that way. the male part opens in the am and the female in the pm on some varieties and vice versa on others. So, you need to make sure you have several different varieties.

They like a well-drained soil, they will rot if the soil is too clayey. They are also pretty heavy feeders, you will get better results if you fertilize regularly.

We planted ours well spaced so as to give plenty of growing room and circulation.

We are 9 degrees north of the equator and our trees are doing fairly well. It rained heavily when they were flowering this year, so alot of the flowers were knocked off But we still got fruit. It took about 8-9 years for our trees to flower and fruit, but we didn't fertilize as much as we should have so I suspect that was part of the problem.

[stevehaigh]

If you want fruiting avocado trees then you must buy grafted seedlings. Fruit from trees grown from seed will be inferior. We bought ours in Tak at the Agriculture Research station there, but they are also available in Nakhon Ratchasima, sorry don't know exactly where, but I am sure they are there. Ask at the Amphur Ag office for directions.

hi sbk, where is Tak? i'd like to plant a few trees myself, good looking tree and if i ever get fruit, great!

thx steve

[jubby]

Don't know about Avacado's but I was given a passion Fruit plant about 2 years ago (the yellow variety) its spread down half the side of the garage, a lot of fruit and for a long season. I'm not keen on the fruit but it makes a great coverup type wall plant. I enquired at a local garden centre about young plants for sale and she just said to bury the seeds from the fruit and water regularly. Mine gets sun most of the day so its resilient to heat.

[jandtaa]

hi Smithson

avocados are one of the plants covered in the latest link I've posted on the organic forum-"organic fruit and veg from the tropics" theres also info on them here

subtropical fruits where I am constantly uploading all my research documents (if you want to download the pdf's from this source ignore the download button (it isn't working for me at the present but then again I'm having general computer issues) and click on the "more" button and choose save document) and you will find both well covered at this link as well as almost every other tropical fruit fruits for a warm climate

hope these links are of some assistance !

cheers Jandtaa

Edited March 8, 2009 by jandtaa

[teletiger]

Passion fruit grows like a weed in Thailand (as mentioned) Sow a few seeds, dump some composted Kee Vaur on top and wait. At some stage you may have to call in the army. After year 2, growth will be phenomenal, taking over anything you've attached it to. We chop ours back to a stump every winter. First sprinkling of rain and it's off! Wife's got 4 in one patch.

Every year I dismantle the "scaffolding" to make way for the winter veggies. Catches me by surprise every time. Like a greasy pig.

Never seen it for sale, but have been told by my wife's Bangkok friends, "70 Baht for 4 fruits on a tray". We give away bucket-loads.(literally) Nah...my casa etc.

Ever looked at "Gatcheup"? It's Rosella, in the West. Between 200/400 Baht per kilo (dried) in Thai markets. Rammed with Vit. C. Very labour intensive. Similar to harvesting rose-hips. But again, grows like a weed. 4 plants will get you 1 kilo dried material. 400 plants per rai. Same old story though. Find your market.

Regards.

[Foreverford]

I have both growing for about 6 months.

The passion fruit came from a sprout dug from beneath a friends vine/tree,

I dont know if it grew from a seed or was a shoot from a root.

I have it growing over the roof of a workshop, it grows easy & fast, but Im told they can cause problems for the roof.

It gets full sun for about half the day.

There seems to be 2 types of passion fruit, yellow & red, red is much sweeter.

Im told they will fruit no problem, no need for grafting.

I bought Avacado trees from a nursery when they were about 60 cm high.

I was told they had been grown from seed & there was no sign of grafting.

I seem to remember from some googling I did that they like well drained soil with lots of organic matter & good supply of water, not to much sun.

Mine seem to be growing well but Im told the chances of getting fruit from them without grafting is slim & if it happens at all it could take 10 yrs.

Anyone got fruiting avacados I could take a graft from ?

You've got a lot of good info. remember when watering avos that they are shallow feeders and do not require deep watering as they have fiberous roots and not a tap root. good drainage is a key and the best luck for setting fruit is to have many varieties planted so they pollinate better so maybe if you want a lot of Hass avos plant 10 or fifteen and then also plant 4 or 5 other different varieties to guarantee a good set. we had a tree for twenty years with probably 6 different types of graphs on it and never got any fruit (stump was near 40cm in diametrer). I planted a little piece of another avo next to it and bingo the next year we had fruit on two of the graphs. Yes the flower is both male and female on a single tree but doesn't seem to do the job unless there are a couple of different trees planted together. A friend planted some trees he bought from Samui and got fruit in about three years. Huge fruit with high excellent oil content the trees were started from seed (but excellent seed) and produced fruit larger than half the size of a wine bottle. choke dee

[Smithson]

Thanks for the info. I've got lots of passionfruit growing nicely, they're about 1 yr old. We've had a few flowers but no fruit. Is it too early or am I doing something wrong?

[teletiger]

Nothing wrong there Smiffy. Year 2 is when the roots are big enough and go deep enough for it to really take off. If you're growing for commercial fruit, put a handful of 15-15-15 around the base once a month (not too close to the stem.) Or alternatively use a bucket of composted kee "whatever", as a mulch, once a week. Grow it on a frame to make picking easier. Good luck.

Regards.

[PoorSucker]

SBK, Do you know any place on Samui I might get some passion fruit.

I'll love to grow some.

[Foreverford]

SBK, Do you know any place on Samui I might get some passion fruit.

I'll love to grow some.

Here's a guy aya kiawe <[email protected]>, that has had a bunch of really exotic fruits and avocadoes for sale. I earlier mentioned some of his avos on this post and I believe he may have a few avos in Huge (one or two per pick-up) containers and he may very well have the passionfruit you desire. Update us if you have any luck.

[Lickey]

Stoneman is THE fella for advocados in issan, he recently sent me some pics of his advos, looked good, i havent seen him on here lately, put PM him, im sure he will help out,

Cheers, Lickey..

[brahmburgers]

If you want fruiting avocado trees then you must buy grafted seedlings. Fruit from trees grown from seed will be inferior. We bought ours in Tak at the Agriculture Research station there, but they are also available in Nakhon Ratchasima, sorry don't know exactly where, but I am sure they are there. Ask at the Amphur Ag office for directions.

Between 5-10 years for avos, you do not need male and female, as they don't work that way. the male part opens in the am and the female in the pm on some varieties and vice versa on others. So, you need to make sure you have several different varieties.

They like a well-drained soil, they will rot if the soil is too clayey. They are also pretty heavy feeders, you will get better results if you fertilize regularly.

We planted ours well spaced so as to give plenty of growing room and circulation.

We are 9 degrees north of the equator and our trees are doing fairly well. It rained heavily when they were flowering this year, so alot of the flowers were knocked off But we still got fruit. It took about 8-9 years for our trees to flower and fruit, but we didn't fertilize as much as we should have so I suspect that was part of the problem.

I agree, though because I couldn't find avo trees for sale in northernmost Thailand, so opted to plant from seed - and take my chances. With 60 in the ground, a tenth are flowering and some setting fruit, but still don't know quality. Once I know which one(s) set the best fruit, I'll graft those on to other rootstock.

Am doing the same with pink grapefruit. I know it's a bit nuts to wait for about a decade to see whether it's been worthwhile, but that's a chance I'm taking. It's also a reflection of the fact such plants are not readily available at local nurseries.

[stevehaigh]

i'm still trying to find a supplier for some nice commercial fruit grade grafted avocado trees. i'll be driving from hua hin to nong khai next week and could easily pick something up in bangkok, saraburi, nong khai, korat, etc. can anyone suggest a likely place with contact info if possible?

thx steve

[teletiger]

On highway 2, 35 kilos past Saraburi, you'll come to Muak Lek. Just past Muak Lek, on both sides of the road you'll find 2 kilos of plant nurseries. Most of them do the full range of fruit saplings. Not sure about avos though.

Wifey's just informed me it's called "Gang Dong". Never seen a sign for it myself.

Regards.

[thaiyes]

There a quite a few varieties of Passion Fruit. I saw a huge (6") red one from S America at the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead, Florida once. The regular wrinkled purple ones are for sale in the BKK supermarkets at Siam skytrain stop.

[lioness]

I have a black passionfruit vine, not grafted. Planted it in August at which time it was about a foot high, this one plant has covered a very large area, has flowered and is now setting fruit. This is in full sun and gets plenty of water.

Plants can be grown from seed, dry the seed first and then plant and water well. Too much fertiliser will result in prolific growth and very little fruit so use sparingly.

I know of 9 different varietys of passionfruit in my home country but I suspect that there are many more.

Incidentially for those that don't like passionfruit as an eat on it's own fruit, it is used extensively as an add on, for example into a fruit salad, when making icing for a cake use the pulp ( and pips ) rather than water with the icing sugar, simply delicious and as any Aussie will tell you a Pavlova with a dripping of passionfruit is to die for.

[ozsamurai]

My initial effort with an advocado grown from seed went well it seemed till this month, when at close to a yr old it just decided to die, I think I may have waterlogged it. 3 new ones are now in pots and just shooting, so I will try again, anymore advise on these is welcome, as I only have the balcony in BKK to work with.

Cheers

Oz

edit; Spelling

Edited March 13, 2009 by ozsamurai

[walterego]

great info, passionfruit is sold here in fairly large quantitys to. however it is normally (99%) only sold juiced and pulped. You all probably know this already but go to your local fruit market and ask for 'Sao-wah-ros' or 'sow ra rot' depending on how you say things. ( เสาวรด = passionfruit)

i need some because i am going to make a Pavlova. cheers fellas!