Passionfruit Panama Red

Panama Red passionfruit (Passiflora edulis 'Panama Red') is the variety to plant if you want fruit rather than just a vine. It covers about 4m by 4m of fence or trellis in a season or two, carries white and purple flowers through the warm months, then sets large deep red fruit with sweet, low acid pulp. It grows on its own roots, so there is no rootstock to send suckers across the garden.

Why you'll love it

• Sweeter than the common purple types. The fruit is larger and lower in acid, which is why it gets eaten straight from the shell rather than cooked.
• Cover in one season. Fast growth means a bare fence looks green by the end of the first summer, with fruit usually following in the second.
• Own roots, no suckering. Grafted passionfruit can throw vigorous suckers from the rootstock. This one cannot, because there is no graft.
• Flowers that bring in bees. The intricate blooms are worth having in their own right, and bees work them steadily.

Where it works best

Screening a fence or trellis. Plant 2m apart along the structure. One vine covers a domestic side fence, and two at that spacing cover a long boundary within two summers.

Feature planting. Trained over an arch or pergola it gives summer shade and fruit within reach. It needs genuinely strong support, because a mature vine is heavy.

Pots and containers. A pot 500mm or wider with a trellis works on a warm balcony. Potted vines crop less and need water and feed far more often.

Growing Panama Red passionfruit in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun, sheltered from strong wind. This is a plant for tropical, subtropical and warm temperate gardens. It is frost tender, so in cool districts it wants a north facing wall or a pot that comes under cover for winter.

Soil. Rich, free draining soil with plenty of compost dug through before planting. It will not tolerate wet feet, so raise the bed on heavy clay and keep mulch off the stem.

Water and feed. Water deeply twice a week through the warm months, more in a pot. Feed with a citrus and fruit blend in early spring, midsummer and early autumn. Too much nitrogen gives leaves instead of fruit.

Pruning. Train the leaders along wires in the first year, then each early spring cut the previous season's growth back by a third. Fruit forms on new wood, so an unpruned vine gradually stops producing.

What to expect when it arrives

This passionfruit is grown as tube stock and as 140mm plants in packs of ten, so both are young vines rather than established plants on a stake. Expect a slim stem with a few leaves and tendrils, and get it onto its support early, because the vine starts reaching within weeks in warm weather.

Tendrils may arrive tangled or a little limp, which settles within days of planting. Delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95, and every plant carries our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Planning a productive fruit and vegetable garden
• Browse the edible plant range
• Compare other climbing plants
• Fruit trees to plant alongside it

Common questions

How long until it fruits?

Usually the second season, sometimes late in the first if it goes in early in a warm spring. The vine needs to build a framework before it will crop properly.

Why is it flowering but not setting fruit?

Most often too much nitrogen, or poor pollination in wet or cold weather. Switch to a fertiliser lower in nitrogen, and hand pollinate with a small brush if bees are scarce.

How far apart should I plant along a fence?

Two metres apart. Closer and the vines tangle into one another, which makes pruning difficult and encourages disease in the middle of the growth.

Will it survive frost?

Not reliably. A hard frost will damage or kill it, so in cool gardens use a warm sheltered wall or a pot you can move.