Any tips on how to get passion flowers to flower

Hi
I have grown several passion flowers this year from seed and they are growing well although they are not very big yet. I also have 2 Cearulea from last year that were purchased they are both growing very well but have never flowered.. All of them are in containers so that I can move them to protect from our winter frosts.

None of them are flowering. Is there anything I can do.

Any information will be most appreciated.

Regards
Sue

If they are small, but in large containers, you might want to pot them into smaller containers. Root restriction can help encourage them to flower. Also tip pruning, or pinching the tips, can help prod them along, also.
-T

alrac, you shouldn't have to bring anything in for the winter (unless you're not really in zone 10a like it says you are). P. caerulea is supposed to be hardy to zone 6, so even if you get a pinch of frost it should be more than fine in your area. I can't think of any Passie's that would need to be brought in or protected for the winter in zone 10, even the less hardy ones usually do OK in zone 9 or even 8.

Hi

Thanks to you both for your help. I will double check the zone that I should be in as I did this when I first joined so it could be wrong. I had read that root restriction can fool the plant into thinking it will die so it produces seeds to reproduce which was one of the reasons I put them pots. Do the plants have to be a few years old before they flower? I guess I am just eager to see their beautiful flowers.

Regards
Sue

I see you're now in zone 9a instead of 10, still shouldn't have any problem with keeping the passie's outside in the winter, especially not caerulea. Sorry I can't help you with the blooming piece, I did have one passie at my last house but it started off pretty small and didn't bloom in its first year, then the dog managed to break it off at the base before it could get into its second year, so I'll never know whether it would have bloomed then or not. What sort of fertilizer are you using? Sometimes if you give a plant too much nitrogen (either by using a fertilizer that's high in nitrogen or just by fertilizing a bit too frequently) it'll do a lot of growth, leaves, etc but won't flower. Since you say yours are growing well I wonder if this might be the case?

Hi

I use a slow release fertilizer which I mixed in with the compost, I will check its ingredients.

Thanks for replying.


Went to a garden centre yesterday (Wed) looking for 2 birthday presents. Found passion flowers with lots of buds so I bought 3 couldn't resist buying myself one as well as the birthday presents, but my main point is, these passion flowers were in quite small pots a lot smaller than the ones I have mine in so I have transplanted a couple of mine to smaller pots so I will see what happens.

Regards
Sue

This message was edited Aug 24, 2006 8:07 AM