Pruning Passion Flower
 

Hi,

I have a Passion FLower that has been growing up a 5' fence for 5 years. Every year I prune all of the top growth back. What I now see is that there is mainly stems on the fence and all the growth is on the top of the fence.

Can I cut it right back to within a couple of feet of the grouns ?

Thanks

I had a similar thing with my Passion Flower. I looked in my pruning book, which says 'cut back stems that have carried fruit to the stems that form the network' and also 'in mid-spring thin out main stems, if necessary, and shorten laterals to 6 inches'. Apparently, cutting it right back encourage lots of 'leafy growth with few flowers and fruit'. (My dad cut his right back one year and lost it).

Don't know if that helps (?!)

Zoe

"flanagaj" wrote in message
...

Hi,

I have a Passion FLower that has been growing up a 5' fence for 5
years. Every year I prune all of the top growth back. What I now see
is that there is mainly stems on the fence and all the growth is on the
top of the fence.

Can I cut it right back to within a couple of feet of the grouns ?

Thanks


--
flanagaj


Passiflora Caerula responds well to pruning. I can't promise it will come
from a stem that is really woody but it will from green stems as thick as
your finger. If you can see little tuft like buds then there will be no
problem. If you are concerned then try the odd branch or two first. I've had
them cut down from the frost and sprout from underground. They also have a
tendency to sucker and keep popping up in my lawn.

--
David Kirk, Workington, Cumbria
Email:

"David Kirk" wrote in message
...
Passiflora Caerula responds well to pruning. I can't promise it will come
from a stem that is really woody but it will from green stems as thick as
your finger. If you can see little tuft like buds then there will be no
problem. If you are concerned then try the odd branch or two first. I've
had
them cut down from the frost and sprout from underground. They also have a
tendency to sucker and keep popping up in my lawn.

Hi, David, perhaps you can help me? My passiflora caerula has one long stem
about 10 feet long (I forgot to prune it when I planted it last year) but
there are absolutely no leaves on it. I think that it might have ceased to
be; that it is an ex-passiflora. So, I'm wondering if I should cut it right
back to about a foot from its base. If it is dead then obviously cutting it
back won't make a difference. What do you think? Should I wait and see, or
should I cut it right back?

Thanks.

"Susan" wrote in message
...

Hi, David, perhaps you can help me? My passiflora caerula has one long
stem
about 10 feet long (I forgot to prune it when I planted it last year) but
there are absolutely no leaves on it. I think that it might have ceased
to
be; that it is an ex-passiflora. So, I'm wondering if I should cut it
right
back to about a foot from its base. If it is dead then obviously cutting
it
back won't make a difference. What do you think? Should I wait and see,
or
should I cut it right back?

Thanks.

I don't think it will make any difference whether you chop it back or not.
The only advantage is as per the original question in terms of getting rid
of the bare stem. It's still relatively early for it being ready to burst
into full growth. I find that they are semi-deciduous. If we have a mild
winter they hang on to their leaves and this obviously gets them off to a
good start. If we have a hard winter they get cut right back. This year was
somewhat in between and the leaves got a bit burnt so I decided to chop them
right back as they were a mess. I was a little worried that this might
expose stems that weren't properly hardened off but I am not concerned that
I will lose them completely. We live on the West coast on the tip of the
Gulf Stream so our Winters are fairly mild (I can just about be 100% certain
that I won't have a damaging frost from now on, although we can get cold
winds that have the same effect). My passion flowers are on an east-facing,
concrete garage and grow like weeds. They also flower abundantly which
doesn't tie up with some of the other comments. Possibly it's because the
soil that they are in is quite poor with lots of rubble at the base of the
garage wall. I always find it a bit strange that some plants need to be
starved into flowering whereas others need to be well fed. I guess it's down
to their natural habitat.


--
David Kirk, Workington, Cumbria
Email:

In article ,
"David Kirk" writes:
|
| Hi, David, perhaps you can help me? My passiflora caerula has one long
| stem
| about 10 feet long (I forgot to prune it when I planted it last year) but
| there are absolutely no leaves on it. I think that it might have ceased
| to
| be; that it is an ex-passiflora. ... Should I wait and see, or
| should I cut it right back?
|
| I don't think it will make any difference whether you chop it back or not.

Precisely. Mine gets cut back pretty hard by the frost (they aren't
really hardy), and suckers. If it dies, they are easy to get.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.