Passiflora antioquiensis not flowering

Hi,

I have a Passiflora antioquiensis which is flowering nicely but not fruiting. I tried rubbing 2 flowers into each other but the flowers just wither and drop off. Any ideas would be appreciated.

Andy: The flower looks fine, is that a current picture? My antio, in Southern California, is flowering and setting fruit currently. If the picture is old and you are in the southern hemisphere where it is warm this time of year you probably have non-functional pollen. Mine won't set fruit when it is warm due to a lack of functional pollen. If you are having cool weather, then there is no reason that you are not getting fruit to set unless you are simply not pollinating the flower correctly. When the flowers open, not a day or two later, pick off one of the anthers and dab the pollen onto each of the three stigmas. Repeat the next day if you want to, you have six anthers to play with. Don't wait until the flower has been open a couple of days and don't just "rub the flowers together". Antioquiensis is self fertile and you should have no problem getting fruit to set if it is cool enough for the flowers to have functional pollen and if you are pollinating correctly.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, its greatly appreciated. I'm in Auckland, New Zealand and its currently 25C (77F) during the day. So that might be the problem. Just to clarify, do the anthers have the longer brighter yellow ends my photo, and the stigmas the round ends?

That is correct. The bright yellow sort of "dusty" things are the anthers. That is where the pollen is. Touch them and you will have yellow pollen on your fingers. You want the pollen on the stigmas, and yes the 3 round things are the stigmas. Pull off an anther, dab the pollen on the stigmas, and you are done. 77 degrees isn't too hot unless it does not cool off at night; and the pollen should be fine. It looks fine in the picture, which is why I asked if the picture is current. If you have a problem with heat the anther sacs won't open and you won't have that "fluffy/dusty" look to the anthers. Do the pollinations when the flowers open, and maybe do it again the next day and you will be all set. If the flower has not dried and dropped off the vine in a week, the pollination worked and you just need to wait for the fruit to develop. If the pollination did not work, the ovary (the little oval part between where the anthers and stigmas attach (it becomes the fruit)) will blacken and the whole thing will drop within one week. If the ovary stays green, you did everything right and just need to wait for it to grow.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your knowledge. I have 4 new flowers that look like they will open soon, so I'll let you know how I get on.

I'm sure it will all work for you. Just dab some pollen onto each of the three stigmas when the flowers open and you will be in business. You will be able to see the yellow/orange pollen on each of the stigmas if you do it correctly. Luckily the anthers come with little "handles" so it is easy to pick them and dab the pollen onto the stigmas. I don't think you will have any problems at all; the pollen in your picture looks fine so you should be all set now that you know how to do the pollination. Let me know how things turn out after you do a few flowers and wait long enough for the fruit to start to develop.