Passionfruit in South Australia

Kieren from Hillbank in South Australia sent us in some great photos of how to go about setting up a passionfruit vine.

A site which receives part sun and shade was selected

The wire mesh was added for the passionfruit to grow along

Bricks were layed to contain the soil

The passionfruit vine was planted

Kieren selected both the Passionfruit - Granadilla and the Panama Red. My guess is that because passionfruit are fast growers the wire mesh will will be covered with the vine in a few months.

The Butterfly Kiss DVD

Below is a short extract from the DVD The Butterfly Kiss which won the Spirit of Woodford Awards this year. You can purchase the full documentary DVD if you enjoy what you see.

Coffee Plants in Pots

After we discussed growing your own coffee plants where many of you wrote in and gave some great tips I got inspired and are now growing my own coffee plants in pots in my Brisbane backyard. I know they don't like too much wind so they are being sheltered and they are also getting as much sun as I can find for them. I am hoping come July and September this year or next I might be able to make some "real coffee" from scratch. It was said you need 30 coffee plants to have 2 cups of ground coffee every day of the year. Just think how many coffee plants there must be in the world. If this all works out and these plants provide the Utopian cup of coffee then in the next picture there might be 10 times as many coffee plants to photograph. I am growing the Coffee K7 variety and because it is grown in a pot it will be naturally dwarfed however there is a new variety called Dwarf Coffee Plant - Catui.

Passionfruit - Fast Growing

The passionfruit vine below is 1 year old and full of passionfruits. Simply by placing a trellace along the fence so that it can grow along the passionfruit will flourish in hot environments such as Queensland. There would at least be a hundred passionfruit ripening on this vine. I find that the large purple flowers appear for a day or two and then they form the fruit. You do need to be patient with the fruit because after appearing it takes a couple of months before they turn from green to purple. This passionfruit is a Passionfruit - Panama Red.

Secondo Avocado

Anyone who loves avocados should have one growing in their back yard and the Secondo avocado is a surpurb choice. The Secondo originates from the hills around Kyogle where it has been bred from a seedling selected by a local Italian gentleman who it is named after. The fruits are truely delicious, they are a large pear shaped fruit with creamy flesh and thick textured skin. They are a cross between a Hass and a Sharwill and are a combination of the best of both these fruits. Trees will crop heavily and are self pollinating although they will benift from being near a B group avocado to maximise pollination and fruit set. They come off at about the same time as the Hass cropping from August through to December to January if you can leave them on the tree that long. The Secondo is the staff favourite amongst the avocados here at the nursery and we are often seen sneaking back from the orchard with our pockets bulging during the harvest season. We have some beautiful specimens in stock ready to be established in your garden.

Kiwifruit Sweetie - Female

A new variety of kiwifruit suited to the subtropics with a very low chill time. The Kiwifruit Sweetie - Female should be available in march 2007 so if you are interested you can select "Email me When Available" on the Kiwifruit page. Here is a video of our trial in the Daleys Fruit Tree Orchard.

Fruit Fly Traps and Nectarines

Nectarine - Sunraycer

More inforation:
Wild May Fruit Flies

Nectarine - Sunwright

Fruit Tree Videos

Fordaprince Peach

White Satin Nectarine

Peachcot Ora A

Lime - Tahitian

We are now listing our fruit trees according to popularity using the past 3-6 years of data. The top Australia Plants currently are the Lime - Tahitian, Dwarf Mulberry, Fig Black Genoa and the Lemon Eureka. I have been wondering why the Tahitian Lime would be so popular among Australians and I think I might have found one of the reasons in Woolworths this week. Limes were selling for $24.95 a kg which was even more expensive then Dragon fruit at $15.95 a kg. So I guess many of you have thought that by purchasing one lime tree it won't take long before you have recouped the initial outlay of $19.90 for a Tahitian Lime. Tip: For those of you eating your Dragon fruit this time of year many people recommend a few drops of lime to give them an even better taste. Australia Plants - Most Popular - To view Plants for Australia, Your State or even the most popular fruit trees in your local suburb.