Make profits from passion fruits this year

Introduced in East Africa in the 1920s, the passion fruit is native to southern Brazil.  It grows well in the tropics. In Uganda, passion fruit farming is done to supply the local market as well as for export. 
Why should you consider passion fruit farming? Farming passion fruits is lucrative, giving farmers a good regular income. 
There is a high demand for the passion fruit, both in the local market and for export. 
According to Julius Ahagaana, a passion fruit agronomist, the passion fruit is a perennial vigorous plant that produces fruits within a year after planting. 
The varieties include; Purple passion fruit, yellow passion fruit, sweet passion fruit, giant passion fruit and banana passion fruit.
 
Purple passion fruit
This is the most cultivated variety of passion fruit in Uganda and the most important variety in the juice processing industry. It does well in cool temperatures at 2000 metres above sea level.
The purple passion fruit is oval or round, with a diameter of between 4cm and 6cm. The colour changes from green to deep purple when ripe. The fruits usually drop from the vine when they ripen. The purple passion has an outstanding flavour, whether fresh, processed or frozen.  

Yellow passion
The yellow passion is more adapted to the tropical lowlands than the purple passion.  It is also more vigorous. The pulp is aromatic and acidic. The fruit is slightly larger than the purple passion. It turns from green to yellow when it ripens. Ripe fruits usually drop from the vines. Since the yellow variety is resistant to soil-borne diseases, it is used for grafting the purple variety. 

Giant passion
The giant passion fruit grows well at sea level and a maximum elevation of 1700 metres above sea level. 
The plant grows to a height of 30 metres and the fruit turns from green to yellow when ripe. The fruits are eaten fresh.

Land preparation 
“When preparing the land to grow passion fruit, deep ploughing is advisable so that the soil gets well aerated and water can get in well,” says Ahagaana. Crop rotation should be practiced to avoid soil-borne diseases. 

Planting 
Passion fruit vines should be spaced two metres between rows and three metres within rows. The planting holes should be 60cm by 60cm, separating the topsoil and subsoil two months before planting. 

Transplanting
The purple passion fruit should be grafted onto yellow passion rootstocks in order to prevent some soil- borne diseases. Transplanting should be done at the onset of rains, early in the morning or late in the afternoon. The seedlings are covered up to the polytube, ensuring that the roots are not folded by cutting back long roots. 
In dry areas, mulch, water and provide shade for young plants after transplanting. 

Seedlings
Clean, virus-free seedlings are transplanted when they are 60cm high. “Make sure you buy the seedlings from certified dealers, who have measures in place to ensure quality disease-free seedlings,” says Ahagaana. 

Fertiliser application 
For top dressing, apply 150 grammes of CAN per plant one month after transplanting and 150 grammes of CAN per plant, at the beginning of the next rainy season. This makes a total of 300 grams of CAN per year. Spray the passion fruit plants with foliar and trace elements every three months. 

Trellising 
Trellises for the passion fruits are constructed with wire and posts. The posts are dug in six centimetres deep holes. The posts should be 2.7 metres long and 15 centimetres in diameter. Support the end posts using an anchor. 
Fix galvanised wire of 10-12 gauge tightly to the top of each post in the row. After transplanting, train two healthy shoots above the graft union using sisal strings, by twinning them regularly until they reach the wire.
All other shoots below the wire should be removed regularly. When the two shoots reach the wire, wind them carefully in opposite directions around the wire. As the shoots grow along the wire, the secondary lateral shoots, which will bear fruits are left to hand downwards. 

Pruning 
To encourage the growth of new fruit-bearing lateral vines, all unproductive vines and all dead wood must be removed as close to the main vine as possible. Cut secondary shoots reaching the ground at 15cm above the ground. The vines should grow vertically to avoid the shoots growing into a thicket. 
Tendrils that get entangled should be removed regularly so that light can penetrate and air can get in. This reduces the chances of disease and pests. 

 Intercropping
For maximum use of land, intercropping is encouraged when the orchard is being established. You can plant vegetable crops such as coriander and spring onions but not beans because they harbour nematodes. Intercropping also prevents soil erosion.

Irrigation 
To keep the vines flowering and fruiting continuously, water them regularly. Lack of water will cause the flowers to shrivel and fall prematurely. In dry areas and during the dry seasons, irrigate for maximum yield and high-quality fruits. 

Diseases 
Fusarium wilt
When infected with fusarium wilt, the plant will wilt and die. The vascular tissues will have brown discolorations. To prevent fusarium wilt, use yellow passion rootstock, grafted at a height greater than 45cm. Use sterile potting media. 

Blight
Dark water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves when passion fruits are infected by blight. They later spread to the rest of the plant as infected tissues die. Blight affects both mature plants and young shoots. Blight can be prevented by using proper field hygiene. For treating blight, use Polyram or Dacomil. 

Brown Spot
Brown spots attack the leaves and fruits, causing brown rings with dead spots. The infection starts on leaves and can move to the leaf axils and terms. 
To prevent brown spot disease, thin vines to allow for aeration. You can treat brown spots using fungicides such as Dacomil/Milraz, Antacol or Ridomil 

Woodiness Virus
The woodiness virus disease is characterised by distortion of leaves, woodiness of fruits. The plants are stunted, with reduced yields and the vines will die off. To prevent the woodiness virus, sterilise the pruning tools using sodium hypochlorite (Jik bleach) or formaldehyde. Control any organism that might carry the virus and eliminate all weeds. 

Die backs
The vines start dying at the tip or middle of the branches. In the last phases, the branches dieback, with the cortical and branches drying up. If your passion fruit orchard is affected by die backs, prune off all infected branches and paste with copper-based fungicides. 

Pests 
Red spider mites
Red spider mites occur on lower leaf surfaces between the veins and cause the leaves to dry. 
They can be controlled by uprooting the infested plant and keeping the field free from weeds. Pesticides such as Mitac and Dynamec can be used. 

Mealybugs
Mealybugs are pinkish oval-shaped stationery bugs covered with a waxy thread. 
Mealybugs can be controlled by pruning and destroying infested parts of the plant, removing the heavily infested plants and using pesticides such as Karate. 
The other pests include nematodes which live in the soils. 

Harvesting
The garden will be ready for harvesting between eight and 12 months after transplanting. If your target is the fresh market, pick the fruits when changing colour from green to purple. Over the rainy seasons, pick the fruits every other day and keep them in a cool place.  The harvesting peak seasons for passion fruits are from July to August and December to January. 

Any fallen fruit should be collected daily, in the morning to avoid being scorched in the sun. Harvest into plastic buckets preferably early in the morning, between 9am and 11am as soon as the fruits dry of any outer moisture. Place the fruit in the buckets gently to avoid bruising them.
Wet fruits should be dried as soon as possible using air drying in a shaded place. The average yields of the passion fruits are one tonne per acre. 

 
Additional reporting from Value Magazine