PASSION FRUIT CULTURE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 48, 27 January 1932, Page 6

PASSION FRUIT CULTURE.

REQUIREMENTS OF INDUSTRY, "■ HORTICULTURALIST’S STATEMENT.

Recent advocacy by Mr J. A. Nash, M.P., of the merits of passion fruit culture as an industry for the absorption of unemployed men in New Zealand prompted i\lr J. Nairn, of College Street West, an expert horticulturist'of long experience, to make some observations on the subject to the “Standard” to-day. ■ “Although passion fruit will grow in poor soil,” lie stated, “good ground is essential if any measure of success is to be achieved in its cultivation. Climate is of paramount importance. You can make soil, but you cannot oreate .a climate. Any scheme of passion fruit growing would have to be embarked upon in the North of Auckland, where there is an equable climate; and it would have to be on a co-operative basis. There would nave to be a group settlement, while holdings would require to be at least 20 to 26 acres in extent to enable the settler to grow vegetables and other sustenance for his own use. The land should not be undulating; but as flat as possible, and an ample supply of water from permanent streams running through the land must be maintained so that irrigation could be adopted if necessary. Plenty of water is essential for the passion vines if the fruit is to be fully developed and contain a large body of juice, which, after all, is the thing which has to be cultivated. Climate, soil and water under suitable conditions are three essential features. Good soil with sufficient body ? even though a little light, can have its deficiencies overcome by a good supply of water. . ' “Passiflora edulus is the variety of fruit to be cultivated,” added Mr Nairn. ' “The vines can be raised by thousands on a nursery scale at very little expense in a suitable district. They should be planted in the early spring or late winter. Good, strong plants would require two years before they could be considered of commercial value for productivity. They will last a good number of years unless attacked by fungoid disease, but a policy of planting each year for the gradual replacement of the old vines is essential.” , ' . The opinion was also expressed by Mr Nairn that the yield of the passion fruit vine had been over-estimated. The value of the fruit juice was comparatively undetermined as there had been no growing oil a great commercial scale. Anybody undertaking passion fruit culture, he said, must have horticultural adaptability for sucoess. It was not a proposition for individual growers and he aid not think it would provide' a livelihood without supplementary means of sustenance.