As a typical plant of the tropics and subtropics, the passion flower is a heavy feeder, so it needs (and consumes) a lot of nutrients. For this reason, regular fertilization is essential - otherwise your Passiflora will develop yellow leaves and stop both growth and flowering. Incidentally, their water requirement is also very high, whereby the passion flower, like so many plants, does not tolerate waterlogging.
Weekly fertilization during the growing season
In general, fertilizing with liquid universal or flowering plant fertilizer (10.47€) every two weeks is recommended for the passion flower in the growing season between April and September. However, this rhythm is too short for many particularly hungry specimens. So if your passion flower doesn't want to grow properly, or even gets yellow leaves, then this could well be due to a lack of nutrients. In this case, weekly fertilization is indicated.
Caution: Too much fertilizer makes Passiflora lazy to bloom
When choosing the fertilizer, make sure that it does not contain an excessive amount of nitrogen. Nitrogen strongly stimulates plant growth, but at the same time makes flowering plants lazy. With a nitrogen-rich fertilizer, the passion flower will prefer to invest its energies in growth rather than in the formation of flowers. Many an experienced Passiflora lover therefore swears by letting the plants “starve” a little.
Organic fertilization useful?
Unfortunately, a purely organic fertilization of Passiflora with compost or horn shavings (€32.93) is not sufficient in view of the high nutrient requirement, but can be used as a supplement at the beginning of the growth period. The problem with organic fertilizer is the fact that the specific nutrient content of compost or manure, for example, is firstly unknown and secondly varies greatly. In addition, animal manure in particular often contains a lot of nitrogen and is therefore not suitable for flowering plants.
tips and tricks
Indoor passionflowers will be given about a quarter of the summer amount of fertilizer in winter, while cool-wintered specimens will be given no fertilizer at all.