Passionfruit

Yum! We have such a wonderful crop of passionfruit coming on. The spring rain came just at the right time and the vine is laden. However for us to have any of the fruit we have to fight back against the birds so the crop is netted, except for this end where I ran out of netting. If we don't net then the cockatoos come in and eat the fruit, leaving none for us. We would be happy to share if they ate one whole piece at a time but they don't. They pull off one passionfruit, then fly to the top of a nearby Spotted Gum, take one bite and then throw it to the ground and go back for another. Very destructive and frustrating for us.

The birds and animals have had a hungry year because of the drought and throughout the winter possums trimmed the passionfruit vine completely of any green leaf. I wondered how it would go after that treatment but once the rain came in spring the vine put out new leaf and flower buds all over it. So I guess they don't mind very heavy pruning!!