anyone tried growing Passiflora serrato-digitata, or had any luck with fruiting.

You'll actually have to specify which "version" of zone 10 you live in, as the climates vary tremendously and so will the sorts of species/varieties you can successfully grow.

If you specify your location better, people can also give you a better idea about sources for plants.

Here are three examples of zone 10 climates (all zone 10a, I think):

Half Moon Bay, CA: Average July temps: 64/52, rain: 0.12 inches

Yuma Arizona: Average July temps: 107/81, rain: 0.23 inches

St. Petersburg, FL: Average July temps: 92/77, rain: 7.0 inches

I have not heard of P. edulis flavicarpa (the yellow variety) being grown outside all year in CA, but that doesn't mean it hasn't been... I've always heard all flavicarpa need cross-pollination, and that any other clone of P. edulis, including all purple P. edulis will work.

As far as nematodes, in CA I've never heard of nematodes being a huge problem, but I've also heard the plants have a 5-10 year lifespan (which I thought was maybe due to nematodes). I think an easy solution is just to restart from cuttings every few years. I suspect nematodes might be a bigger problem in Florida (?) but there the plants are even more vigorous and should be easier to restart from cuttings. I would think growing in a pot should work also.

I've never tried growing the alata/quadrangularis types, partly because they get so big, and partly because they like more warmth than we have here. I think that is a good direction to go in Florida. In CA, at least close enough to the Coast (Sunset zones 15-17, 22-24) the cool-growing Tacsonias are worth trying. Perhaps in parts of Southern California they can get by with either.

I think someone told me that CA winters are too cold for P. maliformis (?). If so, it still might be a good choice for Florida, whose average winter temperatures are much warmer, even where the USDA zone is the same.

To follow up on the above zone 10 cities.

Half Moon Bay, CA: Average temps in January: 58/43, rainfall: 5.4 inches

Yuma, Arizona: Average temps in January: 69/45, rainfall: 0.42 inches

St. Petersberg, FL: Average temps in January: 72/54, rainfall: 2.3 inches.

A zone 10 summer in parts of CA is colder than a zone 10 winter in Florida. Winters average much colder in CA, even if the extremes are roughly the same.

Unfortunately a lot of Passiflora sellers aren't too honest about what grows well in these completely different climates (or sometimes they don't know).

wow thank you, so sorry. i honestly did'nt even think about it. im in south florida, broward county.

I don't know him, but I'm told that Jim Nevers (Passiflorista on Ebay) is both a really good guy and a good source of information. If you are looking for cultivars that are good for your area he should be able to tell you and and may be able to sell you something. His reputation is stellar, as many on this site can attest to. I have not bought from him. I think Jim is in Central Florida.

Possibly this works to contact him:

http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactUserNextGen&recipient=passiflorista

One question I would have (for someone like Jim) is which species/varieties/hybrids *can* produce fruit, and which will produce it in large amounts with little intervention (i.e. without hand pollination).

I have run into people (on other forums) ask whether a particular plant can survive a "zone 10 summer". In Northern California zone 10 consists of the really cool summer areas (I'm in one of the warmest) so the question sounds a bit odd. In Southern California there are a lot of places with hot summers that are zone 10.

I'm a big, big fan of Sunset zones, and it's a shame they never caught on in the rest of the country.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunset climate zones

Broward county here also. The flavicarpa grows rampant here, as do my edulis-flavicarpa mixes. These are the 2 I grow for fruit production. If you don't have the time to pollinate the flowers, let's say in your lunch break in the summer heat.The other option for pollination is to attract carpenter bees. Those bees are attracted by wooden logs, that's how the commercial growers down in homestead get theirs to pollinate. Some ants will help,too.To get fruit set from flavicarpa you need grow at least 2 different flavicarpas.
They won't get pollinated with a pure edulis, but a edulis-flavicarpa mix will work as well.
I do have a brasilian giant, a yellow variety, which produces a very large fruit and produces heavily. It is not my favorite in taste, but is great for juicing and making jams and such.
Main fruit season is in autumn and early winter for me.
I'm working on a small red fruited variety, which tastes less acidic and more flavorful, to get the fruits bigger, but keeping the taste. We shall see...

very cool thanks subtrop