Author Topic: Dragon Fruit thread.  (Read 940814 times)

Orkine

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2725 on: August 05, 2018, 03:01:08 PM »
Here are the pictures of the fruits cut.

The large pink fruit was white on the inside.  The taste was sweet.  Much sweeter than the store bought fruits (except the megalantus - golden yellow) .  The next fruit is a very deep purple.  It had a tart component to the taste.  Both are agreeable and I will eat them again.




I am still a mango guy but variety is the spice of life.  For dragon fruit folks who would have wanted a more technical description of the taste, you have to send someone by to taste and report or take a cutting and grow the fruit for yourself :)

LEOOEL

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2726 on: August 08, 2018, 06:47:00 PM »
Here are the pictures of the fruits cut.

The large pink fruit was white on the inside.  The taste was sweet.  Much sweeter than the store bought fruits (except the megalantus - golden yellow) .  The next fruit is a very deep purple.  It had a tart component to the taste.  Both are agreeable and I will eat them again.



I am still a mango guy but variety is the spice of life.  For dragon fruit folks who would have wanted a more technical description of the taste, you have to send someone by to taste and report or take a cutting and grow the fruit for yourself :)


Is the ‘Megalantus’ (‘golden-yellow’) found and available in South Florida, USA?
'Virtue' should be taught, learned and propagated, in order to save others and oneself.

Brandon909

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2727 on: August 08, 2018, 09:39:20 PM »
Can this PG flower still be pollinated? it's been open since last night

Brandon909

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2728 on: August 08, 2018, 09:40:03 PM »



Brandon909

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2729 on: August 08, 2018, 09:44:02 PM »


one of my sugar dragon flower is opening tonight I'm trying to see if I can pollinate the physical graffiti flower


RobPatterson

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2730 on: August 09, 2018, 05:55:39 PM »
Yes to your question Brandon. As long as you can get access to the pistil stem without damaging it, you can still apply pollen up to 2 days after bloom. The flower petals spread and wilt quickly, but the flower is still fertile until the pistil starts to degrade, usually from heat. The issue is the waspy thin petals can get a bit clingy once they wilt, so you have to use extreme care to not only peal them away (try not to tear them) but to put them back, so they can protect the pistil as it accepts the pollen and begins fertilization. On self fertile fruits, I often give the flowers a good shake in the morning, after they've closed, just incase theres any remaining pollen on the anthers, just to see if they can make their way down to the now drooping pistil.

As a side note, if you have flowers on the cusp of blooming but you have to be away for some reason, the opposite is true as well, where you can force the front of the flower open and slip some pollen onto the pistil. Figure you have at least 24 hours in both directions to fertilize a flower from its optimal bloom state.

Brandon909

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2731 on: August 09, 2018, 09:37:01 PM »
Yes to your question Brandon. As long as you can get access to the pistil stem without damaging it, you can still apply pollen up to 2 days after bloom. The flower petals spread and wilt quickly, but the flower is still fertile until the pistil starts to degrade, usually from heat. The issue is the waspy thin petals can get a bit clingy once they wilt, so you have to use extreme care to not only peal them away (try not to tear them) but to put them back, so they can protect the pistil as it accepts the pollen and begins fertilization. On self fertile fruits, I often give the flowers a good shake in the morning, after they've closed, just incase theres any remaining pollen on the anthers, just to see if they can make their way down to the now drooping pistil.

As a side note, if you have flowers on the cusp of blooming but you have to be away for some reason, the opposite is true as well, where you can force the front of the flower open and slip some pollen onto the pistil. Figure you have at least 24 hours in both directions to fertilize a flower from its optimal bloom state.
Thank you Rob for the info I'm glad I can still pollinate the flower

simon_grow

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2732 on: August 12, 2018, 05:26:35 PM »
A friend of mine bought a giant Yellow Megalanthus DF from 99 Ranch market and it had a stub of a vine so he grafted it onto another DF rootstock. Shortly after the graft, he noticed new growth from the stub. Here are some pictures







Simon

spaugh

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2733 on: August 17, 2018, 06:34:37 PM »
Someone in FL had some concrete DF posts and photos of rows of crops with pineapples and DF.  Does anyone know whao that was?  Im looking for the concrete post photos for ideas.  Im looking to make 20 or 30 concrete posts. 
Brad Spaugh

pineislander

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2734 on: August 17, 2018, 06:40:46 PM »
Those are mine. They have been flowering but all turned yellow and dropped. I'm hoping they are too young but next week will try doing some hand pollination. The mother plant of this same variety set fruit up a tree when it flowered in July.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bAZqhqw2U

Details of the project:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=228.msg295012;topicseen#msg295012
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 06:42:36 PM by pineislander »

spaugh

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2735 on: August 17, 2018, 06:44:52 PM »
Those are mine. They have been flowering but all turned yellow and dropped. I'm hoping they are too young but next week will try doing some hand pollination. The mother plant of this same variety set fruit up a tree when it flowered in July.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bAZqhqw2U

Details of the project:
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=228.msg295012;topicseen#msg295012

Thanks, looks super legit.  Im going to do something similar.  Do you have details already of the post build?  8ft?  Rebars?  Thickness of posts?  What type of bolt or whatever did you use out of the top?

EDIT: I see your project link now and will study it.  Thank you!

PS, yes cross pollinate them they will set fruit and stick.
« Last Edit: August 17, 2018, 06:48:31 PM by spaugh »
Brad Spaugh

marklee

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2736 on: August 17, 2018, 07:46:04 PM »
I have about 8 posts in the ground at my place. Most are stainless steel or galvanized steel from a metal recycler place in Chula Vista. They are about 8-10 feet tall, I dig a 3 foot hole and fill with concrete and then at the top drill holes and place two pieces of rebar to form a cross covered with irrigation hose. They have lasted many years. I do have one or two 4 inch thick redwood posts that I did the same way. Here is a photo of one of the redwood setups.


spaugh

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2737 on: August 17, 2018, 07:58:04 PM »
Nice Mark.  Thanks for the galvanized post idea, theres some of those laying around here in my recycled materials junk pile. 
Brad Spaugh

Rannman

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2738 on: August 18, 2018, 05:27:48 AM »

This is a pic of my Frankie’s Red that has unsuccessfully flowered once already this winter, and now has another 3 buds coming on. These 3 buds started just before we had a very nasty cold snap of -2.5 degrees that did a lot of damage to a lot of plants.

kc_moses

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2739 on: August 18, 2018, 09:54:11 AM »
I hand pollinated my purple haze, but the last 3 flowers just turn yellow and die a few days after the flower closed. Any idea what could be the problem? My Natural Mystic are doing fine, only one turn yellow after hand pollinate.

ricshaw

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2740 on: August 18, 2018, 10:56:15 AM »
I hand pollinated my purple haze, but the last 3 flowers just turn yellow and die a few days after the flower closed. Any idea what could be the problem? My Natural Mystic are doing fine, only one turn yellow after hand pollinate.

What pollen did you use to hand pollinate your Purple Haze flowers?

TheWaterbug

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2741 on: August 18, 2018, 12:41:42 PM »
Here's the vine that's closest to the street. I'm calling this the "A" vine.



This was 9:00 PM in the evening; it's a 15 second exposure to get that much light. Full resolution, here.

There were at least 2 dozen blooms tonight, of which 5-6 were easily reachable on foot, and one more with a stepladder. I have about a teaspoon of pollen in my fridge, because some of my own vines will bloom within a week.

I didn't have any of my own pollen with me, so I couldn't pollinate this vine, but I will bring some next time I visit. I did hand-pollinate these flowers with their own pollen, though I suspect they're self-infertile (but I don't actually know for sure).

The B vine (also outside the gate) had only one bloom, but there are more buds ready to pop over the next several nights.

The C vine (inside the gate) also had lots of blooms tonight, but I couldn't get inside.


None of the flowers I hand-self-pollinated set fruit, so apparently the A vine is self-infertile, and I never did get around to bringing some foreign pollen to it. Maybe next bloom cycle, if we have one, or perhaps next year.

A cutting of S-8 or other pollinator will take years to get to flowering stage.


But I had another idea--What if I were to graft some S-8 on these vines?

Can one graft DF onto descending branches? Is it hard to ensure contact on an upside-down graft? When causes a grafted piece to flower? Its own maturity, or the maturity of the host plant? Or a combination of both? When is the right time to graft?


The vines in that Lomita Dragonfruit Park are going pop tonight or Sunday night. Anyone want to sneak in with me and steal some pollen?


Or maybe sneak in and pollinate a few dozen flowers?
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TheWaterbug

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2742 on: August 18, 2018, 12:46:59 PM »
Heres an american beauty with peruvian yellow DF "grafted" onto it.  Simon was nice enough to share some of the peruvian yellow DF with me and I am going to see if the growth rate is improved at all with a different rootstock.  They are quite slow growers even in a greenhouse so we wjll see if it helps at all.




Is this the "tap and plug" method mentioned in the post following yours?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljf6wyUmJ9k


Has anyone tried this onto a descending branch? I'm interested in grafting something onto those giant vines posted just above this, so that there's something to cross with those 4 plants. I've never seen fruit on them, despite several _hundred_ meters of vine that produce hundreds of flowers every season.
Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!

TheWaterbug

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2743 on: August 18, 2018, 12:47:58 PM »
My DF flowers have up to 10 bees inside in the morning so I don't ever hand pollinate them.

I thought pitaya was pollinated with some kind of night moth.  Forgot the name - it's big though.  If bees pollinate DF then I've got it made, IF, they do so early morning before the flowers close up? ??? ???

Seems like my DF flowers don't fully close until about 10 in the morning.  In my yard, the bees are busy on them until they can't get inside anymore.


Interesting. I'm a beekeeper, so I have 40,000 bees literally right next to my DF vines, and I almost never see bees in the flowers.  >:(
Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!

TheWaterbug

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2744 on: August 18, 2018, 12:53:44 PM »
I think my purchased-from-Lowes-from-LaVerne dragonfruit is about ready for trellising, so I built this:



Should I wrap the main post with burlap to give the aerial roots something to attach to?

I eventually built 4 more of these and wrapped them in burlap.


Dear Dragonfruit: you're doing it wrong  ;D ;D ;D :


Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!

Dangermouse01

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2745 on: August 18, 2018, 02:56:18 PM »
My DF flowers have up to 10 bees inside in the morning so I don't ever hand pollinate them.

I thought pitaya was pollinated with some kind of night moth.  Forgot the name - it's big though.  If bees pollinate DF then I've got it made, IF, they do so early morning before the flowers close up? ??? ???

Seems like my DF flowers don't fully close until about 10 in the morning.  In my yard, the bees are busy on them until they can't get inside anymore.


Interesting. I'm a beekeeper, so I have 40,000 bees literally right next to my DF vines, and I almost never see bees in the flowers.  >:(

I have 2 hives 15 feet away from my row of Dragon Fruit plants, have sat and watched bees working the DF flowers and then fly right to and enter the hives.
I would guess that far less than 1% of the bees that head out foraging are on the DF, which makes sense since when the bees find a good source 15 feet away they can only tell the other foragers in the hive that it is close. And their usual flight path is to fly out of the hive and take a right, which takes them directly over the row of DF.

FamilyJ

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2746 on: August 18, 2018, 04:04:35 PM »
I think my purchased-from-Lowes-from-LaVerne dragonfruit is about ready for trellising, so I built this:



Should I wrap the main post with burlap to give the aerial roots something to attach to?

I eventually built 4 more of these and wrapped them in burlap.


Dear Dragonfruit: you're doing it wrong  ;D ;D ;D :



HAHA they seem like they dont want to be tamed. but as a beekeeper they do what they want to get there pollen

spaugh

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2747 on: August 18, 2018, 09:44:40 PM »
Heres an american beauty with peruvian yellow DF "grafted" onto it.  Simon was nice enough to share some of the peruvian yellow DF with me and I am going to see if the growth rate is improved at all with a different rootstock.  They are quite slow growers even in a greenhouse so we wjll see if it helps at all.




Is this the "tap and plug" method mentioned in the post following yours?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljf6wyUmJ9k


Has anyone tried this onto a descending branch? I'm interested in grafting something onto those giant vines posted just above this, so that there's something to cross with those 4 plants. I've never seen fruit on them, despite several _hundred_ meters of vine that produce hundreds of flowers every season.

The grafting works ok but the graft is a weak point and breaks off easily.  I accidentally broke both of the grafts off just moving the plant around.  The center core stem heals well but the fins didnt bind well for mine and they created a weak spot.  What you would need to do is put a crutch of bamboo on the joint and use some tree tape or caution tape to tie the crutch to stiffen up the graft joint. 

I maydo some more of those and try to get them tied up to a post right away so they dont break.
Brad Spaugh

kc_moses

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2748 on: August 20, 2018, 10:33:45 AM »
I hand pollinated my purple haze, but the last 3 flowers just turn yellow and die a few days after the flower closed. Any idea what could be the problem? My Natural Mystic are doing fine, only one turn yellow after hand pollinate.

What pollen did you use to hand pollinate your Purple Haze flowers?

I tried using its own pollen (it's supposed to be self pollinate: https://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/variety-selected-name-purple-haze--informacion-52)
I also tried to use pollen from Natural Mystic. I saved the Natural Mystic pollen in a plastic container and froze for 2 days, thaw at room then used the pollen.

The first 2 Purple Haze fruit I got in June was hand pollinated with their own pollen since my Natural Mystic didn't have flower back than.

TheWaterbug

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #2749 on: August 20, 2018, 11:05:57 AM »
Is this the "tap and plug" method mentioned in the post following yours?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljf6wyUmJ9k

Has anyone tried this onto a descending branch? I'm interested in grafting something onto those giant vines posted just above this, so that there's something to cross with those 4 plants. I've never seen fruit on them, despite several _hundred_ meters of vine that produce hundreds of flowers every season.
The grafting works ok but the graft is a weak point and breaks off easily.  I accidentally broke both of the grafts off just moving the plant around.  The center core stem heals well but the fins didnt bind well for mine and they created a weak spot.  What you would need to do is put a crutch of bamboo on the joint and use some tree tape or caution tape to tie the crutch to stiffen up the graft joint. 

I may do some more of those and try to get them tied up to a post right away so they dont break.


Ah, if it doesn't hold up to stress, then it probably won't work on this vine. I may just plant a few S-8 cuttings (when I get them) around the base of each tree, and hope that they do as well as the incumbent plant, some day.


By the way, I'll repeat what I wrote last year--Teuchert Park is a little miracle for those of us interested in DragonFruit, and everyone in the LA area should make a pilgrimage.
Sunset 23/USDA 11a, Elev. 783', Frost free since 8,000 BC. Plagued by squirrels, gophers, and peafowl, but coming to terms with it!