Author Topic: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit  (Read 12958 times)

pineislander

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #25 on: December 11, 2017, 09:38:00 PM »
I expect field grown in native range with thousands of plants and maybe tens of thousands of flowers in bloom pollination is supremely  good.
I'd love to see a video of a plant holding only such large fruit but haven't seen it yet, all seem mixed sizes.
Looks like flights to Ecuador are $4-500 and other costs wouldn't be so high. If you could score giants those cuttings would fetch a good price once they prove their worth outside the native range. Good luck.

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #26 on: December 11, 2017, 11:53:03 PM »
I’m not going to mention names but several forum members in SoCal already have the giant clone including myself. Mine is not proven yet but I did get a cutting from one member and I have cuttings from a Peruvian clone and seeds from the Ecuador clone that I just collected from these fruit.

One member of this forum posted pictures of his giant yellow vine holding Fruit and they were the giant variety.

I have one small fruit from a supposedly giant clone but the vine it’s growing on is only several feet long with only a couple branches so I doubt the fruit will get to giant size but I am hoping the phenotype will be more rounded like the Peruvian and Ecuador clones.

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #27 on: December 11, 2017, 11:58:28 PM »
Thank you Simon for the update.
I believe that the Giant Megalanthus seeds will grow true because, like Vietnam DF, I doubt that every Gisnt Megalanthus plant in Ecuador is a clone from the same one plant.
I also doubt that Giant Megalanthus growers in Southern California will have the same results as Ecuador growers... but definitely worth trying.

Your welcome ricshaw, I should find out possibly this year but most likely next year. Seeds from a confirmed giant were planted several years ago and I’m starting to take and root the cuttings to increase my planting material.

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #28 on: December 12, 2017, 12:25:30 AM »
Here is a picture of a Peruvian selection of the large fruited Megalanthus. I grew this from a seed but the pot it’s grown in is full of weeds so I took cuttings and will re pot them in a new pot once the roots grow out a bit more.





Here is the fruit from my unconfirmed giant, the cutting was given to me as a large fruiting selection but this is the first time I fruited it. The plant is only a couple branches long and growing in the shade so it don’t believe it will reach its full potential.





Simon

Rannman

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #29 on: December 12, 2017, 07:10:26 AM »
Hi Simon. What is the fluid in the cup?

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #30 on: December 12, 2017, 08:21:50 AM »
That is a Gel2root cup. I’ve had excellent results rooting green cuttings in it. They don’t say what’s in the gel but I suspect it contains willow extract.

Simon

NateTheGreat

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #31 on: December 12, 2017, 09:45:07 AM »
Thanks for all the links Simon. I haven't gone through them in depth yet, but it sounds like you may have proven me wrong. The one with the hybrids is from the Israeli university I mentioned. Have you tried grafting to speed yours up? I have one megalanthus grafted onto S. grandiflorus, which seems to be growing more vigorously than my ungrafted ones, though it did take a bit over a year to push new growth, not sure what that was about. The piece I grafted is only about an inch long, possibly less, so you could make a bunch of grafts if you wanted to. I'm going to try grafting some of my seedlings once they're a few months old to Schlumbergera.

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #32 on: December 12, 2017, 09:55:05 AM »
I post a thread regarding grafting cactus a while back and a member of this forum post pictures of their successful dragonfruit to Dragonfruit graft. The literature I found says that the Megalanthus grows better on Undatus rootstock and may also increase the size of the fruit but I decided not to graft because I was able to get excellent growth by fertilizing properly.

Here is another picture of the Gel2root pots with successful root growth of Yellow Passionfruit in Winter





Simon

xshen

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #33 on: December 12, 2017, 12:14:36 PM »
These giant yellow df are so good. how long does it take to fruit from seeds? I bought two fruits and planted some seeds.

I have Frankie's red grafted onto undulatus. the plant grew about five feet since it was grafted earlier this year. Not sure if this is a good growth rate.

FamilyJ

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #34 on: December 12, 2017, 01:36:24 PM »
Dang, Simon Grow you gots everything im starting what else you growing??

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #35 on: December 12, 2017, 01:43:59 PM »
These giant yellow df are so good. how long does it take to fruit from seeds? I bought two fruits and planted some seeds.

I have Frankie's red grafted onto undulatus. the plant grew about five feet since it was grafted earlier this year. Not sure if this is a good growth rate.

Xshen, the juvenile period of Megalanthus is very long. I neglected my seedlings and it took one year to grow several inches. I’m guessing with good care, it may take 4+ years to get Fruit. Your growth rate on your grafted Frankie’s Red is really good. It grows relatively slowly until the roots spread out at which time its growth rate significantly increases. Frankie’s Red grows intermediate between Undatus and Megalanthus.

FamilyJ, I grow a little bit of this and that. I focus on Fruit that are sweet and Fruit that cannot be easily found in markets.

Simon

FamilyJ

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #36 on: December 12, 2017, 02:39:49 PM »


FamilyJ, I grow a little bit of this and that. I focus on Fruit that are sweet and Fruit that cannot be easily found in markets.

Simon
Thanks, I got
Dunkin Mango
Emperior Lychee
Super Haas Avacado
Cotton Candy Mango
Star Fruit
Mahachanok Mango
Cinamon
Glenn Mango
Fruit punch Mango
Sapodilla alano
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Peach Cobbler
Beverly Mango
Passionfruit Yellow
Passionfruit Grandular
Dragonfruit Haileys Comet
Dragonfruit Frankies Red
Dragonfruit Lisa
Dragonfruit Kathie
Dragonfruit Selenicereus megalanthus (Yellow)
Dragonfruit Hylocereus Sp (Yellow)
Dragonfruit Giant Hawaiian Gold Dragon-17486
Bannana
Pineapple
RDR Jackfruit
And Waiting to get the
Asunta family and maybe Tricia Dragonfruit in Apr/May @ 

guaycuyacu

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #37 on: December 13, 2017, 02:16:22 PM »
  the round type is a different variety or type, called “palora” here in ecuador.   i understand that in europe they dont import the standard more angular variety, only the palora.

fyliu

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #38 on: December 13, 2017, 02:23:29 PM »
  the round type is a different variety or type, called “palora” here in ecuador.   i understand that in europe they dont import the standard more angular variety, only the palora.
Is there a name for the angular type? Thanks. Always good to hear from people closer to the source.

pineislander

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #39 on: December 13, 2017, 07:26:34 PM »
  the round type is a different variety or type, called “palora” here in ecuador.   i understand that in europe they dont import the standard more angular variety, only the palora.
Palora is also the capital seat of Palora Canton. It is on the Amazon side of Ecuador.
This is a whole set of videos from there:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Pitahaya+Palora

NateTheGreat

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #40 on: December 18, 2017, 02:08:25 PM »
Finally going through those links today Simon. I disagree that these show what you say they show. In the one with five specimins of S. megalanthus from commercial plantations in Colombia and Ecuador, it says, "Fruit of S. megalanthus (80–300 g) are much lighter than Hylocereus spp. (200–800 g)." There is even a section, "Possible cause of low fruit mass in S. megalanthus", which suggests it may be caused by too few of the ovules developing into viable seeds (8.7% with self-polination, 9.7% with H. polyrhizus pollen, 5.4% with H. undatus pollen, and 17.9% with S. megalanthus pollen), and that the fruit flesh may develop from the viable seeds only. I don't see anywhere in here, or in any of the others you posted, that says there is actually a difference in fruit between Colombian and Ecuadorian genetics, or that either of these are different than the wild (common) form.

It really sounds to me like those researchers took cuttings from commercial plantations in South America, grew the fruit, and didn't have any fruit over 300g. I'll also add that if they just have better pollen, like some Selenicereus species that's closer to megalanthus maybe, that caused 30% or 40% of the ovules to develop, that sounds like it could cause the fruit from South America to be giant.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2017, 02:11:12 PM by NateTheGreat »

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #41 on: December 18, 2017, 04:41:45 PM »
Nate, you’re reading everything completely wrong. The links I provided are to show that their are selected lines out there with different Geno/Phenotypes.

It took me a long time to find the original article where they talked about the development of the giant selection and I don’t have the time to find it right now but if I found it before, someone should be able to find it with enough digging.

Simon

NateTheGreat

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #42 on: December 18, 2017, 05:41:41 PM »
Simon, I apologize for taking so much of your time. I didn't mean to give you the burden of providing proof, just trying to figure out if anyone has a giant and a normal growing and fruiting together. At this time, it sounds like the answer is no, but you may soon. For the record, I hope that a giant variety exists.

ricshaw

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #43 on: December 18, 2017, 08:14:30 PM »
Simon, I apologize for taking so much of your time. I didn't mean to give you the burden of providing proof, just trying to figure out if anyone has a giant and a normal growing and fruiting together. At this time, it sounds like the answer is no, but you may soon. For the record, I hope that a giant variety exists.

The giant Megalanthus variety Fruit is now being sold in the U.S.

People are buying it, sharing pictures, and growing the seeds.

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #44 on: December 18, 2017, 09:38:56 PM »
Nate, it’s all good. When I first got crazy into the giant Yellow Megalanthus, I thought it was just a well grown and thinned specimen of Megalanthus until I found the article that said otherwise and when I was in Hong Kong, I noticed a big difference between the regular and the giant.

Here’s a picture of a giant I just ate, you can see that the fins are very shallow maybe sticking up only 1-2 mm. The fins are also much more widely spaced, even at the bottom of the Fruit. Here’s the giant





Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #45 on: December 18, 2017, 09:51:47 PM »
I found one of the threads where Sagan posted pictures of his large yellow DF along with pictures of his normal sized yellows. He grew them the same but his large ones grew to about 1 lbs and his normals were about 1/2 the size of the giants. Unfortunately the pictures don’t show up anymore because it’s such an old thread.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=11980.msg157840#msg157840

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #46 on: December 25, 2017, 12:58:53 PM »
In case anyone was wondering, the seeds from the giant yellow Ecuador Megalanthus are viable. Here’s a pic of some newly sprouted seeds.



Simon

BrianL

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #47 on: December 27, 2017, 04:33:57 AM »
They stay viable at leas a month and a half if you keep them in the "goo" around the seed.

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #48 on: December 27, 2017, 03:01:48 PM »
I revived seeds from a large fruited Megalanthus from Leo Manuel that was at least one year old if not 2-3 years old. I used low concentrations of hormones. They are very easy to germinate when fresh.

Simon

simon_grow

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Re: Giant Yellow Ecuador Megalanthus Dragonfruit
« Reply #49 on: January 04, 2018, 11:22:30 PM »
I found more giant Yellow Megalanthus Dragonfruit from Ecuador on sale at HMart in Mira Mesa for a very reasonable price of $4.99/pound. Each fruit is about 0.8 pounds so that comes out to a little over $4 per Fruit. These fruit are a bit more green but that can be a good thing because these fruit are extremely sweet and could use a bit less sweetness or a bit more tart. Here are some pictures





Simon