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grab it by the lady parts
Based on the vigor of plant #1, and the fact that I'm running out of pots, I will give away both #2 and #3 to anyone who wants to pick them up from my home in Palos Verdes (90274) or my office in Torrance (90502). 1 per person! I don't want to unpot them or ship them.In exchange I ask only for a clay pot of similar or larger size. PM if you're interested!So Opuntia #3 also started growing! It grew a pair of Mickey Mouse ears, and it now on its way to being a reasonable plant.#2 and #3 are still up for donation if anyone wants them.In November I also cut some pads and fruit from another spineless Opuntia here in Palos Verdes. I never got a chance to taste the fruit, because guests were coming over so I hurriedly stuffed a whole bunch of stuff in a closet, including the Opuntia pads and fruit. 5 months later (no kidding!) I was looking in the closet and "found" my Opuntia. Both pads were very pale green, and one was quite shriveled, so I thought they were goners, but I put them in some dirt anyway.Here's what the shriveled one looked like a few weeks ago:It's pale and sickly looking, but it's alive! The other pad looks a tad better, and has just started pushing out new growth.So it looks like these things are pretty unkillable!
oxidize stuff, and more potential for condensation. I just defrosted some pollen to take to the giant Lomita "Dragonfruit Tree" and when I was done I had drops of water in my pollen, just from condensation.
Don't uncap it until the container has reached room temp. Like I said, I dilute pollen with flour before storing it in the fridge, not the freezer.
I didn't know container size was important! But it makes sense, because excess space will have more air to oxidize stuff, and more potential for condensation. I just defrosted some pollen to take to the giant Lomita "Dragonfruit Tree" and when I was done I had drops of water in my pollen, just from condensation.They've arrived! So here's my "pollen collection kit:"
So I just ordered a set of 10 vials, for $8.29 with free shipping:
I just couldn't stand to see all these flowers drop, so I went there around 10:00 PM last week and pollinated one. I couldn't reach any others without a taller ladder.
This is a san ignacio plant. There was a photo of the buds a page ago. They bloomed last night. Bees are all over it.
Here's the simple version of my process:I didn't know container size was important! But it makes sense, because excess space will have more air to oxidize stuff, and more potential for condensation. I just defrosted some pollen to take to the giant Lomita "Dragonfruit Tree" and when I was done I had drops of water in my pollen, just from condensation.
1. Use some sort of object you can insert into the flower, without damaging it, as far in as you can get it, and tap on the flowers stem to dislodge the pollen. I have an ice scoop that I've cut and reshaped to fit the flowers geometry, but another good idea Ive hear is to take a 1 litre soda or water bottle, and basically cut half the body of it out to form a scoop, then trim whats left of the body into a point, with a curved tip (no sharp or pointy edges), so it had a triangular shape.
2. Dump your pollen onto a white, or other lightly colored, plate so you can go through it and dig out anything that isnt pollen, like ants, flower parts, etc. Use tools like tweezers or sewing needles. Avoid touching the pollen directly.
3. Spread your pollen out on a folded paper towel or a napkin, not in clumps, but as an even powder. Place it somewhere shady, not in direct sunlight, but warm, and let it sit for 8-24 hours. Beware of strong drafts that might blow your pollen off its resting surface.
4. Place the towel/napkin back on your plate, fliped over, and pat/flick the dried pollen back onto the plate surface. Reexamine for anything not pollen. At my house its usually cat hair.
5. Here's the important part. Using as small of a container as possible, you can now store your pollen in your freezer. The colder the better. But the container is key. I have small sample vials I picked up from Ebay that I use. The idea is that you was as little air in with the pollen as possible. For a single flower, using something like the glass tubes free perfume samples used to come in would be a good size. Whatever you find, the container needs to be as small as you can find and air tight. Oh, and clean, too. Any moisture in the air can degrade the pollen when ice crystals form.
This process should give you pollen that will last a couple weeks in storage.
Here's the vine that's closest to the street. I'm calling this the "A" vine.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?
Yes, there is a thread about the sugarloaf pineapples. The 'Kona Sugarloaf' is spiny, the 'Sugarloaf' is spineless.
Congrats! Yes those look like sugarloafs. They are smaller than cayenne pineapples. But if well fed can get pretty good sized.
"Purple Haze" is a name given to Paul Thomson's 5-S, a hybrid from a Dragon Fruit Netitzel X Rixford” cross, which Paul said has dark red or magenta flesh, flavor good – very good.
Paul also said; All of the seedlings from his “Netitzel X Rixford” cross must be cross pollinated to set fruit. Other hobbyist growers agree.
Is this the "tap and plug" method mentioned in the post following yours?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.
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.
I may do some more of those and try to get them tied up to a post right away so they dont break.
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?
:
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.
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.
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?
Roots pretty much act as anchors.
Im using shrubblers and spot spitters just because I have the materials but would prefer something that will promote a healthy root trajectory. Also big big benefits of precise drip is weed mitigation and if you want to fertigate
3) Either this was some crazy timing, or maybe I'm having a very strong psychosomatic effect..... OR, this stuff does exactly what it says on the tin. I was only a quarter of the way into the mug when I noticed that I felt sleepy. And not "normal sleepy"; but like something was actively dragging my awakeness level down.
