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Messages - Rannman

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201
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Are these Haden or Tommy Atkins?
« on: June 12, 2016, 08:47:23 PM »
Just picked these Mexican mangoes up from the shop and was hoping someone could tell me what type they are. Flavour not great, a bit watery with plenty of fibre. I didn't taste the brown one!






202
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: April 15, 2016, 04:44:35 AM »



Ugh... The disappointment in finding rot on your dragonfruit cutting 😢

I planted this in sep of last year and have yet to see any new growth, so I thought it was root bound and decided to repor it. Low and behold the bottom 1 1/2 inch has turned mushy. Why!!?? 😢]
So I removed the soft part and so far have it outside in the shade curing the ends.]
Quote

If that was my cutting, I would make a clean cut to remove any rotten stem and flesh, and start again.  The stem that has no flesh around it, just above the roots, doesn't look healthy, or even still alive. You could wait a couple of weeks to see if that bit of stem hardens up. If it's flimsy ands easily bent, it's most probably dead.  I find the best way to avoid rot is to wait for the small roots to emerge from your cutting while the are laying on a bench somewhere, then put a stake in the pot you wish to use and tie the cutting to it with the root lets just touching the soil. Don't bury the cutting at all!
My question is , should I cut the bottom off? I see so roots but I don't think it's dead. Should I leave it or cut it?

203
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon fruit tipping
« on: April 04, 2016, 05:02:06 AM »
Make them as long as you want them to be. I tip them before they get close enough to touch the ground or to keep them from getting in my way while walking between rows.  Early summer is a good time to start tipping your spring growth and let it fatten up. The main idea is to tip at least a month before flowering is due to start. Too early and you will get a lot of new plant growth, so don't tip your plants in mid Spring.

204
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon fruit tipping
« on: April 03, 2016, 03:42:55 AM »
I think I mentioned something about this in the Dragonfruit thread on this site.  I always tip my dragonfruit when they get to a good length, usually 3-4 feet, and always before they hang to ground and interfere with the mowing. The idea is to allow the branch to thicken up instead of putting the energy into length of growth, as the energy stored in the thickened branch is eventually used to support flowers and ultimately fruit. 

205
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon fruit mature yet
« on: April 02, 2016, 05:26:39 AM »
You should never take anyone's word for it if they say that this dragonfruit is self-pollinating. Very few varieties are truly self-pollinating. I cross pollinate whenever possible to be sure of fruit set and if you are serious about growing dragonfruit, you will grow at least 2-3 varieties to help with pollination. Despite what some growers tell you, cross pollination will ALWAYS result in better fruit set and in most cases,if not all, the fruit will be substantially larger. There is a massive amount of information to be found in th Dragonfruit thread on this site and if you are interested in growing dragonfruit it is beneficial to read it from start to finish as anything you need to know has probably been discussed multiple times. Also, that plant is definitely big enough to carry heaps of fruit! If you haven't had fruit yet, you need another plant, different variety.

206
Here's a dragonfruit that I grafted onto a Peruvianus. Not sure how it will go in terms of growth but the actual grafting was almost too easy.




207
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: January 24, 2016, 07:06:57 PM »
wow!!!! awesome!! how much time has the pot behind? the one with the dragon fruit from seed?
The seedlings in this picture are 7 months old.



208
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: January 24, 2016, 03:04:26 AM »
Thought id graft one of my favourite varieties to one of my many Peruvianus cactus. This one is about 2 weeks old, starting to flower!





209
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Fruiting Epiphyllum's.
« on: January 09, 2016, 04:42:58 AM »
This is my next Epi fruit, from variety PACESETTER. Hard to say what it tastes like but was certainly edible. A little sour with a Brix of 13.5.  Good size with a few spines. Not as tasty as Argus(purple flesh) but ok.







210
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: October 28, 2015, 07:09:26 AM »
Any thoughts?  I've had 3 flowers on three different nights that I've wanted to collect pollen from to store, and none have produced a spec of pollen. Weather is good and warm with good humidity but it's not something I've encountered before. The varieties concerned have always had plenty of pollen.

Weather is a factor. If you waited to collect pollen in the morning, I bet you could have gotten pollen around 10 PM when the flower first opened. That has been my experience.
Just an update on the no pollen situation. I have 2 varieties flowering tonight, G2 and Jade Red. It's 9pm, hot, humid and ready to storm in a big way. The G2, one flower only, has plump anthers that are loaded with pollen. The Jade Red, two flowers, has shrivelled anthers and not a spec of pollen. Hopefully the G2 can pollinate itself. I'm not sure what is causing the problem as they are 2 metres apart with same growing conditions.

211
Tropical Fruit Buy, Sell & Trade / Re: where to buy dragon fruit cutting?
« on: October 28, 2015, 04:30:35 AM »
mattslandscape.com will have everything you need. Plenty more info on the Dragonfruit thread on TFF.

212
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: October 24, 2015, 06:34:55 AM »
Any thoughts?  I've had 3 flowers on three different nights that I've wanted to collect pollen from to store, and none have produced a spec of pollen. Weather is good and warm with good humidity but it's not something I've encountered before. The varieties concerned have always had plenty of pollen.

213
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Fruiting Epiphyllum's.
« on: October 22, 2015, 07:22:49 PM »
This topic has drawn my interest for a while now and info on fruiting epis seems to be difficult to find. In this thread I'm looking for good/great fruit from named epis from growers who have a solid reputation. Not maybes or I think!! A lot of epis have excellent fruit with great hybrid potential.
This is one I've crossed already. Epi has the texture of Turkish Delight and similar flavour.  Variety is Argus, sourced from Matts Landscape.  Not huge but very nice.






Just picked another fruit from my Argus Epi. Fruit was bigger than last time possibly due to a more mature plant. Good texture and stronger flavours than I remember. Highly perfumed with hit of lychee at first with a definite passion fruit aftertaste. Very nice piece of fruit.  Crossed with Cereus Peruvianus. Hopefully the seeds are good.

215
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: October 16, 2015, 09:13:42 PM »


I thought that a few of you would find this interesting.  This is the last Purple Haze fruit from last season. It was pollinated with its own pollen on 30/04/15. Only small, maybe 150 gm, and just starting to colour. I've never had a fruit hang on for this long, almost 4 months. Anyone else had this happen?
I've finally picked the last Purple Haze from last season. At almost five and a half months old I figured it should be ready by now. After cutting it I found that most of the seeds were already sprouted.


216
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rooting DF cuttings?
« on: October 16, 2015, 08:10:55 AM »
I do have one variety that never grew roots from the cut end of the plant. It grew aerial roots about 5cm above the base of the cutting and they grew into the soil from there. Maybe you could lay your cutting flat so the aerials can grow directly into the soil. I assume that is how it would happen if a branch broke off in the wild.

217
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rooting DF cuttings?
« on: October 16, 2015, 06:30:14 AM »
Sounds like good info to me. My cuttings are always in dappled light and they generally get a bit of moisture from me watering other plants or from rain. Most survive and flourish but occasionally one just won't make it no matter what you do.

218
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Finally a Papaya bloom opens! Gender?
« on: October 16, 2015, 05:32:20 AM »
The one flower close to the trunk would suggest a female flower but it doesn't look like any female flower I have seen. Female flowers are usually a lot fatter/thicker at the base, like there is a small fruit inside waiting to be pollinated.

219
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Rooting DF cuttings?
« on: October 16, 2015, 05:24:13 AM »
While it seems that they are taking a long time to root, chances are they will root eventually. Why they haven't set any roots yet I don't know but plants are a mystery sometime. If the cuttings still look fine then they are probably OK and you have little to worry about. If you have multiple cutting and can risk a couple, cut them again close to the base, start again, and see how that goes. Sometimes that will shock them into setting roots but experience has taught me that sometimes a cutting will die no matter what you do, even expensive ones. Some you win, some you lose. Good luck.

220
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: October 08, 2015, 09:42:11 PM »
I was just thinking the same thing. Very short cuttings will very often revert back to immature growth with the fine prickles, as opposed to the larger thorn. And as a result, will generally take much longer to reach a flowering stage.  The bigger, the better when it comes to dragonfruit cuttings.

221
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: October 08, 2015, 07:11:42 PM »
Not sure what happened there!  What I thought I had written was that all very immature dragonfruit have a lot more tiny thorns than their more mature relatives. You have a relatively juvenile plant that will lose most of the small prickles as it ages, ending up with 1 thorn(hopefully) sometime in the future.

222
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: October 08, 2015, 07:03:24 PM »
So here is an odd situation. I ordered some dragon fruit cuttings and got them today. One of the ones I ordered was American Beauty. Well I received two cuttings that were labeled American Beauty. The problem is ... they are different from each other!

See the picture below. The top cutting is three-sided/lobed and the bottom cutting is four-sided/lobed.

So is American Beauty the three-lobed cutting (which I think is correct, my other two DF vines are three-lobed)? So what is the other cutting? What DF species have four-lobes?
I think you will find that your small cuttings, are very very immature. As they continue to develop, most of those small prickles will disappear and you will be left with 1 thorn. Any seedling dragonfruit have heaps of tiny thorns while they are young, most of which vanish with maturity.




The thorns on my American Beauty are much different than what it looks like in your picture. My AB seems to just have 1 thorn (maybe one larger and a really small one) at each node (?). In your picture, they all look like they have 5+ at each node.
My AB thorn.



DM

Yeah, mine look very different. The two 'American Beauty' cuttings are the one in the foreground and the one to the right (one in the background is a different variety).



223
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: What are these on Papaya trees?
« on: September 22, 2015, 06:59:09 PM »
I would say that it is secreted sap.

224
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: September 22, 2015, 05:12:38 PM »
It certainly works in relation to flowers on new season growth, even on relatively young plants.  That's not to say that the new growth wouldn't have flowered anyway but the trimmed growth does become heavier and thicker at an earlier stage of the season, possibly encouraging the flowering.

225
Tropical Fruit Discussion / Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« on: September 21, 2015, 04:40:51 AM »
I'm thinking I can claim a dragonfruit first here! As hard as I have searched, I haven't been able to find any picture(and not a lot of info) relating to the elusive Namibia Orange dragonfruit. Happy to say I have 2 buds on my Namibia Orange. Fingers crossed I can get to pick the fruit at the end.


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