Dragon Fruit thread.

[Bush2Beach]

Describe "cheap", you can go to CPS and get 15's for $3 and change. The way those pots taper at the bottom seem's no bueno with less area for soil where the roots really need it.
I love your set up overall, dedication to the pollination and descriptiveness in this thread.

Yeah 2.5 flowers in bloom right now and my generous friend gave me pollen! Double YEAH!!

IMO, containers are always the best way to go. 15 gallon minimum, 20-25 if you can get them cheap. You don't want to fill them more than 75% capacity, and you want to make sure they have proper drainage. Larger containers will allow for multiple plant starts per: 15 gal for one, 25 for 2, more for more, etc.

This is what I've always wanted to find out. But I've already squeezed 2 or 3 plants into each 15 gallon pot so too late!
Why not fill the pot for more than 75%? It's not the first time I heard this and been curious about it!

I'm probably under-potted as well. I'm using these approximately 11 gallon terra cotta pots from Home Depot because they're cheap. My La Verne Pink has 4 stems in that pot, of which 1 is currently fruiting. The other stems were pruning from the main stem so they're a year or more behind the main stem. I planted them more for insurance purposes than for yield.

[simon_grow]

Does anyone know where these brown decaying spots come from? I get them on a certain percentage of my fruit and it makes them look really ugly. I personally don't care if the fruit looks perfect if I were going to eat them myself but I usually give the premium fruit to friends and family and I don't want to give these fruit with a rotting hole in them.

I assume it's from fungal damage but it can also be stink bug damage, I'm just guessing at this point. I thought it could be damage from the dried up flowers absorbing moisture creating a good moist environment for fungus so I started removing all the dried up blooms and I still get them. Thanks for any help.

Simon

[ricshaw]

Describe "cheap", you can go to CPS and get 15's for $3 and change.

What is "CPS"? 

[RobPatterson]

Does anyone know where these brown decaying spots come from? I get them on a certain percentage of my fruit and it makes them look really ugly. I personally don't care if the fruit looks perfect if I were going to eat them myself but I usually give the premium fruit to friends and family and I don't want to give these fruit with a rotting hole in them.

I assume it's from fungal damage but it can also be stink bug damage, I'm just guessing at this point. I thought it could be damage from the dried up flowers absorbing moisture creating a good moist environment for fungus so I started removing all the dried up blooms and I still get them. Thanks for any help.

Simon

To be honest that looks like one of the fins, or scales, on the fruit withered down to hit the main body. The other scales have some withering also, but not as progressed. Its either bacterial/ fungal or heat damage, or a combination of the two. The same mechanic that allows dead stem flesh to progress down (or up) a branch, consuming the stem as it goes might be at work there. I have a lot of fruit that look like they've been grazed with a torch here, with shriveled tips on the fins, but the damage hasn't progressed down onto the actual fruit. I do use the occasional anti-fungal here, from time to time, so that might be what's keeping further damage from happening.

[CTMIAMI]

A friend, an agronomist, familiar with DF made this statement;
"Every fruit tree to achieve maximum production needs to have a certain mass of roots.(so far I agree, he added)  I'm not sure the DF has it when they are planted in the field in pots, not in the soil."
Implying that more production can be achieved when planted in the ground.
I wonder if anyone has any experience on this.

[RobPatterson]

For support you might try something like this:

I'm pretty happy with how the bottom part turned out, and with the overall strength. I'm 220#, and I can hang from the top supports without any scary creaky sounds. It should be able to handle whatever grows through it.


But I wasn't really thinking very clearly when I made the top a mirror of the bottom. As it is I have to thread the vertical stems through the gaps between the 2 x 4s, and there really isn't much in the way of lateral supports for the horizontal branches. I might nail some 2 x 4s diagonally across the corners of the top supports, but that makes for a funky miter angle.


Due to the way I've nailed these together, disassembly is pretty much impossible.


If I were to do these over again I'd probably do something like what Tim did at the top of his trellises:

except bigger. Come to think of it, I could use Tim's design both top and bottom. From what I can see it uses less wood and labor.

Just get some heavy steel construction mesh from a hardware store and tack it to the top of your trellis. You should have plenty of support.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Nucoar-42-in-x-84-in-Remesh-Sheet-361682/202090219
This would work just fine to support branches if its properly nailed onto the top of your tower.
And if you think the pots youre using are a bit too small, theres a solution to that if your plant is too big to move. Just build a small raised flower bed frame around the plant, say 2x12" construction lumber in 2ft long pieces, nailed into a box, and destroy the original pot and secure that box around the root ball, then fill in the empty space with new soil. Its not ideal but it will work to save plants you cant wrangle from becoming root bound.

[RobPatterson]

A friend, an agronomist, familiar with DF made this statement;
"Every fruit tree to achieve maximum production needs to have a certain mass of roots.(so far I agree, he added)  I'm not sure the DF has it when they are planted in the field in pats, not in the soil."
Implying that more production can be achieved when planted in the ground.
I wonder if anyone has any experience on this.

To be perfectly honest, I don't know if anyone has the experience yet with these plants to discuss what 'maximum production' would be. I do know that I have plants in both containers and in the ground, but with so many other variables like species, amount of sun a water provided, soil conditions from one side of the yard to the other, its hard to make what you could call scientific observations. Besides, maximum production is also a loaded description. Are we talking number of fruit, size of fruit, etc. Do we care about the health of the plant itself, or just the end result of the production. Soil is, of course, the natural habitat for these plants, and left to themselves, they produce very spread out root networks, very close to the surface, because they root to where the water is provided. In pots, the roots dip down further because the water soaks down further.
For now, I think having the ability to better manage soil conditions in containers outweighs letting plants roam au natural, especially if you can provide them with large enough pots to start out with. Oh, and gophers......

[CTMIAMI]

I 'm ready to plant 10 in my grove and I tend to agree with you. Specially their susceptibility to fungal diseases. In our 3 times a day rain summer I can control what happens in the pot better.

[ricshaw]

A friend, an agronomist, familiar with DF made this statement;
"Every fruit tree to achieve maximum production needs to have a certain mass of roots.(so far I agree, he added)  I'm not sure the DF has it when they are planted in the field in pots, not in the soil."
Implying that more production can be achieved when planted in the ground.
I wonder if anyone has any experience on this.

The UC Dragon Fruit research trials have all their Dragon Fruit planted in the ground.

Many CRFG Dragon Fruit growers have their Dragon Fruit growing in pots.

Dragon Fruit commercial grower Gray Martin WOWdragonfruit.com I think uses pots.

[CTMIAMI]

I got this fruit yesterday close to lb, good looks, but not too sweet I was expecting more flavor from a red. i checked the brix and it was 12. Any of our more experience member can id this cultivar?

[ricshaw]

I got this fruit yesterday close to lb, good looks, but not too sweet I was expecting more flavor from a red. i checked the brix and it was 12. Any of our more experience member can id this cultivar?

Like Avocados, impossible to positively ID cultivar. Can only say "looks like".

[RobPatterson]

I got this fruit yesterday close to lb, good looks, but not too sweet I was expecting more flavor from a red. i checked the brix and it was 12. Any of our more experience member can id this cultivar?

Add a picture of the plant it came from, close up showing the thorns and shape of the 'branch'. It will help narrow it down.
Also, brix score is an average, not necessarily a single fruit score. If this is the first of the season, it might not have a high sugar content due to being early season germination and lower sun maturation.

[simon_grow]

Thanks for the information Rob! It is extremely moist in the mornings where I live and I feel that moisture retained in the dieing back fins is causing this issue. It seems these spots occur around the area where the dried flower was laying before I removed it. I will try removing the dried flowers sooner.

Simon

[RobPatterson]

Just don't remove them before they have completely dried out at least once. The area behind the flower, if cut too early, can expose the center of the fruit to mold and bacteria. In fact, often when you remove the flower from mature fruit theres a puff of black spores in that cavity. Its not harmful on its own, but you should shake or blow that out so you don't create a mess where you store or prepare your fruit.

[simon_grow]

Ive noticed the puff of spores, thanks for the advice! I'll make sure to let it dry out at least once before removing.

Simon

[SocalKoop]

This is a "Fullerton Purple", which just flowered for the first time, last Thusday. Bought at the Green Scene in 2015 as a foot long cutting. Looking forward to trying it for the first time.

[Rnguyen]

This is a "Fullerton Purple", which just flowered for the first time, last Thusday. Bought at the Green Scene in 2015 as a foot long cutting. Looking forward to trying it for the first time.

Nice! What pollen did you use to pollinate? 

[funlul]

This is a "Fullerton Purple", which just flowered for the first time, last Thusday. Bought at the Green Scene in 2015 as a foot long cutting. Looking forward to trying it for the first time.

more random "local" variety names?

[joaave]

Hi friends I show you my first dragon fruits graft...look the small sprout at apex.

[SocalKoop]

[/quote]

Nice! What pollen did you use to pollinate?
[/quote]
I don't hand pollinate a few neighbor's have unnamed white types, and I have one of those and a Tanzania orange. Figure the bugs are doing an OK job. 3 of 5 flowers look to have been pollinated.

[SocalKoop]

This is a "Fullerton Purple", which just flowered for the first time, last Thusday. Bought at the Green Scene in 2015 as a foot long cutting. Looking forward to trying it for the first time.

more random "local" variety names?

Yup, some hybrid of who knows what from the Fullerton arboretum supposidly.  But hey, can you go wrong with anything named "purple"?

[CTMIAMI]

Hi friends I show you my first dragon fruits graft...look the small sprout at apex.

That is really interesting. Can you elaborate in the process. In most fruits you graft mainly for root stock benefits like disease control. Is there such thing on dragon fruit?
Felicidades!!!!!!

[joaave]

Hi carlos the dragonfruit graft like a cacti...this acelerate the flowering and growth faster....its the same grafting mode like a san pedro cacti...In 10 days the graft you know the results.

[CTMIAMI]

Faster than planting a cutting on the ground? Not likely, right?

[funlul]

First time grower's curiosity (anxiety)...
What is usually the pollination rate with hand pollination?
IF the fruits do set, just water as normal or +/-?
Fertilizer?