Author Topic: Dragon Fruit thread.  (Read 940405 times)

Berto

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #100 on: October 23, 2012, 10:06:57 PM »
My wife and I shared just one large magenta/red fruit.  See my posted photo!
She also noticed a change in her body byproducts.
Go dragon fruit...let's put color in this world!    ;D ;D ;D ;D 

Berto

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #101 on: October 24, 2012, 02:25:00 PM »
Do not throw away the skin!!!
Just made some tea from the fresh skin of a dragon fruit!  High levels of antioxidants!
« Last Edit: October 24, 2012, 02:32:40 PM by Berto »

nullzero

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #102 on: October 24, 2012, 02:55:36 PM »
Do not throw away the skin!!!
Just made some tea from the fresh skin of a dragon fruit!  High levels of antioxidants!

Great idea! Sounds like it could be utilized nicely in a dry tea mix as well.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Jackfruitwhisperer69

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #103 on: October 26, 2012, 03:58:54 PM »
Wow,
I read about the health benefits of pitaya (dragon fruit), and I plan to pay better attention to my vines.
http://www.naturalfoodbenefits.com/display.asp?CAT=1&ID=41
Yesterday, I harvested a white flesh variety absolutely delicious.  The day before I picked and ate a nice magenta/red flesh one.
Lately, I also notice that my urine and my body waste had a reddish/purple color.  I guess it was from the lycopene/antioxidants.   
Have you guys experienced the same results after eating magenta/red flesh dragon fruit (pitaya)?

Olá Berto,
Beetroot does it for me...ahahahahha ;D
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice, because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of your life!

Jacob13

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Recent Dragon Fruit
« Reply #104 on: October 27, 2012, 12:32:43 AM »
Hello Friends,

Just wanted to share with you all some recent pictures of some Dragon Fruit that are coming along nicely.  Right now, I have approximately 10 various Dragon Fruits, and a whole bunch of flowers coming along.

Physical Graffiti Dragon Fruit



Arizona Purple Dragon Fruit


Vietnamese "Red" Dragon Fruit - These 2 Dragon Fruit are Absolutely Enormous (2 lbs. +).  They are now much bigger than what they are in the pictures.


nullzero

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Re: Recent Dragon Fruit
« Reply #105 on: October 27, 2012, 12:56:19 AM »
Jacob,

Excellent pictures! I love the Arizona Purple picture.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Jacob13

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Re: Recent Dragon Fruit
« Reply #106 on: October 27, 2012, 01:08:04 AM »
Hey Steven,

How is your AZ Purple Doing?

 - Jacob

marklee

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Re: Recent Dragon Fruit
« Reply #107 on: October 27, 2012, 02:25:24 AM »
I've been eating quite a few different pitahayas lately, I had a Physical Graffiti yesterday and compared to Houghton,and Voodoo Child it was pretty bland. The Valdivia Roja is pretty good also.

Mark

nullzero

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Re: Recent Dragon Fruit
« Reply #108 on: October 27, 2012, 02:48:52 AM »
Hey Steven,

How is your AZ Purple Doing?

 - Jacob

Its been putting out a few more segments, still on the small side. Though I intend to up pot it soon.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Felipe

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Re: Recent Dragon Fruit
« Reply #109 on: October 27, 2012, 05:30:39 AM »
Jacob, are you growing them in full sun? Did you pollinate them?

I would love to see pictures of the ripe fruit :)

Berto

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Re: Recent Dragon Fruit
« Reply #110 on: October 27, 2012, 09:41:05 AM »
There is a dragon fruit thread already!  What is the reason for this duplication? Moderators, please advise! 

*** mod edit: solved ;D ***
« Last Edit: October 27, 2012, 11:25:40 AM by Tim »

Berto

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #111 on: October 27, 2012, 01:40:40 PM »
Thank you!
It is much easier to gather the information in one thread!  Let's keep it simple!

fyliu

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #112 on: October 28, 2012, 07:09:58 PM »
I like Valdivia Roja too. It was one of the first dragonfruits I tasted and still ranks high on my list. I started a few cuttings of it last year.

I kind of wish I had grown a white bland variety. I've been having bad luck pollinating this year.

FloridaGreenMan

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Enter the Dragon
« Reply #113 on: October 28, 2012, 08:47:06 PM »
Here's my "Alice White" dragon fruit that I am growing on my chain link fence. It's my 2nd crop this year. Have already harvested 12 fruits a few months ago and now I have 8 more. Even though it's a white fleshed one, it's actually fairly sweet and refreshing, a decent fruit, not incredible but good. The real nice thing is that it takes up virtually no room in my yard and produces at a time when there is very little of anything else and is totally self pollinating. No work involved. My Red one must be hand pollinated and still produces only a few. What are the best self-pollinating red dragons?               




FloridaGreenMan

wchoi87

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #114 on: November 05, 2012, 05:10:13 PM »
Hi guys,

My name's William and I'm new to the forums.  I was looking for more knowledge on dragon fruit and came across this thread and decided this was the place to be.  I recently got some dragon fruit cutting from a friend and went ahead and planted the stems.  My friend is Vietnamese and her fruits are the ones with white flesh, not sure of the specific name.  I was wondering if it's true that you need to let the cuttings dry for a week before planting.  I decided to plant 2 stems into one pot and hoping this won't cause a problem.



Please feel free to critique my potting method and any tips are greatly appreciated.  For the soil I decided to use some perlite, organic potting soil, steer manure, and some peat moss.  I'm so interested in the fruit that I recently also purchased the Haley's Comet and Yellow dragon fruit variants.  I was wondering if it would be okay to grow the two in one pot, like how I did my first ones.  Well any help is greatly appreciated and I hope to keep you guys updated with my progress!

MarinFla

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #115 on: November 05, 2012, 09:45:27 PM »
Hi guys,

My name's William and I'm new to the forums.  I was looking for more knowledge on dragon fruit and came across this thread and decided this was the place to be.  I recently got some dragon fruit cutting from a friend and went ahead and planted the stems.  My friend is Vietnamese and her fruits are the ones with white flesh, not sure of the specific name.  I was wondering if it's true that you need to let the cuttings dry for a week before planting.  I decided to plant 2 stems into one pot and hoping this won't cause a problem.



Please feel free to critique my potting method and any tips are greatly appreciated.  For the soil I decided to use some perlite, organic potting soil, steer manure, and some peat moss.  I'm so interested in the fruit that I recently also purchased the Haley's Comet and Yellow dragon fruit variants.  I was wondering if it would be okay to grow the two in one pot, like how I did my first ones.  Well any help is greatly appreciated and I hope to keep you guys updated with my progress!

I am wondering if that pot/set up will be strong and sturdy enough to support your dragon fruit plants once they grow tall and possibly top heavy.

BMc

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #116 on: November 05, 2012, 10:22:22 PM »
Aerial roots will often rip up pine sleepers in short time. hardwood is the go.

wchoi87

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #117 on: November 06, 2012, 02:33:53 AM »
The pole is actually redwood 4x4.  Should I replace it with something else?

MarinFla

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #118 on: November 06, 2012, 06:09:04 AM »
The pole is actually redwood 4x4.  Should I replace it with something else?

The post is perfectly fine...how big and heavy is the pot? how tall is the post and what is at the top of it?
the height vs base is what I was referring to. Will it be a risk for tipping over or is it sturdy when the cactus grow to the top and fill out? The first time I built my potted dragon fruit set up I noticed that it seemed slightly at risk for tipping. My post is 6ft tall and I was worried that with up to 10 -20 pounds of plant growing on it that it might tipping risk. But my pot is light-weight plastic , yours may be bigger and heavier.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2012, 10:34:51 PM by MarinFla »

fyliu

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #119 on: November 06, 2012, 08:58:33 PM »
Kind of cool that this forum shows up so well in searches now.

William, if you don't have a rat problem then 4' is a good height for the top of the pole. It will make it easy to prune the plants each year without cutting yourself and without a ladder. Fruits will hang very close to the ground.

If you're going to add more varieties anytime from now to march is good to take cuttings, but it's better to plant them now and let our winter rains take care of watering for a head start in the root system. Many people grow them in this area.

Fruitguy

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #120 on: November 10, 2012, 11:44:07 PM »
BMc, I grow the green-skinned, pink-purple-flowered Hylocereus stenopterus.  They are mostly self-incompatible however I do get a few fruits that are not of my own creation periodically.  They skin does turn peach-colored when mature (about 2 months), however I have found that the fruit has a nice sweet flavor at 35-40 days.  I have not had a H. megalanthus ripe at the same time to compare re which one is "sweeter". 

Someone was asking about crossing the yellow-skinned H. megalanthus with a red fleshed variety.  They had such a cross available in the markets on the Big Island (Hawaii) in May 2012. Orange-skin, pink-flesh.  Nice tasting fruit.

William, 2 cuttings in a pot is not a problem.  Most commercial operations put 3-4 cuttings per post.  Of course, they have many more pots and they are usually connected together for stability.  Keep in mind that a mature plant can weigh in the neighborhood of 100 kg. 

Dirty Coconuts

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #121 on: December 14, 2012, 01:52:02 PM »
I just found out that my dragon is a Halley's Comet and not a p graffiti as I was first told. Anyone have any opinions or tips about Halley's Comet? Is it self compatible? Prolific fruiter? Tasty?

Thanks

sharon adams

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dragon fruit in pot
« Reply #122 on: December 23, 2012, 12:04:45 PM »

I plan to bury a square concrete block with a 6 ft pole in center poured concrete in block, then covered as dragon fruits do not like
alkaline soil.    I then intend to construct a tube 4 ft high and attach it to the post.   IN the tube will go another tube of burlap and
inside that old decaying leaves and maybe a bit of fertilizer in the form of blood meal, potassium and potash.     A friend of mine only
got his to fruit this way.   One can then add dilute or rotted manure to the top and the dragon fruits just attach themselves happily
but yes they are very heavy and his in 25 gal pots are tipping .    Not good.   Thorny.   Very hard to handle now without getting prickled
and breaking the  plant.   I also need to figure out how to make a top support  later.    Don;t know about flavors yet.  Tried one white
one I have,   very bland.   halleys comet is supposed to be good.

MarinFla

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #123 on: January 01, 2013, 01:02:13 PM »
Ayo marinfla, it's off palmetto pkwy next to intercoastal bridge, should be on a pine tree NW corner before bridge.

I went looking for this wild patch of dragon fruit growing on Palmetto Park Road and could not find it!
Is it on the lot where the Wildflower was??

Dirty Coconuts

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #124 on: January 01, 2013, 08:52:05 PM »
I was in Fairchild this weekend an saw an amazing sight.

A 60-70 Spanish oak tree completely covered by dragon fruit!!! It was unbelieveable. I wish I had a camera.

It is actually outside the gardens on old cutler. On the east side near the trellises.

Pretty neat