Author Topic: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival  (Read 15267 times)

ricshaw

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2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« on: July 17, 2014, 12:59:39 AM »
I hope to be able to make it this year.


fyliu

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #1 on: July 17, 2014, 03:20:56 AM »
Richard, were you there last year? I know you were at Edgar's last year.

lajolla

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #2 on: July 17, 2014, 03:57:24 AM »
how does this work and was the field day worth going?

simon_grow

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #3 on: July 17, 2014, 04:28:46 AM »
Awesome, thanks for the heads up, I'm going to try to make it. Hope to see everyone there!
Simon

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #4 on: July 17, 2014, 12:37:54 PM »
how does this work and was the field day worth going?

You can decide after looking at my video:

http://youtu.be/nuoXmGaVaeI

Quote
Richard, were you there last year?

No, I attended the 2011 and 2012 Saturday Field Days.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2014, 01:00:23 PM by ricshaw »

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2014, 12:44:43 PM »
On Sunday, several Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) growers open their home/farm to visitors.

IMO the Saturday Field Day is the highlight and in the past has included free cuttings of named varieties.

The rest is geared more towards commercial growers.

Dragon Fruit guru Edgar Valdivia lives near me and is one of the growers that opens his home to visitors on Sunday.
I have attended his "tour" the last three years.
« Last Edit: July 17, 2014, 12:51:05 PM by ricshaw »

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2014, 12:58:14 PM »
Matts Landscaping's 2010 YouTube upload showing UC Dragon Fruit field test at Pitahaya Festival.

http://youtu.be/KQs7l5F5Klk

Note: There is NO part 2.

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2014, 06:05:19 PM »
The registration form can be found on the link on the Right:

http://cesandiego.ucanr.edu/

Register early, this event has sold out in the past!

The Festival & Field Day costs $40.00 this year.

The $40.00 helps with expenses, includes lunch, and I am assuming 5 cuttings.

When I attended in 2011 & 2012, I felt that it was worth going to.

Where else are you going to see lots of Dragon Fruit growing, get to taste so many varieties (and choose which varieties YOU like), and get some cuttings of named Dragon Fruit varieties?

fruitlovers

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2014, 08:23:01 PM »
how does this work and was the field day worth going?

You can decide after looking at my video:

Quote
Richard, were you there last year?

No, I attended the 2011 and 2012 Saturday Field Days.
Oh my god! Dragon Heavon!  8)
Oscar

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2014, 08:39:58 PM »
This looks awesome! I'm one of the odd ones who count dragonfruits among my favorite fruits :)
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ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #10 on: August 23, 2014, 11:01:50 PM »
Pitahaya Dragon Fruit Festival 2014

by Edgar Valdivia
http://www.edvaldivia.com/

Hi Everyone, What a success! The University of California Cooperative Extension, under the direction of Ramiro Lobo once again put on a wonderful program.

Friday's thirteen lectures were packed full of practical information covering everything from pest control, to marketing, to the expansion of the pitahaya/dragon fruit plantation, to different locations around California.
At last, the DNA of all the pitahaya/dragon fruit that is growing at the South Coast Field Station has been done. We now realize, something that we had already suspected:  Many of the same plants are being grown with different names.  You will be glad to know that a website will be established by the University showing all the data and activities related the the pitahaya.

The lunch was wonderful and gave everyone an opportunity to visit and exchange ideas. As always there was a fruit tasting and delicious pitahaya/dragon fruit ice cream..

Saturday, we started with a wonderful breakfast and then off to the fields to see the progress and learn more about the plantation. Each year our numbers seem to grow and because of the high attendance we split into three groups - rotating from the field to a powerpoint presentation (regarding the most up to date events with this fruit)  that I gave along with Linda Nickerson.

After a delicious lunch, fruit tasting, and  more delicious ice cream, we lined up for cuttings of the various varieties that are being grown at the Field Station.

I was so pleased with the wonderful job that is being done by the University. Each year just gets better and better. Ramiro and all his team of hard workers deserve a big round of applause and thank you.

I am attaching a link that will show beautiful pictures posted by the University of the different varieties that are being grown there.

By the way, the people attending were from all over, no only the U.S. but foreign countries as well.

Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) link:
http://ucanr.edu/sites/alternativefruits/Alternative_Fruits/Pitahaya/

dmk

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #11 on: August 24, 2014, 09:20:37 AM »
Ric, any videos from this year's fruit festival?

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #12 on: August 24, 2014, 11:33:16 AM »
Ric, any videos from this year's fruit festival?

I took a ton of short video segments...  but need the time to sort through them.

I am off today to Ed Valdivia's open house for more Dragon Fruit activities.

I will share videos in this thread.

simon_grow

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #13 on: August 24, 2014, 12:49:34 PM »
Thanks for all the information, I couldn't make it this year but would love to hear about everyone's top picks this year. Anyone have info on which varieties had the highest brix?

Simon

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #14 on: August 24, 2014, 04:05:57 PM »
Thanks for all the information, I couldn't make it this year but would love to hear about everyone's top picks this year. Anyone have info on which varieties had the highest brix?

Simon

Simon,
I saw another post from ricshaw showing a dragon fruit Variety Evaluation chart from Univ of CA Coop Extension.
http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=228.800      pg 33
Yellow Dragon 21.15 / Colombiana 20.09 were the highest brix, but it appears these published scores were not from yesterday's event.
Warren

fyliu

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #15 on: August 24, 2014, 04:21:01 PM »
I think Armando was new from last year, so maybe it's from last year.

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #16 on: August 24, 2014, 05:33:52 PM »
Thanks for all the information, I couldn't make it this year but would love to hear about everyone's top picks this year. Anyone have info on which varieties had the highest brix?
Simon

Like I said to ClayMango on the Dragon Fruit thread...  Do you want my picks?  Or somebody else?  There was no group taste poll again this year.

Taste depends on the individual and a higher BRIX score is not the final indicator of what tastes the best. There are acidic taste and other tastes that influence the taste preference for individuals. At yesterday's Pitahaya Dragon Fruit Festival, my new CRFG friend Donovan and I had opposite opinions of the new El Grullo variety (originally from Mexico). I thought it was the worst tasting variety we tasted, and Donovan said it was his favorite.  My favorite was the the sweet white-flesh Mexicana variety.

Today Donovan and I continued our Dragon Fruit tasting at Edgar Valdivia's open-house and garden tour.  What a treat! We tasted some of Edgar's new Dragon Fruit varieties.  The big hit was Edgar's Asunta #3, a Condor x epiphyllum x guatemalan pitahaya cross with a a hint of cinnamon taste and a BRIX score of 23!

fyliu

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #17 on: August 24, 2014, 06:09:31 PM »
Wow, asunta #3!

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #18 on: August 24, 2014, 07:29:47 PM »
Today Donovan and I continued our Dragon Fruit tasting at Edgar Valdivia's open-house and garden tour.  What a treat! We tasted some of Edgar's new Dragon Fruit varieties.  The big hit was Edgar's Asunta #3, a Condor x epiphyllum x guatemalan pitahaya cross with a a hint of cinnamon taste and a BRIX score of 23!

Asunta #3 BRIX score

nullzero

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #19 on: August 24, 2014, 07:34:12 PM »
That Asunta #3 looks really good, the epi crossed into it may have introduced some nice new flavors?
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ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #20 on: August 24, 2014, 07:50:19 PM »
That Asunta #3 looks really good, the epi crossed into it may have introduced some nice new flavors?

Yes, we got to taste the fruit from the epiphyllum parent. Although not very good tasting, we could taste where the cinnamon came from.


simon_grow

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #21 on: August 24, 2014, 08:44:29 PM »
Thanks for all the information, I couldn't make it this year but would love to hear about everyone's top picks this year. Anyone have info on which varieties had the highest brix?
Simon

Like I said to ClayMango on the Dragon Fruit thread...  Do you want my picks?  Or somebody else?  There was no group taste poll again this year.

Taste depends on the individual and a higher BRIX score is not the final indicator of what tastes the best. There are acidic taste and other tastes that influence the taste preference for individuals. At yesterday's Pitahaya Dragon Fruit Festival, my new CRFG friend Donovan and I had opposite opinions of the new El Grullo variety (originally from Mexico). I thought it was the worst tasting variety we tasted, and Donovan said it was his favorite.  My favorite was the the sweet white-flesh Mexicana variety.

Today Donovan and I continued our Dragon Fruit tasting at Edgar Valdivia's open-house and garden tour.  What a treat! We tasted some of Edgar's new Dragon Fruit varieties.  The big hit was Edgar's Asunta #3, a Condor x epiphyllum x guatemalan pitahaya cross with a a hint of cinnamon taste and a BRIX score of 23!

Hey ricshaw, what were your favorites at the festival? Also, do you recall if there was a berry or acidic component to the asunta#3? Thanks!
Simon

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #22 on: August 25, 2014, 01:50:34 AM »
University of California South Coast Research & Extension Center Pitahaya Irrigation Research Trial Field.

http://youtu.be/FDTwpVb0nPM

fyliu

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #23 on: August 25, 2014, 02:12:11 AM »
Cool. I'm glad they're doing an improved trial with with the data they got from the original one. The 6ft trellis had hanging branches that don't nearly touch the ground. 5ft or even lower should be much better for managing the plants.

ricshaw

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Re: 2014 Pitahaya (Dragon Fruit) Festival
« Reply #24 on: August 25, 2014, 12:41:23 PM »
The irvine Pitahaya Irrigation Research Trial is one of three (I heard) that the UC is doing in the state.  Another one is in Fillmore, CA.  I met the owner of the land.