Author Topic: Dragon Fruit thread.  (Read 939893 times)

SteveP540

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #25 on: February 09, 2012, 11:19:11 AM »
Ayo marinfla, it's off palmetto pkwy next to intercoastal bridge, should be on a pine tree NW corner before bridge.

MarinFla

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #26 on: March 07, 2012, 01:23:37 AM »
I am very amazed at just how fast these plants grow! Below are the pictures comparing  January to March and the growth in just 2 months!


January 2012



March 2012.





« Last Edit: March 07, 2012, 08:09:52 PM by MarinFla »

adiel

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #27 on: March 07, 2012, 02:36:51 PM »
Hey I like the idea of this thread! Below is a picture of my progress of growing dragon fruit so far. My brother gave me a tip that there was this rogue dragon fruit vine growing in this public park in Boca Raton FL, so equipped with gloves a trash bag and some hand clippers we went guerrilla and got some cuttings (the first picture) this was back in June of 2011. Next, I built a crazy trellis out of 4x4's 2x4's and pieced it together with dry wall screws. Pretty rugged job as I did it all without a level and tape measure just screwed it all together and buried the 4x4's about 1.5 ft deep. The cuttings were so easy to root just let them dry out for a day and stuck one cutting on each flat side of the base of the 4x4. Also I bought some long zip-ties from home depot and as the cuttings grew larger I would zip tie them to the trellis to promote the roots to latch onto the trellis and after awhile I would cut off the zip-ties. The second picture is probably 5 months after planting and the final picture was taken in mid january of 2012. I can't believe how easy it is to grow dragon fruit and it literally just grows and I never water it a perk of it being a cactus I guess. Really hoping it fruits this year, excited to see which type of dragon fruit this is...







That is a really cool setup.
Adiel

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dragon fruit/pitaya varietals
« Reply #28 on: March 19, 2012, 04:07:13 PM »
Pine Island's site has a bunch of named types, but their information is a little too booster-ish to be totally trustworthy. Other googling, was inconclusive.

Dragon people, what are your top 5 varietals (by taste)?
« Last Edit: March 20, 2012, 12:03:12 PM by Tim »

Patrick

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Re: dragon fruit/pitaya varietals
« Reply #29 on: March 19, 2012, 04:17:08 PM »
I like American Beauty and Natural Mystic, the white varieties seem to taste like aloe dipped in sugar...

nullzero

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Re: dragon fruit/pitaya varietals
« Reply #30 on: March 19, 2012, 04:34:35 PM »
I talked to Edgar Valdivia briefly at green scene about Dragon Fruit and good varieties. I told him I was growing Physical Graffiti and Purple Haze. Both he said had excellent taste and were great varieties, seemed to have good praise for both those varieties.

I forgot to ask him what his favorite DF variety was, but he told me Purple Haze and Physical Graffiti ranked high in the CRFG taste tests.

Was going to say this thread could just be rolled into the Dragon Fruit thread. We need more talk about varieties, taste, and pictures under that thread.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2012, 04:36:47 PM by nullzero »
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happyisland

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Re: dragon fruit/pitaya varietals
« Reply #31 on: March 19, 2012, 04:53:47 PM »
Cool - thanks for the varietal recommendations, guys! I needed about four for a project I'm going to do at a friend's house.

Another question: should I just get them from Pine Island, or is there someone else in this community who would be even more deserving of the business?




simon_grow

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Re: dragon fruit/pitaya varietals
« Reply #32 on: March 19, 2012, 05:38:01 PM »
I went to the dragonfruit festival several years ago and American Beauty and Halley's Comet were two of the favorites.  I have personally tasted many named and unnamed varieties and my favorites are American Beauty, Yellow DF, Halley's comet and Simon's Red.  Simon's Red is just an unnamed variety I got from my wife's parents.  I wanted to give it a name so that it can be tracked for future reference.  Yellow DF is small but extremely sweet, almost too sweet but its still  very good.  It's so sweet that it tastes almost syrupy sweet and if you don't like super sweet, you may not like it as much. 

American Beauty, Halley's Comet and Simon's Red are all about the same in terms of sweetness and flavor.  Halley's Comet is the largest grower in my yard followed by American Beauty(very round and symetrical) and Simon's Red is the smallest being just smaller than American Beauty.  Productions wise, Simon's Red produces earliest and the most fruit while Halley's Comet takes a while to fruit and has much fewer fruit.  American Beauty is intermediate. 

From my experiences, the sweetness and flavor depends a lot on when the fruit was harvested and how and where it was grown.  It seems the longer you keep it on the vine after turning red, the sweeter it is but if you leave it too long, the inside becomes mushy.  I like to leave mine on the vine for 1-2 weeks after the fruit turns almost completely red to get the highest sugar content and still have the fruit kind of firm.  If the weather is hot and sunny, I pick them about 5-7 days after turning completely red on the outside.  If its overcast and cold, I let it sit on the vine about 2 weeks. 

If anyone would like a free cutting of Simon's Red, I have a couple available for local pick up but you have to give a description of the fruit if and when it produces for you.

Simon

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Re: dragon fruit/pitaya varietals
« Reply #33 on: March 19, 2012, 09:42:09 PM »
Thanks Simon - good info. I'm going to call Pine Island tomorrow and place an order!

Fruitguy

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Re: dragon fruit/pitaya varietals
« Reply #34 on: March 19, 2012, 10:04:53 PM »
A general rule of thumb is to harvest dragonfruit 35 days after pollination.  Naturally this will vary by a few depending on what variety you are growing, time of year (season), and climate.  Another general rule of thumb method to tell when dragonfruit are ripe is when the scales start to lose their green color.  You can also increase the size of the fruit by cross-pollinating with different varieties.  This will take some trial and error to determine which ones result in the largest increase. 

Ethan

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Re: dragon fruit/pitaya varietals
« Reply #35 on: March 20, 2012, 01:16:06 AM »
Ramiro Lobo gave a speech at the Festival of Fruits a few years ago, and brought tons of DF from the field station in San Diego.  Luckily for me, the weekend (or two) before was the DF festival so there were only about 8 of us attending his lecture.  This made for boxes of fruits for everyone, an awesome experience.  To me the darker magenta fleshed fruits (more H. polyrhizus?) tasted the best and surprisingly there was one white DF that was good, had some citrus notes. 

-Ethan

Fruitguy

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #36 on: March 20, 2012, 11:59:03 PM »
Ramiro Lobo gave a speech at the Festival of Fruits a few years ago, and brought tons of DF from the field station in San Diego.  Luckily for me, the weekend (or two) before was the DF festival so there were only about 8 of us attending his lecture.  This made for boxes of fruits for everyone, an awesome experience.  To me the darker magenta fleshed fruits (more H. polyrhizus?) tasted the best and surprisingly there was one white DF that was good, had some citrus notes. 

-Ethan

Your question mark raises an interesting subject - how does one distinguish between the different species?  If any feels they have a good source of information on this topic, please share!  Based on what I have seen communicated, most people tend to call the white-fleshed fruit H. undatus, and the red- or magenta-fleshed fruits anything from H. polyrhizus to H. guatamalensis to H. costaricensis to H. triangularis, and possibly one or two other names.  Surely there must be another "authority" to distinguish between the species.  Also, has anyone even seen the flesh color of fruit being a distinguishing characteristic to divide species?  I can't think of one at the moment, although admittedly it is getting on the late side here on the east coast of the U.S. and it's probably past the time I should be going to sleep.  Nonetheless, I will share a source that I found, not to suggest that it is definitive by any stretch of the imagination, and this is a book titled "The Cactaceae Family" by Edward F. Anderson. published in 2001.  This book breaks down the Hylocereus genus into 18 species:

H. calcaratus
H. costaricensis
H. escuintlensis
H. estebanesis
H. guatamalensis
H. lemairei
H. microcladus
H. minutiflorus
H. monacanthus
H. ocamponis
H. peruvianus
H. polyrhizus
H. purpusii
H. scandens
H. stenopterus
H. triangularis
H. trigonis
H. undatus

None of the descriptions mention fruit flesh color.  Many of the differences have to do with the margins of the tubercles and the number of spines on the areoles.  For several of the species listed above, the book concedes that not much is known about them.

Ethan

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #37 on: March 21, 2012, 12:47:00 AM »
To make it more difficult, did all of Selenicereus get lumped in w/Hylocereus or just S. megalanthus?

-Ethan

MarinFla

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #38 on: March 26, 2012, 09:15:21 PM »
I am off on Mondays and decided to go for a sightseeing tour to check out the dragon fruit growing wild on Palmetto by the inter-coastal bridge on the way to see my daughter. It was a road trip gone wrong. Took the scenic route up A1A  along the beach.... Big mistake....Some lady pulls out of the Boca Resort's Beach Club and T-Bones me  :'(  I never did get to see the wild dragon fruit, only my pretty baby all smashed up driving off on a flat bed!
Never thought the love of seeing tropical fruit could be dangerous LOL Maybe I should be driving a tank or a tractor!
« Last Edit: March 26, 2012, 09:17:14 PM by MarinFla »

nullzero

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #39 on: March 26, 2012, 09:18:06 PM »
I am off on Mondays and decided to go for a sightseeing tour to check out the dragon fruit growing wild on Palmetto by the inter-coastal bridge on the way to see my daughter. It was a road trip gone wrong. Took the scenic route up A1A  along the beach.... Big mistake....Some lady pulls out of the Boca Resort's Beach Club and T-Bones me  :'(  I never did get to see the wild dragon fruit, only my pretty baby all smashed up driving off on a flat bed!
Never thought the love of seeing tropical fruit could be dangerous LOL Maybe I should be driving a tank or a tractor!

Sorry to hear, I hope you are doing ok. It sucks being in a road accident :(.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

Tim

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #40 on: March 26, 2012, 09:26:08 PM »
Cars are replaceable... I too hope you're ok, not too much damage.  Did you tell the other person to call Harry?
Tim

MarinFla

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #41 on: March 26, 2012, 10:20:28 PM »
Cars are replaceable... I too hope you're ok, not too much damage.  Did you tell the other person to call Harry?

LOL I think she needs him! The police did give her a ticket. I am doing fine thank God, no serious injury just a little sore and mostly bummed that my car is wrecked. The car is made of fiberglass so it got fairly trashed. The whole event was surreal. Someday I will make it by to see the wild dragon fruit.

RodneyS

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #42 on: March 26, 2012, 10:23:29 PM »
I obtained cuttings of Phoenix Red dragonfruit from a friend.  Does anyone have info on this cultivar.  It's already pushing new growth. 

Besides Phoenix Red, I have-

Voodoo Child
Purple Haze
Physical Graffiti
Giant Vietnamese
Yellow
Thai Red
American Beauty

The Giant Vietnamese was the only one that has fruited so far.  It bore 2 fruits last year.  It's white flesh but the taste was very nice.  Subtley sweet.

nullzero

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #43 on: March 26, 2012, 10:53:31 PM »
I obtained cuttings of Phoenix Red dragonfruit from a friend.  Does anyone have info on this cultivar.  It's already pushing new growth. 

Besides Phoenix Red, I have-

Voodoo Child
Purple Haze
Physical Graffiti
Giant Vietnamese
Yellow
Thai Red
American Beauty

The Giant Vietnamese was the only one that has fruited so far.  It bore 2 fruits last year.  It's white flesh but the taste was very nice.  Subtley sweet.

Rodney,

Would love to see some pictures of all the dragon fruits you are growing. I heard Phoenix Red was very good DF.
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

MarinFla

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #44 on: March 26, 2012, 10:57:30 PM »
I obtained cuttings of Phoenix Red dragonfruit from a friend.  Does anyone have info on this cultivar.  It's already pushing new growth. 

Besides Phoenix Red, I have-

Voodoo Child
Purple Haze
Physical Graffiti
Giant Vietnamese
Yellow
Thai Red
American Beauty

The Giant Vietnamese was the only one that has fruited so far.  It bore 2 fruits last year.  It's white flesh but the taste was very nice.  Subtley sweet.

Rodney,

Would love to see some pictures of all the dragon fruits you are growing. I heard Phoenix Red was very good DF.
I would love to see pictures too.
How do you tell which variety the fruit is growing (Of course I am assuming they are growing together)

RodneyS

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #45 on: March 26, 2012, 11:05:09 PM »
I keep them in separate pots with a Redwood picket fence board as the trellis.  They do fine in containers and leaves yard space for other fruits

Fruitguy

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #46 on: March 27, 2012, 07:59:19 AM »
How do you tell which variety the fruit is growing (Of course I am assuming they are growing together)

A few ways to distinguish w/o the fruit are:
(1) The average number of spines on the areoles.  Have seen them range between 0-7.
(2) The appearance of the ridges between the areoles. Some are flat, others more wavy.
(3) Some stems are glaucous, or have a gray/blue appearance.

sultry_jasmine_nights

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #47 on: March 27, 2012, 10:17:24 AM »
I too have a hard time telling them apart without the tags or I just write on the stems with sharpie but have to keep going over it because it fades in the sun. I can't have tags that go into the ground or pots because the chickens favorite thing to do is pull out those tags!
 Some like Costa Rican Sunset, I can tell which it is because the spines are very thick. Some varieties of dragonfruit are more wavy and some straighter. Some have slimmer stems and some are thicker. I guess you get just used to how they look after awhile then you can tell lol.
Growing edible and ornamental tropicals and subtropicals and many night bloomers on 4 acres in zone 9a. Learning to live a more self sustainable lifestyle with chickens and other livestock.

JoeP450

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #48 on: March 27, 2012, 12:17:39 PM »
Oh Marin I am sorry to hear about the accident!

I agree telling the difference between cultivars is difficult and I honestly have no clue where to start. Speaking of ID-ing DF cultivars my brother recently brought home some cuttings from a friends neighbor without any info about the DF. I have provided pics of the new cuttings next to the currently growing cuttings we gathered from the wild DF in Boca Raton. The noticeable difference is that the new cuttings are dark green, have 7 spines, and are thicker. Any help with cultivar ID is much appreciated.

New cutting on left in dark green.


Seven spines on new cutting.


Only four spines on wild boca raton find.


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Fruitzilla

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Re: Dragon Fruit thread.
« Reply #49 on: March 27, 2012, 09:20:27 PM »
Yellow Dragon Fruit --

I have not had the opportunity to taste a yellow dragon fruit yet.
Just curious how those who have would rate them?