Saw that video a while back and the funny thing is, since then, Ive figured out that if you really want to maximize production on a large scale like that, the individual 'canopied' plants is not the ideal way to grow dragon fruit. On very large scale, they should be grown like grapes are, long continuous rows on trellis like supports, with the rows running North to South, not East to West or some other random direction. These plants need direct sunlight to produce fruit and the canopy shape means that for about 8 months of the year, one side is in perpetual shade and the other is in sun all year. As the summer approaches, and the sun gets higher, it hits more of the plant, but as winter gets near, and the sun lowers, a good portion of the plant loses any direct sun, which lowers fruit production in those areas. If you watch the video, as the camera pans across the orchard, almost every plant has fruit or flowers on the same parts of the plants.
Now, for us home growers, this is mostly a moot point, unless you have a big yard and you plan on dedicating a lot of space to this fruit, but for larger scale growers, its something to consider.

 This is a quote I pulled off another dragon fruit board, for anyone who'd be interested in getting some real 'hands on' information about growing dragon fruit in both the home and the farm.
"I want to let you know that our wonderful annual Pitahaya/Dragon Fruit Festival hosted by the University will be held in August. The 19th of August there will be lectures taking place in Escondido,CA , the meeting on the 20th  will be held at the Southcoast Field Station in Irvine-the program will include field trips, fruit tasting etc . More information will be posted by Ramiro Lobo at a later date.

SAVE THESE DATES!  AUGUST 19th & AUGUST 20th"
This is all the info ive seen posted so far. as I get more I will try to update you. Been to one of these before, and if you have more than a casual interest in these plants, it's worth going at least once to get some real insight on how things are done on a more "professional" level. Plus theres fruit tastings and people hand out and swap cuttings.

Here are my pollinating tools:



The first, and most important, is the collector. Its just a cheap scoop, like you would use for ice or rice (etc) that Ive cut down a little to match the shape of the inside of the average flower, although ive used many other things in the past. A small, clear or darkly colored plate, like a tea cup plate, works well too and is a good size. I like glass or dark colors because it helps to see the pollen on the surface once you have it. I just stick my collector into the flower, under all the anthers but inside the pedals, as far as I can get without harming the flower, and literally just shake or tap on the flower. As long as you get to the flower before the bees and bugs strip it clean, the pollen will sprinkle right off and onto your collector, and you'll have pure pollen to use, without any extra flower parts to sort out. On my self fertile plants, like the S-8, when I collect the pollen I also take hold of the female stamen and dip it down into the pollen Ive collected, just to make sure theres good pollen contact. You wont hurt the flower or fruit production by doing this, but avoid touching the pollen itself, as the oil on your fingers can make it unviable.
p.s. as a side note to this, if you have more than one species of plant, and have time, I recommend collecting all the pollen from one type first, hold off on the stamen, then use what you've collected to fertilize your other species(s), set aside that pollen, then go back and collect the pollen from species B, fertilize species A, and then deal with that pollen. Cross pollinating ALWAYS produces stronger fruit, so even if you have self fertile fruit, its a good idea to cross pollinate to get better results.
Next item on the table is my pollen dryer, which is basically a miniature food dehydrator. It allows me to put the pollen in trays, which have small, micron level mesh on them, and pass air over it for a few hours before storage. You can actually do this with a real dehydrator, if you can get the fine screen to place over a tray, but DO NOT use heat. Just regular air is fine. I have some Silica Gel in one try of my dehydrator to remove moisture more efficiently, since its a closed box.
The rest is just fancy versions of things you can use from around the house. A plate to dump the pollen in to do final inspection, so you can check to make sure theres no stowaway plant parts or ants (damn you pollen covered ants!!), a scoop (or spoon) to manipulate the pollen and some small tubes for storage. I'm a really big fan of the small plastic tubes I found on Ebay, they are called mini (or small) centrifuge tubes, and are cheap, sturdy and reusable. Just fill em up and pop the top shut. Then into the freezer it goes. Colder the better.
Now, for your particular situation, if youre going to have to travel to get your pollen, Id suggest using the plate to collect the pollen, but bring along a Ziploc bag large enough to fit the entire plate inside. Gather your pollen then just seal the whole thing up in the bag, that way you don't have to worry about it blowing away or getting contaminated once you have it.
Oh, and the paintbrush. As I said before, its really hard to hurt the flowers if youre even the slightest bit careful, but sometimes there are flowers that you just cant get at. That's when I break out the pollen brush, use the wooden end to expose the stamen and then brush on a little pollen with the fluffy end. Its embarrassing to admit, but sometimes even I have to cheat.

Sorry if this photo is a bit primitive, IM not one of those photoshop kinda guys. If you want to support those shoots, easiest thing you can do is get a few sturdy 'Eye' bolts and screw them into the eve and run a loose loop of THICK burlap rope between them to act as a sling. You could also use wire rope, if your handy with hardware, for strength, but you'll need to make sure to sheath it in some sort of hose or tube, both for heat and thin wire cutting into the plants.
Or, if you want to go a little more advanced, you can add a rose trellis on that side, against the wall, to give you something to tie to. Either way, youre going to want your new shoots brought more out into the sunlight.

One of the reasons Edgar doesn't recommend freezing pollen is his collection method, which is to cut out the anthers of the flowers as he goes along, mix them in a jar and brush pollinate out of the mixture. He's got ALOT of work to do to maintain his plants so he uses this method to speed things up. And if you try and freeze the pollen with the various plant parts it makes a bit of a mess when you try and thaw it for use. When I collect my pollen, its JUST the pollen. I shake it loose from the flowers and harvest it that way. Then I air dry it out a bit to minimize the damage caused by ice crystals forming, then into the freezer it goes. Its the drying part that makes freezing much more successful.



This is one nights collection, from about a dozen S-8 flowers, after I did my rounds pollinating the other species that happened to be in bloom that night.

My physical graffiti are just starting to get the first buds of the season, but my location and sun exposure makes my flowering cycle non-typical for similar plants.
As for my planting methods, in the first 2 pics, all are in the ground except for the G-2, which is in a container. Given the chance to start over, I would have container grown them all, but these were some of my first plants. In ground hasn't been too bad, as gophers are uncommon here and the neighborhood has a nighttime patrol of many many (MANY) cats, so they don't last long when they do show up.
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Also, I wanted to mention that UC Irvine has just announced the scheduling for its annual pitahaya festival and site tour. Its a good day out for anyone who wants to take their growing a little more seriously. Ill see if I can find some more specifics to pass along.

This is what my garden looked like at the beginning of the season:


This is S-8 on the left, Haley's Comet on the right



G-2 Guatemalan variety on the right, more S-8 to the left

 

The jungle of random dragon fruit



And from the other end


And this is hopefully what your S-8 cutting looks like, dark green with the rosy thorns.

This is what the branch of the Megalanthus should look like. Inverted scalloping on the branches, thinner stalks and woody, almost rose-like thorns. What you have almost looks like Physical Graffiti or another pink variety. BTW, just as a side note, Ive all but given up on growing Megalanthus at my house. Its a fussy plant, disease prone (at least here) and doesn't seem to want to flower for me. And while ive found the fruit to be very sweet, I wouldn't call it flavorful. Like comparing sugar water to lemonade. I prefer to the fruit to have more texture to the flavor, and theres a wide range of that available. Besides, I'm also not really sold on the visual aspect of Megallanthus either; something about the translucent meat of the fruit weirds me out a bit.
If you were in the area Id gladly give you some cuttings for free, as I'm cutting out what I have left of the yellows anyways. Perhaps I can even ship you some if you'd like. Send me a personal message here on the board and we can discuss it, if you're interested.

Quote from: khoi1976 on May 26, 2016, 05:47:45 PM

Here I go again . Ok I was able to cross pollenate my DF with fresh pollen from another varieties. That bloom the same night . After a few day , I though it was going to set fruit . Looking at it today I went to give a light squeeze and it felt mushy . Seem light it about to fall of the DF plant . I'm about to pull the hold plant out and start over with well know self pollenate varieties or should I just leave it ?

I wasted almost four years growing purple haze and physical graffiti thinking it will set fruit on its own(came from a very reputable source).  I ripped the darn thing out last year. The common Vietnamese white dragon will NOT flower(at least mine) the same time as those colorful flesh ones for me to pollinate.

I believe Physical Graffiti should be self-fertile, but not self pollinating (meaning you have to collect and apply the pollen yourself). The plant I have that's supposed to be PG sets its own fruit, but I cross pollinate everything when pollen is available, just to be sure. Early bloomers like S-8 should be in every growers garden to provide a good pollen source, even if you don't plan on growing a large plant of that type. Just plant it along side another and keep it trimmed down enough to supply pollen for the plants you are focusing on. Also, proper pollen collection and storage can help inbetween flushes of flowers so you don't have to panic is they get out of sync mid season. Just air dry out some pollen overnight (just the pollen, remove all other plant parts, bugs, etc) and store it in the freezer in as small of a container as you can and it will keep for weeks if it is properly prepared.
And if anyone is still looking for plants, I do still have S-8 cuttings for people in the area. I don't ship them much anymore as I got in trouble with the post office once for shipping live plant materials out of California without a permit

Get yourself a self-fertile variety to use as a pollinator, that way you are covered both ways. I use the S-8 as my universal pollen source on my plants. it cross pollinates with everything

Here are some pics of how I have my plants growing. There are 2 main areas, the shorter plants and the tall trellis. The short plants are basic 4x4 by 8ft redwood posts buried 30 inches down and wrapped in burlap. The clinging roots don't like sticking to treated wood or redwood, so if you wrap the posts in burlap fabric (potato sack material, available by the roll at most hardware stores), it gives the air roots something to weave into and hold on. Also, if possible, you should coat the buried section in a waterproofer, like roofing tar or something thick and tough before you bury them, to help prevent any remaining rot chance. The rest of it is just a series of 3ft lumber pieces I built to make a very open ladder-like trellis. I was able to get a good deal on a large quantity of Trex composite material pieces I used for my creations, but anything weather-resistant will work. the basic idea is to support the weight of the branches so the stress of them hanging down doesn't pull them out of their joints at the main plant. Any shape will work, and you can build them to suit your location's needs.
The second area is just a much larger version of the first, except it is mostly free-standing, with cross supports to my house. This is my southern facing area, which is fairly limited in size, so I had to go with tall, narrow planting rather than wide, rounded canopies. The main problem I have with this arrangement is that most of the plants there receive almost no direct sunlight for 3 months of the year due to it being blocked out by my neighbor's house. Later in the season, when the sun gets higher, I tend to get my first fruit higher in the plants, so harvesting off a ladder is necessary. This is by no means an ideal way to grow plants, but it was the best I could do with the situation at hand.
I hope this helps to give you some ideas for your own situation.

One thing about white fruit varieties. It does seem that the whited the flesh, the sweeter the fruit tends to be. Most of the chain store bought fruit are imported from overseas and are not fully ripe when picked. Also, they are from older farms, which tend to grow fruit on the older plants, some of which predate the recent work done improving the quality of the product. If a white variety has a 'milky' or somewhat translucent flesh, odds are its going to be lower in sugar. If the fruit looks more like black dots on white paper, its going to be a crisper, sweeter taste.

This is an example of what I mean.

I have PG and Haley's Comet growing at my house, and I'm familiar with their shape. Its a 'traditional' pink variety, and they all share the same visual appearance. There might be others that are close as well, such as "Delight", which bears pink fruit, but Ive never seen that plant in the flesh. As for your other plant, the one with the flower, Its possible that it is one of the "parent species" of the S-8, as ive heard that name before. When you crossbreed, you get a mostly random set of the characteristics of both plants, which is why improving the fruit is so difficult; You never know if your experimental plants are going to be better, worse or sideways on the likeability scale. Plus it can take up to 2 years to even get a result to test.
However, after a while, you do start to be able to notice subtle differences in plants. The color of the skin, curvature of what I refer to as the 'scalloping' on the branch edges, the number of thorns and their appearance, even an occasional subtle twist in the development of the branches (which seems to be unique to some pink varieties). For example, I have a variety that I believe is a seed start that looks very similar to S-8, but has slightly shorter scalloping and very pronounced thorns, and if you weren't paying too much attention you'd think they were the same plant. But it fruited for the first time last year and produced a rounder, redder fruit than the S-8. It also has larger flower buds and blooms. I should be able to get more definitive answers this year from a full season, but its just another example of the wide range of plants we're dealing with, and how keeping up on naming can help keeping them straight.