Dragon Fruit varieties growth habits?

[bradflorida]

Thanks in part to the generosity of forum members, I have gathered several cuttings that I plan on planting along two trellises.  With the exception of Vietnam White and Natural Mystic, these varieties were chosen because they were top  rated by taste tests or by reviewers who were experienced with dragon fruit varieties. 

I'm looking for advice on the growth habits (slow vs vigorous) of the following varieties, so that I can decide which varieties get placed together for the best balance of growth on each trellis. 

All I have heard is that Physical Graffiti is more aggressive in growth. 

1. Condor
2. Cebra/Lisa/Rosa
3. American Beauty/Bien Hoa Red
4. Physical Graffiti
5. Vietnam White x 2 cuttings (one at each trellis, for cross pollination and for pollen availability)
6. Natural Mystic  (chosen because of its high productivity)
7. Delight

Thanks.

Brad

[ricshaw]

It has been my (limited) experience that Lisa is slower in growth.

[bradflorida]

Thanks Ric!

[starling1]

Condor is pretty fast.

[bradflorida]

Thanks Starling!

By the way, I have seen a few local pictures of people growing dragon fruit and I'm seeing that more often than not, they are being planted in large containers at the bases of trellises. 

What are the advantages to planting them in a container vs in ground?  Is it to protect the bases of the cuttings from being knocked out of place mistakenly?  Is it to control the growth to a specific area so that it does not end up spreading out over the ground?  Is it to provide better quality soil than our sandy native soil?

Brad

[bangkok]

Thanks Starling!

By the way, I have seen a few local pictures of people growing dragon fruit and I'm seeing that more often than not, they are being planted in large containers at the bases of trellises. 

What are the advantages to planting them in a container vs in ground?  Is it to protect the bases of the cuttings from being knocked out of place mistakenly?  Is it to control the growth to a specific area so that it does not end up spreading out over the ground?  Is it to provide better quality soil than our sandy native soil?

Brad

I also read that we should grow them in a pot half full of soil but my neighbour told me that if i grow them in full soil i get much more fruit. Farmers here also grow them in full soil.

And do we have to grow them to about 2 metre before they start hanging? Is that for all dragonfruit variety's the same?

[ricshaw]

What are the advantages to planting them in a container vs in ground?  Is it to protect the bases of the cuttings from being knocked out of place mistakenly?  Is it to control the growth to a specific area so that it does not end up spreading out over the ground?  Is it to provide better quality soil than our sandy native soil?
Brad

The advantage to planting in a container depends.  Gophers and/or bad soil are two reasons.  At the UC research trials, they plant Dragon Fruit in the ground.

I made the mistake of burying the containers half way in the soil.  A nearby tree's roots found the pot.

[ClayMango]

What's going on with all this shade cloth buisness? Why do we need to grow the plants in partial shade? I thought full sun was better for the fruit?

[ricshaw]

What's going on with all this shade cloth buisness? Why do we need to grow the plants in partial shade? I thought full sun was better for the fruit?

One of the reason they covered the Dragon Fruit plants at the UC Irvine first test trial was to protect the fruit from birds.

[bangkok]

What are the advantages to planting them in a container vs in ground?  Is it to protect the bases of the cuttings from being knocked out of place mistakenly?  Is it to control the growth to a specific area so that it does not end up spreading out over the ground?  Is it to provide better quality soil than our sandy native soil?
Brad

The advantage to planting in a container depends.  Gophers and/or bad soil are two reasons.  At the UC research trials, they plant Dragon Fruit in the ground.

I made the mistake of burying the containers half way in the soil.  A nearby tree's roots found the pot.

We don't have gophers here and if we did they would end up on a dinnerplate . There are many websites who give growing info for specific locations. The problem is that growers (like me) think the info is general info for the plant they are growing. I never thought about location-related problems.

[ricshaw]

The advantage to planting in a container depends.  Gophers and/or bad soil are two reasons.  At the UC research trials, they plant Dragon Fruit in the ground.

I should have added that I have never heard that people planted DF in containers to protect the bases of the cuttings from being knocked out of place mistakenly or to control the growth to a specific area so that it does not end up spreading out over the ground

[Rtreid]

Thanks in part to the generosity of forum members, I have gathered several cuttings that I plan on planting along two trellises.  With the exception of Vietnam White and Natural Mystic, these varieties were chosen because they were top  rated by taste tests or by reviewers who were experienced with dragon fruit varieties. 

I'm looking for advice on the growth habits (slow vs vigorous) of the following varieties, so that I can decide which varieties get placed together for the best balance of growth on each trellis. 

All I have heard is that Physical Graffiti is more aggressive in growth. 

1. Condor
2. Cebra/Lisa/Rosa
3. American Beauty/Bien Hoa Red
4. Physical Graffiti
5. Vietnam White x 2 cuttings (one at each trellis, for cross pollination and for pollen availability)
6. Natural Mystic  (chosen because of its high productivity)
7. Delight

Thanks.

Brad

Brad,

In my location, this has been my experience with those cultivars

1. Condor- Roots quickly and is a very rapid grower
2. Cebra/Lisa/Rosa - these take a while to root, but once they get established they grow quite quickly (Cebra seems to like to put out a lot of growth from the base of the plant and is harder to train)
3. American Beauty/Bien Hoa Red - strong growers and hardy.  Snails really seem to like these two and cause a lot of damage to the new growth.
4. Physical Graffiti - for me this is the slowest grower in the bunch.
5. Vietnam White x 2 cuttings (one at each trellis, for cross pollination and for pollen availability) - grows like a weed, I have a hard time keeping it under control.
6. Natural Mystic  (chosen because of its high productivity) - average vigor.
7. Delight- Also a very vigorous plant, maybe a bit more so than AB/BHR

That said, Remember I am in CA, and all of these will probably grow much faster for you in FL than they do for me.

Richard

[bradflorida]

Thanks Richard, I appreciate the info.   This will help me to balance out the varieties that I plant on each trellis.

Brad