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« on: October 31, 2022, 09:08:21 PM »
Thought I would throw in my DFW Texas dragon fruit experiences. Been growing them for 6 years in pots. People ask about taste and I will share what I have experienced but keep in mind your weather may be different and may not ripen like mine. My weather is HOT. 95 at least all summer, this summer reaching 110 on a day or two. More on weather below. I grow mine in pots and have more than one in a given pot. This affects fruiting, more on that below.
Purple Haze: Very sweet, tastes almost exactly like grape soda. Not grapes, grape soda. Flowers and fruits well.
Physical Grafitti: Less sweet than Purple Haze but also grape soda. Flowers and fruits less well.
S8/Sugar Dragon/Voodoo Child (all the same): Very sweet tastes like raspberries. Flowers and fruits the most of any I have, but fruits are smaller in size. Given how much it fruits, worth it.
Yellow dragon (Selenocereus): Very sweet but otherwise bit bland flavor wise, also takes many months for fruit to ripen compared to about 30 days for the others listed here.
Valdivia Rojas: Lightly sweet cherry like taste. Doesn't grow fast, but flowers early, but those flowers are reluctant to set.
Sin Espinas: Lightly sweet cherry like taste. Newer one for me, so far not flowering and setting well.
Lisa: Very sweet, tastes like a combination of raspberries and strawberries. Best way to describe the taste is think of a tarter flavored strawberry, mix raspberry in and that is the flavor. Fantastic. Seems to flower well, can't comment on setting as it is too new.
Viet Giant: White fleshed, so not nearly so sweet, but better than grocery store dragon fruit which are not sweet at all. So very lightly sweet otherwise bland white flavor. Flowers well.
Dark Star: Getting my first fruit in the next day or so. But flowers a lot, but does not want to set fruit. This is my first in 6 years.
Here are the ones I have not been able to get to fruit although they all flowered. I strongly suspect have more than one dragon in the pot is the cause but can't be sure.
Halley's Comet: Flowers enough, never set fruit in 6 years.
American Beauty: Flowers some, never set fruit in 6 years.
Weather, watering, flowering and fruiting: I keep my DF in my garage over winter due to freezing, I minimally water leaving them dry. In the spring I water a fair amount keeping the soil constantly moist (but not soaked!). This induces a lot of flowering. If I keep them dryer through the summer they will not flower, flower less, or flower and not set fruit. They need moist soil to flower
Sun: We have brutally hot sun here and I thought it was causing yellowing in S8, Dark Star, Yellow, Viet Giant. So I used shade cloth this summer. It was not the sun, it was the heat. We were 100 degrees all summer reaching as high as 110 for a day or two. This caused the yellowing, the shade cloth did not help. Once it cooled they greened back up. I find that 100 degrees is not great for optimum flowering and fruit set. I got fruit in the spring and fall as temps lowered, nothing set in the summer heat. 90's they will set fruit in, gets to 100 and they stop setting but may flower. You let them dry out they won't fruit for sure but will survive happily.
Mentioned the potting issue above. I believe crowding is keeping the Hally's Comet and American Beauty from flowering. Pollination is not an issue, I have pollen frozen and know the genetics, do it by hand for all of them. These two would not fruit. The others seem to fruit less in a crowded pot, but will still fruit. So I can have 3 dragons in one pot and get say 3 fruit, maybe one from each. Quite likely if I had each in their own pot I would get 3 fruit from one vine each. I know, re-pot. That hasn't been my strategy, I wanted to taste them first, then cull. Halley's Comet and American Beauty have been culled. Waiting on Dark Star taste to decide on that one, though that one is less crowded, but has been hard to get to set. If it tastes meh I will cull it, really good, keep it. Physical Grafitti I am going to cull since it is just a less sweet Purple Haze (they came from the same cross). Purple Haze flowers more, tastes better. Valdivia Roja flowers well but does not set well BUT it is very good in 100 degrees, but a slow slow grower. Keeping for now, see if I can get a sweeter fruit, it is good, not great. Sin Espinas, keeping for now, see if I can get sweeter, if not, going to cull it. Some do better in 100 degrees than others. Some that can take the heat: Valdivia Rojas, Sin Espinas, Lisa, and a little less is purple haze. Things that yellow in 100 degree heat (but do not die, they green back up in the fall): Yellow, Physical Graffiti, Viet Giant, Dark Star, Halley's Comet. These plant grow ideally at 85 degrees, can handle 95 degrees, doesn't like 100+. But note there are differences as noted. But even ones that don't yellow in 100 degrees don't seem to want to set fruit for me. Here in Texas they do best in the spring and late sumer/fall when the temps are more like....85 degrees.
I strongly recommend any new Dragon Fruiters look up the genetics and growing properties done by I think U. of Cal. Genetics indicate a lot of what people are selling are the same thing under different names, or very closely related. If starting get stuff that has good ratings and is more distantly related. A lot of things they used to think were self fertile were not, like Purple Haze, Physical Grafitti and others. Recent research as proven otherwise. And genetics again folks, if you are buying the same self infertile plant that has just been given different names, you are not going to get fruit, because it is the same plant. Closely related plants like Purple Haze, Physical Grafitti, Delight, and Halley's Comet are very closely related and may not cross pollinate (don't in my experience). American Beauty and Bien Hoa Red, same plant different names. S8/Sugar Dragon/ Voodoo Child likely the same plant, although some claim slight differences in SD/VC, but probably not based on their history. Lisa, Rosa, Oregona, and Cebra are closely related, unclear if they will cross. Bien Hoa White, Viet Giant, Seoul Kitichen and Mexicana, all closely related. Yellow (Selenocereus) and Columbiana, same plant. Valivia Rojas and El Grullo, closely related. Given the genetic grouping if you want to maximize your chances of cross pollination, keep in mind these groupings. These closely related ones may cross pollinate, but then again may not.
Note this is my growing experience in Texas DFW area. That is why I am posting this. If you live in N. Cal or Fl. your growing experience may differ due to lower temps etc. The ones that are sweet for me here are not guaranteed to be sweet in N. Cal with milder temps (but chances are they will be similar). Also note this is all in pots, too cold for in the ground here, so in ground growth quite likely results in more fruit setting due to root space. Hope all this helps.
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