Author Topic: 'Ecuador Palora' Dragonfruit, Clone Versus Seedling  (Read 758 times)

greg_D

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'Ecuador Palora' Dragonfruit, Clone Versus Seedling
« on: October 27, 2022, 02:12:54 PM »
I have an 'Ecuador Palora' that I grew from the small piece of vine that was attached to the fruit, making the resulting plant a clone of the plant the fruit was harvested from. I've seen people, in Facebook groups and on Youtube, use 'Ecuador Palora' to refer to plants grown from the seeds of a grocery store fruit.

When I see 'Ecuador Palora' on offer from individuals or shops, there is usually not an indication of whether the plants are clones or seedlings. Am I correct to assume that there is a meaningful difference? Do the seedlings produce the same fruit as the clones?

In a reply to the post "Yellow dragon fruit - Hylocereus triangularis or Hylocereus megalanthus?" a user offered up the info that 'Ecuador Palora' is an ecotype that was selected from the wild, but in that same reply it was stated that many such ecotypes are natural hybrids; how to infer whether or not a natural hybrid grows true to type is beyond my current understanding.
« Last Edit: October 27, 2022, 02:34:31 PM by greg_D »

spaugh

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Re: 'Ecuador Palora' Dragonfruit, Clone Versus Seedling
« Reply #1 on: October 27, 2022, 02:53:12 PM »
The seed grown fruit are indistinguishable from the "real clone".   They are very self fertile and do not require cross polination or hand pollination and the vines and fruit look and taste the same as the store bought.  Thats my experience based on around 8 different seedlings and a couple of cloned plants.  There may be some very slight differences like some make larger fruits or some have thicker spikes on the fruit but the differences are very subtle and most people wouldnt know the difference unless they were growing out multiple unique plants and closely comparing. 

Also, there are a lot of other yellow megalanthus types out there besides palora.  Theres several peruvian types, columbians, etc.  I can post a pic of the different types.  These ones have obvious differences than the paloras. 
« Last Edit: October 27, 2022, 02:55:25 PM by spaugh »
Brad Spaugh

greg_D

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Re: 'Ecuador Palora' Dragonfruit, Clone Versus Seedling
« Reply #2 on: October 27, 2022, 04:44:51 PM »
The seed grown fruit are indistinguishable from the "real clone".   They are very self fertile and do not require cross polination or hand pollination and the vines and fruit look and taste the same as the store bought.  Thats my experience based on around 8 different seedlings and a couple of cloned plants.  There may be some very slight differences like some make larger fruits or some have thicker spikes on the fruit but the differences are very subtle and most people wouldnt know the difference unless they were growing out multiple unique plants and closely comparing. 

Also, there are a lot of other yellow megalanthus types out there besides palora.  Theres several peruvian types, columbians, etc.  I can post a pic of the different types.  These ones have obvious differences than the paloras.

Thank you! That makes a lot of sense. I wonder if the one that I have is 'Palora.' I don't remember if it specifically said 'Palora' on the sticker. If I remember correctly it did say it was from Ecuador.

spaugh

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Re: 'Ecuador Palora' Dragonfruit, Clone Versus Seedling
« Reply #3 on: October 27, 2022, 05:59:57 PM »
Its probably palora if it says ecuador.  Its pretty easy to tell once thry fruit.  It has the normal shape that store ones have.  The ones from other countries have obvious difference in shapes. 

By the way, I have a lot of different ones of these growing and to be honest its not really well suited to CA in my opinion.  It isn't very dry heat tolerant or cold tolerant and the fruit take a really long time to get ripe.  And it flowers really late in the year making the problem worse.  It just doesn't get enough heat here is what I think.  And its pretty warm where I live and they get full sun.  A greenhouse would probably do better.  The other issue is all the thorns on the fruit are a pain. 

Im going to rip most of mine out, they just dont grow that well and we prefer the taste of purples...

Sorry to be a buzz kill.  I tried and gave them a long time to grow out and see how they do but it just isn't suited well for here. 

Your mileage may vary. 
« Last Edit: October 27, 2022, 06:04:47 PM by spaugh »
Brad Spaugh

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Re: 'Ecuador Palora' Dragonfruit, Clone Versus Seedling
« Reply #4 on: October 27, 2022, 06:18:57 PM »














































































Brad Spaugh

spaugh

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Re: 'Ecuador Palora' Dragonfruit, Clone Versus Seedling
« Reply #5 on: October 27, 2022, 06:22:40 PM »


Brad Spaugh

greg_D

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Re: 'Ecuador Palora' Dragonfruit, Clone Versus Seedling
« Reply #6 on: October 27, 2022, 07:06:52 PM »
Its probably palora if it says ecuador.  Its pretty easy to tell once thry fruit.  It has the normal shape that store ones have.  The ones from other countries have obvious difference in shapes. 

By the way, I have a lot of different ones of these growing and to be honest its not really well suited to CA in my opinion.  It isn't very dry heat tolerant or cold tolerant and the fruit take a really long time to get ripe.  And it flowers really late in the year making the problem worse.  It just doesn't get enough heat here is what I think.  And its pretty warm where I live and they get full sun.  A greenhouse would probably do better.  The other issue is all the thorns on the fruit are a pain. 

Im going to rip most of mine out, they just dont grow that well and we prefer the taste of purples...

Sorry to be a buzz kill.  I tried and gave them a long time to grow out and see how they do but it just isn't suited well for here. 

Your mileage may vary.

thank you! and thank you for the photos