Thanks to everyone for starting and contributing to this thread, it is a wealth of information! I have read the entire thread and have really learned a lot about the history, and care of these plants. I have a question for everyone, where do you go to get your plant material that you trust to really know what they are in this day and age?
I am in North County San Diego (southern California) and I know at one time we had some great options, but have lost some of them. I am looking for specific varieties to try and fine tune my pollination program and also to experiment with breeding. I've been growing for about ten years and am trying to make our ranch as productive as it can be. After going through multiple seasons and pollinating strategies, I am learning that it's not only what we do, but weather factors that influence our success. I have one cross at the seedling stage. I am trying to find the most productive and flavorful varieties for our micro climate here. So I am looking for specific varieties like Neitzel that I have read about. I have been using S8 as a pollinator and it has served us well, but I have read that some White varieties can increase the size of the fruit and the customers are often interested in that! To me flavor is top consideration. If we could increase the size of S8 it would be perfect! We have brought a seed grown Megalanthus to flowering so that is exciting but we are not sure that will be viable in our climate or very productive.
I have one white fleshed variety that came without an ID, propagated and planted around the grove, and it wasn't very productive this last year so I am considering removing or grafting something else to them. Cal Poly Pomona has been my best source and in years past, Dragon Fruit Festivals put on by UC with Ramiro, and friends, and CRFG, (but often we get ID mistakes that way). Even though Home Depot is selling plants, we can't rely on them to properly ID theirs. Thanks to all of the pioneers for sharing their experiences!