Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard
I think this study has merit with regard to lack of pollinators. Further, I think it is a well designed study and well written report. Also, you should note that the stated weight is an average and thus it is not that individual weights have increased but instead the total weight of the crop; i.e., there were more fruits formed in the hand-pollinated group. To the authors this is totally reasonable because total weight is what farmers care about most.
Otherwise, the paper is not relevant to your environment or mine. Nor is it relevant to Hylocereus species of interest to cultivation in my garden.
As a contra-positive, I will also state that I have always attempted to hand pollinate my Hylocereus fruits when observation or circumstances permit.
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i don't think it has anything to do with the total weight of the crop. the way i read it, the weight of each individual fruit increased on average meaning that if you pick a fruit from a 12hr and a fruit from 24hr hand pollinated flower there will be an average difference of 92g (for polyrhizus).
although the environment is completely different (arid vs humid) and so are the cultivars, i would expect to see a similar trend across climbing cacti to a certain degree.