Dangermouse01

Hi all;
A couple of my Dragon Fruits are getting toward the top of their trellis. I have a question about how they branch out.
Do I just let the stalk grow naturally and it will branch out by itself once it gets to the cross supports?
Or do I cut the tip of the plant off a distance below the cross support and get it to start branching from the nubs? In the first picture, the plant behind the front one has already branched out from nubs on it's own, it did that while it was still in the pot and not near a trellis.
Is that something I should have been doing along the way so that I have multiple branches (from one stalk) going up the trellis like the one in in the first picture?



Thanks for any info.
DM

sunfish

It will branch on it's own

oakshadows

Good looking start on the vines. We have to put in some trellis also and get our plant and cutting on the road. Keep your topic updated so we can enjoy your success along with you. Thanks

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Hammocked Banana

Have these filled out there trellises a bit more now? Pics please

Dangermouse01

Well, I cant replicate the first photo, because where I was standing to take it there is now a papaya tree, between the DF in the front of the pic and the second DF there is a papaya tree, between that second DF and the third DF there is a papaya tree. Also the Raja Puri banana past the third DF in the original picture, that main trunk has flowered, been harvested and is gone, the little pup on the left is now holding a nice bunch and a little pup behind (unseen) the main trunk is also putting out a flower.
Anyways, 10 months later.
American Beauty

Purple Haze

Physical Graffiti

Dark Star

Halleys Comet


DM

Hammocked Banana

SWEET!! What is that red banana in the first pic? Like the pot (rosemary?) ontop of the Haleys commet trellis.

Dangermouse01

The red banana is a dwarf (supposedly) Jamaican Red. Hasn't fruited yet.
Here is a picture from earlier this year. The main stem in the picture actually got blown over and broke in a wind storm about July this year. After I dragged it under the citrus trees for compost, I noticed a flower coming out a few weeks later. So it was probably about 2 weeks from flowering before it bent and broke. You can just see the American Beauty trellis on the left.

That is a potted rosemary on top of the one trellis (forgot to take it in for the cold nights). I usually have small stuff sitting on top of a few of the trellises. They can get alot more sun there and more important it keeps them away from one of the dogs. One of his favorite toys are the old plastic nursery pots, I think because they make so much noise when he is trashing them (he also likes dead palm fronds for the same reason).

DM

Dangermouse01

Putting out buds.



DM

Snookie

Can U update pics PLEASE?

Thanks

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Hammocked Banana

From the dragon fruit thread...

Dangermouse01

Ok.
Last time updating here tho, most of my Dragon Fruit stuff now gets posted in the Dragon Fruit thread Dragon Fruit

1 year, 7 months after the original post, here are the 7 I put in the ground then.
American Beauty (AB)

Vietnamese Jaina (VJ)

Yellow

Purple Haze (PH)

Physical Graffiti (PG)

Halley's Comet (HC)

Dark Star (DS)


All have flowered, fruited and had fruit harvested this year, except both HC and Yellow, which both have fruits hanging but not ready to harvest yet.
VJ, PH and PG also still have additional fruit hanging.
All 7 currently have buds that either opened last night (VJ), are a few days from opening, or are just a few days after forming
They are planted in a South-North running row, AB at South end, DS at North end, inter spaced with either a banana or papaya (I plan to get rid of the papaya next spring, to much effort to protect fruits from the papaya fruit fly).
The row: AB (Jamaican Red banana) VJ (papaya) Yellow (papaya) PH (papaya) PG (Raja Puri banana) HC (papaya) DS
So far:
DS has been most prolific, had 21 flowers opened over two consecutive nights (20 of those set fruit).
VJ has had the largest fruits.
PH has been best tasting (according to the girlfriend), I like them all.

The white tags in some of the pictures are just "strung marking tags" that I write the date that the flower opened just so I have an idea of how far along the fruits are.

Have 4 more named varieties that I need to decide where to plant and build trellises for (then I will plant them out next spring).

DM

Richard

Dangermouse ... very admirable work with your dragon fruit plants!

I'm starting over at a new place. Here you see an American Beauty cultivar planted in a 25-gallon pot with a cactus/palm soil (Kelloggs, if you're on the west coast). This is on the east side of my home and the trellis is about 18 inches from the wall of the house. You also see a 1/2-inch irrigation system with two streamer-type heads for the pot. During the summer here it comes on twice per week, twice per day for 4 minutes. Yes, I know I build like the 3rd little pig. But I got tired of going out to visit one of my plants and find out its dying because some rat or rabbit had chewed through the cheap rubber irrigation tubing. When you have 210 cherished plants, you just can't afford maintenance interruptions.

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Lemmysports

My I ask what the white bags are covering in some of the pictures?

Richard

Oops. You missed the important sentence near the bottom:

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Lemmysports

Maybe I am seeing this wrong, but in pictures 3 and 4 those don't look like "tags" they look like bags...

Dangermouse01

In my post from 12-21-2012, there are some things covered in the back ground of some of the pictures. Those are potted mango and lychee trees that are covered with "frost cloth" because of a cold front that was passing thru or about to be there (it was late December).

DM

Worm_Farmer

You do not have to cover your Dragon Fruit? Mine died twice so I just gave up on it. LoL

Dangermouse01

This last winter has been the only winter they have seen in the ground, and you know our area had another fairly mild one for the second in a row. All the DF have either papaya of banana close to give a little protection from over head, and close to the fence for some protection from NW winds.
Considering my shirts get snagged just about every time I walk by them, cant really imagine trying to drape a cloth over top of them.
If it looks like we are going to get some really cold nights this winter, I may just wrap some old carpet around the lower portion.

DM