Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Hello all. Long time lurker but this is my first post. I just wanted to share my Agristarts Dwarf Iholena that just put out it's first flower. Who knows what this actually is but it isn't dwarf.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Thank you for sharing, congratulations
Happy growing
Darla

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

In my experience in San Diego, Dwarf Iholena fruited at about 9' pstem height while standard fruited at 14'.

Some photos of the female flowers and the lower pstem will help with ID.

Nice dragonfruit btw. 🙂

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Well that is encouraging. The 9' pseudostem height is about right with this. I'll snap some more pics as the flowers emerge.

I have a few bananas but I grow as many different tropical fruits as I can cram into my yard. Thanks for the reply.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

The Iholena pstem is generally thinner than a Namwa of the same height -- particularly at the base.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Someone screwed up along the way. Either it was mixed up at the lab, mislabled at a nursery, or an extreme detrimental off-type (which is a little unlikely to look like what you show, but Agri Starts often produces off-type plants of many sorts).

Looks more like 'Orinoco' to me, but keep posting photos and the answer will be clear in a week or two.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

[quote=jvstarr88;319025]Hello all. Long time lurker but this is my first post. I just wanted to share my Agristarts Dwarf Iholena that just put out it's first flower. Who knows what this actually is but it isn't dwarf.

Where did you source it from?

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Back in the day when I was still a wee banana and bought TC plants my Dwarf Iholena turned into a nam wah.
Crazy, what are the odds...

Not that yours looks like a Nam Wah.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

I meant to update this earlier. Here are my supposed Dwarf Iholena.










Here is where it gets interesting. Here is a picture from my friends farm. He got his Dwarf Iholena from the same source the same day. Is this the real one? It is much shorter than mine.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Well, you definitely have an Iholena, and now I do suspect that it is a tall off-type. The fact that you have a friend who got a more properly dwarf plant from the same source reinforces that this is very likely an off-type, as they are likely from the same batch, but off-types can be randomly mixed in among everything else.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Very interesting! I am really looking forward to seeing and eating this fruit. I guess it has pinkish flesh. Thanks for the insight.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

[quote=Hamakua;319062]I got it from a person that sourced it directly from Agristarts.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

If you could report fill/ripening times that would be amazing! From around the time the first female hand opened.

I have a great friend who also fruited one dwarf! His filled in about 60 days in S FL!

Since this one is newer to all of us on the mainland. Any other info and a detailed taste report would be awesome too!

Thanks for the pictures! I agree with Gabe. Looks like an off-type

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Hey jvstarr88 can you post some more close up and in focus shots of the flowers?
Putting together a database of flowering plants.
Thanks!

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

I got a nice harvest and they are pretty tasty. Also, more orange than they show up in the picture. I waited until they started to ripen before I hung them up in the kitchen.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

and?

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

The persistent flowers on the rachis below the bunch (at least it appears that way in the photo), is 100% non-standard, definitely got an off-type plant. If you like it and it is ok, then there is no real problem with this, except that it is no longer the true dwarf 'Iholena'.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

so this has mutated again into a different iholena or has it changed back from its mutation.?

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

That's a matter of opinion/perspective, but the chance it has reverted identically to a normal previously seen form is less than the chance it has just mutated into something completely different. You can view it as a new Iholena if you like it, but it is still an off-type from the original. It doesn't really match with any extant Iholena I'm aware of.

The exact mechanisms involved in off-types are still not totally understood, but what we do is that it is often the result of sloppy TC work, when a lab does not do it's due diligence to reinitiate new lines from field verified true-to-type stock. Some cultivars seem more prone to generating off-types than others, but with AgriStarts it seems to be widespread enough that it's almost certainly due to their practices, and not inherent to specific varieties.

Re: Agristarts Dwarf Iholena
 

Congratulations JvStarr!

Looks like about 70 days to harvest. Amazing. Good job!