harveyc

I think your nose must be 2'-3' longer than mine! :P

Try 8-S or Houghton. Small tasty fruit that flower over a longer period of time, maybe May to October. I'm not really sure about the flowering habit of Houghton but it's one of the parents of 8-S and the fruit is outstanding. Thin skins means you'll have to pack carefully when you mail me fruit.

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sunfish

I want to see some change when I go in my yard.The DF look the same for ten months out of the year like watching paint dry.

I need action

Richard

Tony, do you know Bob Holzinger? He collects passiflora from all over the world. Occassionally he attends the monthly CRFG meetings at Balboa Park.

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harveyc

Tony, maybe I mentioned Bob to you when I was down there in April. He was part of our white sapote expedition. WhiteSapote.com

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sunfish

I don't know Bob and haven't seen him post on any of the forums

sunfish

Yes you did . I need to get in touch with him ,somehow

harveyc

Check your e-mail. BTW, I sent him a link to the Passiflora journal which he was unaware of and highly appreciative of. He knows the folks behind it very well.

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sunfish

Thanks. That would be great,if nothing else we could trade seed.

momoese

Here is the plant I spoke of earlier. It used to be trained up the side of the two story house. Now it's just on the fence. Nice plant either way!

harveyc

Mitchel: Do you grow any dragon fruit? I wish I had your climate much of the time as this weather here is rough for them.

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momoese

Not yet, I've avoided it because of the dogs. Thorns and dogs not so good! I do love the fruit though.

harveyc

I think you should grow one like S-8 or Houghton. The thorns aren't too bad and you can train them up a pergola away from the dogs and just protect the main stem (trunk). The flowers have a very nice scent besides being beautiful. These varieties are very self-fertilze and produce very tasty fruit, albeit small.

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momoese

Sounds interesting. We have something like a pergola on the front patio and the look of the plant does fit into the theme we already in place there. Hmm

harveyc

Mitchel, the thorns aren't really very bad on most dragon fruit. The Nicaraguan ones are some of the worst as they are longer and stronger.

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Richard

I'm partial to American Beauty (H. guatemalensis). A self-fertile species with tiny thorns and exceptional fruit.

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harveyc

I've had American Beauty a few times but like 8-S better, though it has a think skin and will split easily so it can't be shipped very well. Of the ones at the Irvine tasting last year, I thought Halley's Comet was easily the best (8-S) wasn't included and Physical Graffiti was bland, though it was nice when I tried it previously. American Beauty was about on par with Paul Thomson's Delight, IIRC.

American Beauty was originally Quang Ong's selection (called Quang Ong Self Fertile, thus QOSF is in Pine Island's link) and he and I traded some cuttings in August and I'm hoping for some good things from some of his others. It's a pretty insane thing for me to keep adding like I have. I'm up to 34 varieties.

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harveyc

A friend from Chula Vista brought a single fruit of 'Houghton' to the festival and shared it with a few of us, including Edgar Valdivia. I liked it a lot and Edgar sad "wow!".

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Richard

For the two years that I attended the meetings in Irvine, there were discussions about whether American Beauty (growing on the test plot) was any different from Hylocereus guatemalensis (also on the test plot). One of the collectors down here said he was the first to bring cuttings to the CRFG in San Diego from Nicaragua and all plants were simply cuttings of same. Maybe Ong grew out some seeds from a fruit -- I don't know. This is the first time I've heard the story about QOSF. One thing is for certain, the first year I went no one could differentiate between the fruits.

Ha ha. I know that problem. However, with respect to Dragon fruit I'm finally in the winnowing stage. I will continue to grow Paul Thomson's white -- mainly because he handed that cutting to me. I believe it is the best tasting of the H. undatus. But the H. guatemalensis and the H. ocamponis are far superior. The latter is too thorny for most farms and casual gardeners -- its best for us mad people who grow Kei Apple for the fruit!

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momoese

Harvey shared some with me on his way back north a few years ago. Since then I've had more and really love it! Why are the fruits so hard to find? You'd think they would easy to find at our farmers markets.

harveyc

The Nicaraguan varieties are not H. guatemalanisis. They are all dark red-fleshed fruits with little sweetness and very thorn stems.

I wrote about the QOSF in the other dragon fruit thread about a year ago. Sven Merten (sp?) took several cuttings to Florida some years ago and he did some research as to the synonyms. Some are pretty obvious base don looking at Pine Island's pages. Physican Graffiti is 1-S, Cosmic Charlie is 2-S, Purple Haze = 5-S, Voodoo Child is 8-S (but not 100% certain on this one), Dark Star (aka Arizona Red) = 9-S, American Beauty = QOSF, Bloody Mary = Ben Poirier Polyrhizus.

You need one more undatus. Leo says 'Orton', named for the late Orton Englehart, inventor of the impact (Rainbird) sprinkler, is his favorite undatus. That's despite Leo's close friendship with Paul. I'm giving it a try.

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