Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Mitch, are your DF plants all in full sun? I wish mine were growing as well as yours, but I'm starting to think they just aren't getting enough sun. No flowers here! (Except bananas!)

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

My backyard is always in the sun.I have no shade at all so all my plants are in full sun everyday.Hope you get some flowers soon.

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Still early for flowers in some areas.

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

My new DF flower has DIED... :(

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Mitch, have you been hand-pollinating your flowers? Most are not self-fertile, meaning you need to pollinate them with the flower of another variety. It's best to collect pollen whenever you have it and store it in the refrigerator until you have another flower that opens though it reportedly remains viable for less than a week. At the large planting in Irvine they don't do any hand pollinating and get good crops on all but one variety (due to timing of flower opening) because they have so many different varieties and either honey bees or nighttime moths take care of the pollinating. I saw a hawk moth visit a flower on one of my pitaya last year.

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Harvey, How ya doing?
These were many different cuttings I got from Edgar Valdivia who lives about 5 minutes from my home. He gave me so many cutting's from all his many types of Dragonfruit to get me started.I started this DF garden in July of 2010.This is the first time my plants have flowered,and I do know how the to do hand-pollinating thanks to Edgar we did it a few nights last year in his backyard.Also I know to pollinate them with the flower of another variety.I do have pollen from a flower of another variety so when I need to cross polinate I will be ready.I do have bees in my yard from all my flowers and plants in the yard. Thanks for the help.Hope your DF is growing great...

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Doing, good, Mitch, thanks! Edgar is a good friend and he sure is generous. He provided me with many cuttings three years ago as well and I've stayed at his home a couple of times and did pollinating at night with him. Edgar mixes all of his pollens together but I don't know how many of them actually have viable pollen and it might be the pollen from the Giant Vietnamese variety that sets most of his fruit. However, even last year when I only had one flower bloom within a 2 week period I used Physical Graffiti pollen to pollinate the very same flower and it set fruit. At least one commercial grower was very skeptical of my claim and said pollen might have come from another flower somewhere but that just isn't the case (I'm pretty sure I'm the only one with pitaya within 20 miles of here since I'm more adventuresome than most). Your plants look good and should be adequate to sustain the fruit but sometimes a smaller plant will also flower but drop its flower (that happened with my pitayo dulce last year which I also got from Edgar, but it has buds forming now and I'm hoping for success this year).

As far as my pitaya, they look very bad due to our very cold winter. Many died and most others were damaged but I had cuttings rooting in my greenhouse and I am replanting and will provide overhead protection next winter. One right next to my house in a semi-protected area behind my entryway deck and garage was unharmed even though it is the sensitive H. guatemalanesus species. It might flower later this year but is still a bit small.

Good luck!

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

This was my first time that my DF have flowered,and I'm really happy because the waiting time can be to much stress for a grower.I had a total of eight flowers this month pop up and 5 have survived.I hope that next year I get more flowers so I can enjoy the delicious fruit.My winters here get to freezing temps and I had a few plants get really soggy branches due to frost.They have all come back to life.It was very hot and humid here for a few weeks and my DF have started to have new branch growth appear on most all my DF.I have been feeding my plants Gardeners composted chicken manure,and Lily Millers "Ultra Green" 10-10-10.So far what ever I am doing so far is working.I have had so much new branch growth since changing my feeding.My only question is I have all my DF growing in these 25 gallon pot's and since they are black do you think I should put some shade on them so they dont get to hot in the summer.Will the heat on the plastic cause any growing problems or slow down fruiting production? So far since planting them in my soil mix, the 25 gallon pots and feeding they have all grown very well.:08: I am now waiting for new buds to pop up since the summer is not over yet! The flower that died on the branch never even got to open which upset me very much. I hope for a few more buds to grow.

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

If you have one plant planted in each 25 gallon pot, I would not worry about the pots getting too hot. If you have multiple plants, thereby some closer to the edge of the pot, you might want to whitewash them (I sprayed the Surround product I mentioned earlier on some of my potted citrus) but the darker color can be beneficial in cooler seasons. Hanging white fabric around the sunny side of the pots can also be effective. Roots of pitaya don't get very large so a plant in the center of the pot should be fine.

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

I've got my first ever flower bud on one of the dragon fruit plants that I planted in the ground earlier this year. Is there some approx time line to tell when a bud might bloom from the time it is noticeable? It is on my Purple Haze and is probably just about two weeks (maybe a little over two weeks, but not by much) in the photo. Or is it "it will open when it's ready" thing?


Thanks.
DM

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

It's pretty difficult to predict since it's mostly a factor of the vigor of your plant and weather, etc. In the morning of or on the day before it opens you will begin to see some white of the flower. It will be much larger and longer than it is now.

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Thanks Harvey; I knew that the bud would get much larger in size before it will bloom, but looking for the white is a good clue. First DF bloom and would really like to see it when it's open.
Judging by how fast the bud grew over the last week, seems that they have the same growth habit as some of the branches.

DM

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Here it is a week later, 4.25 inches long, growing over .25 inches a day.


DM

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Here are some new pictures from my Dragonfruit that have flowered.They are Hylocereus Undatus. :0517:









:08:

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

The details of annual pitahaya/dragon fruit festival held in Irvine was announced last week. I haven't decided yet if I will make the trip again due to the distance involved and my tight schedule, but I highly recommend it. http://cesandiego.ucdavis.edu/files/149685.pdf

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

I couldn't go to the festival due to farm chore scheduling but a friend did pick up a cutting of a variety I wanted. :)

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

I hear Edgar narrating on the video.

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Another video:

Re: Dragon Fruit
 

'American Beauty,' 'Physical Graffiti,' 'Paul Thompson,' and Hylocereus ocamponis repotted and ready to grow! :D