Patty in Wisc

Last year I got my first Vietnamese red dragon fruit after 5-6 years (only one). I have 3 more flower buds now (4 have died or will die), and now I have a yellow DF flower bud ready to bloom. Here it is. I hear yellow is better tasting than others... eat your heart out Bob LOL
Notice that it's growing out of a horizontal branch & growing strait upriite which is unusual. Looks like a pineapple & has sharp thorns. Taken about 2 weeks ago

url=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=45313&ppuser=432][/url]
another... also notice that it is drooping because of the weight.

lery/showphoto

drooping more... over 13 inches long & ready to pop.


and here's the red DF buds. The 2 at bottom are turning yellow & will die but I have 3 healthy red buds. One on left is 6 inches long.


Those were taken 1 & 2 days ago. These just taken:


Sorry U gotta tip your head to see...it won't let me turn clockwise It's a lazy flower ..resting on a branch. I can see the white petals




Those are sharp thorns at the basewhere the fruit will be.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

oakshadows

Sure have some long buds. How big do you think the fruit will be? (contest?)We have quite a few seeds that germinated, both red and white, and are hoping for the end result. Not four or five years please. As having never grown these before it should be an interesting experience. Will post some pics soon.

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Patty in Wisc

Noah, by red & yellow, I mean the color of the outside of the fruit. Some reds have white pulp & some have red pulp. The red I got last year was white inside

Here's the monster! This was taken last year in spring so there are many more branches. Some of the pics above, I stood on a ladder as the flower is over 6ft up.

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oakshadows

Erred, meant red and yellow. Matters not, the end result is what we want. With all of the seedlings we have we will be able to exprement with different ferts and see what makes a difference. We have gotten some strange results with some of the growth regulators so this may become enjoyable.

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Patty in Wisc

The red one last yr was 4 inches long. In fact, look at the last pic of plant & the long segment at left, you can see the lite green fruit & the dried up flower at bottom of that segment/branch.
Just checked the flower...it is REAL FAT! I'll bet it'll be open in 2-3 hours.
To anyone that had a yellow blossom, does it look normal? Are they always so loooong?

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sunfish

Yellow,not a good pic

Patty in Wisc

It looks like long & skinny...thanks. So, mine is normal?
I just took a pic of it...it's starting to open! Gonna go take another....till it's open & then hand pollinate.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Patty in Wisc

Oh how exciting! I am actually watching it open...I'll post pics little later. It is going to be HUGE. I will save some pollen to pollinate the red ones when they're ready.
WOOHOO..going back outside

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Patty in Wisc

What a pretty flower. All done pollinating. Flashlite in mouth, up a ladder, I cut anthers off & pollinated...put some in jar & in fridge. I'll post pics later.... hoping I will get a fruit.
Forgot to say, while I was on ladder, there was a big moth (looked like) about as big as a hummingbird, flring areound the flower & went inside for a bit then flew away. What the heck was that?! Too startled -- couldn't get pic fast enough.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

Dragonfly

Beautiful photos of the bud! I have several cuttings (too many to be honest) of DF. My one pot of self pollinating and self fruiting varieties contains red, purple and white fleshed varieties. Then the other cuttings are magenta or purple.

I can't wait to see your fruits!

Patty in Wisc

Last night I Picked out 4 pics to put in my gallery & when I clicked on 'submit' something went haywire.... grrrr. Too busy now...will post them Mon.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

oakshadows

Is your pot anchored in the ground. Looks like it could get blown if not. How long can you leave yours outside? We have only seedlings now and want to pot some up but am not sure when to do so. Each seedling has two leaves, strange to us since this is a cactus. Some suggestions please.

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sunfish

oakshadows

Thanks, very good site. We garnished a lot of info about dragon fruit. It looks like we will be doing some potting next week.

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sunfish

The sooner you get them transplanted the faster they will grow

Westwood

WOW Just read this as i have been gone . RIP dear friend.