Pitaya - dragon fruit finally bloomed - will it make fruit?
Lars
7 years ago
I guess the large flower opened last night, but I did not see it until this morning, but fortunately I saw it before it closed up - it was a huge flower - the largest of any of the epiphyllum that I have. It made a flower a few weeks ago, but I missed that one somehow. I tried self-pollinating the flower this morning by brushing my hand around do distribute pollen - will this be enough to make fruit? The previous flower did not make a fruit. Does it require separate flowers/plants to make fruit?
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Embothrium
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoLars
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoI guess that means that my Queen of the Night is also not an Epiphyllum
although it looks very similar to my epiphyllum, but it only blooms at night and is very fragrant, like the pitaya.
I do have fruit on my Princess Kelly epiphyllum
and I have been eating these. Inside, they look very much like dragon fruit and are tasty and a bit tart. I did not hand pollinate this plant, but the flowers were open much longer and had time for others to pollinate them.Related Discussions
HAVE: Dragon Fruit aka Pitaya aka Hylocereus undatus
Comments (5)Hi! I would love to have some dragon fruit seed. The only halfway unusual edible I have to offer is Rat-Tail Radish--it's a radish that doesn't form a root but puts its energy into blooms; the seedpods are used in stirfries for a radish flavor....See MoreHELP!!! Pitaya / Cerus / Dragon fruit rotting
Comments (7)Thanks, it is always humid when it blooms in summer here in S FL. I too thought that may be an issue but the flower base is solid and firm on the outside as it is rotting from inside out and filled with larvae within the first week. This is almost definitely due to the bugs I have shown in the photos laying the larvae into the flower the night of bloom and then they proceed to eat it from the inside out. I was hoping for some bagging advice or some other trick to save the fruit. It is so very frustrating having such a plant and not being able to even taste one fruit! As far as pollination, they are definitely getting pollinated from the swarm of bugs/beetles plus moths which are so bad I can only look at the flowers for a few minutes once it is dark and they open. For good measure I hand pollinated each flower this time so that is not a concern. This should be a self pollinating variety although I have not been able to confirm that due to the rotting issue prior to fruit formation. Maybe my experiment with removing all of the flower the day after bloom except the stigma and pistil will eliminate the larva's eggs, which I hope are in the web of stamen, while still allowing the pollen to do its thing? I have read and watched all of Edgar's stuff. Does anyone know the i.d. of my bug/beetle?...See MoreDragon fruit (pitaya) trellis
Comments (25)I'll try to find a pic of my uncles short fruiting DF. I'll also test it with one of my one cuttings and let everyone know how it goes. My uncle topped his plants in a pot when they were about 4ft tall and he also cut the side branches when they were about a foot or so. He had to prune occasionally to control for size and shape. Now looking at the picture I posted, I'm pretty sure that the plants were grown in the typical fashion (Full Sized) and then the fruiting branches were cut and stuck into pots. If they were grown in the pots and fruited in those pots, I would expect a lot more side branching like I see on my uncles potted DF....See MoreGrowing a Dragon Fruit (Pitaya) in a Container
Comments (3)i grow all my pitaya in 7 gallon containers. they become epiphytic, they rely on their air roots for nutrients. growing them in containers i was told by Pine Island ensures they dont focus on rooting in ground instead of growing and developing air roots. heres delight and yellow dragon in the left hand corner some physical graffiti cuttings...See MoreLars
7 years agoLars
7 years agoBloom from Sunday night
photo taken with flash
Photos without flash:
These last two were taken at about 10:00 pm and are lit only by my outdoor light, which fortunately lights up this part of the back yard. I guess the camera thought that there was enough light not to need the flash, but I'm glad I got it both ways.
I hand pollinated this flower at 8 & 10 PM, and so I will see in a couple of months whether I was successful. I have three more buds (in the second photo) which should open later next month, and so maybe I will get something from those also.I got some help from the tropical fruit forum for hand pollination.
succulentlife
6 years ago
PROLars/J. Robert Scott
5 years ago- PRO
Lars/J. Robert Scott
5 years ago
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Embothrium