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Hylocereus/epi palm grafts (tasted my 1st dragon fruit)


Dreamwalker.

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It was a red Vietnamese import, (so probably in cold storage for >3 months) goose egg size, red, (doubt they will stock them again, at $8 each @ the supermarket).

Disappointing, had a hint of cabbage taste, (vine fresh is probably a world of difference). I had a red opuntia fruit recently. that also had a hint of cabbage, maybe all red cacti fruit are like this?

My home grown cereus fruits are way superior....sweet and succulent, melt in your mouth & no cabbage. As they split when ripe I guess they will never be sold in supermarkets, though I have read of hybrid's that don't split.

Edited by Dreamwalker.
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Yes the mexican indica opuntia that i grow in my backyard have a melon tadte to it, very sweet but very seedy. They say us mexican have a cactus growing out of our foreheads, a sign of our indigenous nativness.

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There are many varieties of DF. The yellow pithaya is prolly the yummiest. (selinicerues)

The red pulp Hylocerues varieties tend to be the best tasting. I have yet to find a white pulp one that impresses me.

There is a pink pulp hylocerues which is supposed to be very nice too.

Check out the hylocerues cultivar strains like physical graffiti and Haileys comet (which I both goth and are supposed to be some of the better tasting common cultivars around)

The Israelis supposed to have developed some super interesting cultivars. I am really looking forward to some of the Selinicereus x Hylocereus strains.

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Yes the mexican indica opuntia that i grow in my backyard have a melon tadte to it, very sweet but very seedy. They say us mexican have a cactus growing out of our foreheads, a sign of our indigenous nativness.

never heard that before

So if your us Mexican........you have probably tried some of the Stenocereus fruits...like...

Stenocereus fricii Pitayo de Aguas

Stenocereus griseus Pitayo de Mayo

Stenocereus gummosus Pitaya Agria

Stenocereus queretaroensis (Pitahaya de Queretaro)

Stenocereus pruinosus Pitayo de Octubre

 

I have a few of them growing, but only seedlings.....I have no idea how long I will have to wait before they flower and fruit...trying to speed up the process with grafting and stimulants..........

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There are many varieties of DF. The yellow pithaya is prolly the yummiest. (selinicerues)

The red pulp Hylocerues varieties tend to be the best tasting. I have yet to find a white pulp one that impresses me.

There is a pink pulp hylocerues which is supposed to be very nice too.

Check out the hylocerues cultivar strains like physical graffiti and Haileys comet (which I both goth and are supposed to be some of the better tasting common cultivars around)

The Israelis supposed to have developed some super interesting cultivars. I am really looking forward to some of the Selinicereus x Hylocereus strains.

can't really get cuttings into the country..seeds are ok.........there's a guy on tropical fruit forum who has the largest list of cuttings, I've seen ..I posted it here, he's keen on trade, I have loads of seed grown dragon, but it will still be a few years before they fruit, then I can start hybridising them, unless I can short cut the process by grafting and tissue culturing the union cells...keen to x them with my epi's..and would like to try the dragon x cereus....the fruit of that would be interesting. Dragon's are still unheard of here, at least in the south.

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Mine rarely produce fruit here (id say its not a self-fertile variety), but there is one fruit on it at the moment - conveniently 10m up a gum tree -_-. The ones I get from the farmers markets are much better than the supermarket varieties, but I have had some decent ones from coles before, including a yellow skinned, white fleshed hylocereus variety.

I agree with woof, that the yellow selenecereus have the nicest and strongest flavour, followed by the red fleshed hylos then the white flesh. I find the white ones to be more sour tasting than the red ones, which have more of a kiwi/melon flavour. I havnt had the chance to try many other species, but the ones I have tried have ranged from sweet but insipid to just plain flavourless (they were all small species with pea sized fruit though)

Its a bit odd that cacti fruit (especially the dragon fruit and prickly pears) arent more popular in Aus, because we have such a huge amount of land thats suitable to grow them on (evidence by the huge problem they cause as weeds in many places), but admittedly most species are hard to prepare due to spiney plants and fruits and not suitable for long distance transport

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I have one plant that produces red skinned and white flesh, by far my favourite one.

I'll post a photo later. this is probably the first plant I brought and it's about 8 years old and only started getting fruit around 3 years ago. but I do go out at night and fertilise the flowers myself with a paint brush.

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I would love to try fresh dragon fruit. Sometimes the health food store around here sells dried dragonfruit, but no fresh. I could just grow out one of my plants to flowering though.

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hey I got some fruits on my selinicereus... know if they're any good?

the hylo still hasn't flowered

What kind of selinicereus?....................when they are ripe, give them a try and lets us know how you rate it.

I'm curious to know how Stenocereus fruit rate.......If anyone has tried any.....

Edited by Dreamwalker
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DreamWalker,

I think I may have been in contact with that guy from Florida from MassSpectrumBotanicals,.. and yes he has quite a collection.

I've also been eyeing that Mattslandscape site for Hyloc cultivars.

And where I live,.. we have Stenocereus Griseus. The fruits are kind of nice.... slightly sweet. Not the best fruit producer,... and will probably fruit after at least 4 years. If not for the fruit they make really good as graft stock and are less rot prone then trich's in our climate.

If you want to hybridise..... it might be a great idea to graft clones to already big plants,.. then you have the plants next to each other,.. will speed up the graft's growth. And not sure, but maybe get the benefit of being triggered into blooming at same time as the graft stock. < anyone that would like to comment?

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I agree that the red fleshed ones blow the white fleshed ones out of the water. American Beauty (pink) is supposed to be one of the sweetest but mine hasn't bloomed yet so I haven't taste-tested. Other red types can have like a grape-kiwi flavor but the only white ones I've had were bland and flavorless sweet goop... Though I think they also were all way over ripened.

Are the customs/import laws really that strict that they wouldn't allow a cutting through? Related to invasive species/prevention against them? If I recall correctly, DF doesn't come true to seed. Creating new varieties with decent taste isn't the easiest because even seeds from the same fruit have such variation in quality of fruit they'll eventually produce. (I only read part of the thread I realize so all this may have been said)

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I know that one of the yellow "dragon fruits" is actually Selenicereus megalanthus.

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I agree that the red fleshed ones blow the white fleshed ones out of the water. American Beauty (pink) is supposed to be one of the sweetest but mine hasn't bloomed yet so I haven't taste-tested. Other red types can have like a grape-kiwi flavor but the only white ones I've had were bland and flavorless sweet goop... Though I think they also were all way over ripened.

Are the customs/import laws really that strict that they wouldn't allow a cutting through? Related to invasive species/prevention against them? If I recall correctly, DF doesn't come true to seed. Creating new varieties with decent taste isn't the easiest because even seeds from the same fruit have such variation in quality of fruit they'll eventually produce. (I only read part of the thread I realize so all this may have been said)

I know that one of the yellow "dragon fruits" is actually Selenicereus megalanthus.

I might be wrong ..but I thought the yellow dragon was a x between selen meg & hylo. un.

I'm mostly sure that cuttings can't be imported without going to great expense with certificates and inspections, customs would be more concerned with possible fungi or insect eggs etc, it wouldn't be invasive here..........If the customs guy was a qualified botanist, they would know it was not a problem & spray it and let it in.....but customs do not appear to be qualified & its not their decision, they just follow the rules...sq pegs ..sq holes...there is no logic to it ...we buy foreign fruits in our markets

seeds are still ok...but for how long?

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Well I've always seen it being sold as selenicereus megalanthus and not megalanthus x undatus. But I wouldn't be surprised, bit looks like a hylocereus to me.

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selenicereus megalanthus is a species top.......I've read it is really one of the best for eating.....but I think it was x with the Hylo dragonfruit and there is a yellow dragonfuit that looks like hylocereus fruit but yellow skinned bottom...there's an orange one as well

Edited by Dreamwalker.
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Dragon fruit are extremely expensive out here in the SW USA - they go for like $9/lb or so - the most expensive fruit in the store usually, when you can find them - they are the red outer/white inner variety and they are delicious..

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