I got these from a nice Vietnamese lady.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c163/mr-tx/DragonFruit.jpg

Those are beautiful fruit. I've never heard of them before. How'd they taste?

BK

Phil, do you know if there is much of a taste difference between the red and the yellow dragon fruit? - Millet

They grow on a cactus vine. This lady was growing them outdoors and covers them for the few freezing night we have here and has a permanent frame around them. They taste pretty bland. I've only tasted the white ones like these. I have three unknown kinds myself but haven't grown them out to maturity.

I have ~6 dragon fruit plants ( all in containers ), and one finally bore a single fruit last year (you can see a small blurry version in my avatar). Unfortunately, they froze back hard last winter, so they are much smaller and I don't expect to get fruit this year. Most I got started from cuttings from cuttings a Vietnamese friend of mine's father-in-law gave me, and two I've grown from seeds of a purchased fruit. No doubt about it, the backyard ripened fruit was better than the store bought, but it is still a...."subtle" tasting fruit. Very refreshing though. Hopefully I'll meet someone locally who will be interested one day in swapping cuttings, I'd love to try one of the red-fleshed fruits.

David

Nice pic Mr Texas, those look beautiful. Are those seeds very hard? They look like poppy seeds.
Would you compare the fruit to Cherimoya or Paw Paw?????
David, it's nice to hear that you got fruit from ones planted in a pot! How long did it take from the time you planted the cutting?
Mine are growing over the top of a 6 ft trellis now with several new branches out of them. Am hoping I'll get fruits next year. I bought a red Jaina rooted cutting in late 05 & it's growing like crazy. What size pot do you have your plants growing in?
I also have yellow DF that is in same pot & trellis & just as big. Pretty soon I'll have to cart it back into sunroom

I got a yellow Dragon fruit for Christmas last year and for the longest time I thought it would die. Just in the last couple of months it’s turning green again. I sure hope that I am not wasting my time on this plant if the fruit is bland tasting.
David
I called Bantings a couple of weeks ago on a Monday to see if they had any tropical plants. They told me the only thing that they had was three Miracle fruit @ $50 each. When I arrived Wednesday they had sold all of them. March is the time; I was told is when they have the tropicals. I was impressed with your Lychee so I am going to be there in March. They would prefer that I place an order for spring delivery so I may do that.
Karl

My greenhouse is 11-ft. high at the peak. I am growing a yellow dragon fruit as a hanging basket plant. Seems to work fine. I have never seen a dragon fruit of any type for sale in the produce section of any of the stores in the area. - Millet

Patty, it was ~18 months before it fruited. I've read (not sure of the validity) that to fruit you need a certain number of segments (5?), and that was pretty much the case with mine. I now have 2 different types growing, hopefully I'll get more than one fruit next summer.

Karl I happened to go to Bantings a few months ago and they had just gotten in some new Avocados-a cultivar from Texas called "Opal-Holland". Not sure if it's a particularly good variety or not, but it's in the ground and doing well. Come spring I plan on ordering a few more things from them.

Oh, and anyone in the New Orleans area, I was at Hong Kong Market on the Westbank this weekend and bought fresh Jakfruit! They had both whole fruits (HUGE) but I happened to luck out in that they had just cut one up into sections. Unlike anything I'd eaten before-hints of Pineapple, banana, and lychee. I also retrieved (and am currently germinating) 8 or so seeds.

Of all the tropical & sub tropical plants I grow, Pitaya is the hardest. Hard to make a trellis for it that can be carted in & out winter & summer. I made it out of pvc because it's sturdy & lightweight. Over 6ft high & 3ft wide. Here's a pic taken Sunday just before it went into S Rm for winter. Pardon the not-so-pretty pink & yellow caution tape used to tie up to trellis when in a hurry. One side is yellowDF & other is red DF. This is very heavy - hard to get it thru doorway.


I hear the yellow is best tasting & they all taste best when put in freezer for a little while before eating.
Here it is last year when I brought it out after making trellis.


Using Millet's idea for a hanger, started this in May rooting a 5 inch red - growing like crazy in foreground, & bushy looking yellow on top


Supposedly, it will flower on the legs hanging over the top, so hopefully next year. If not, I'm chucking it.

My wife and I were at the Bamboo Farm and Coastal Gardens for their Fall Festival this year, where we serve as vendors. They have a experimental Dragon Fruit project which has been going several years. I know the person conducting the experiments and was given a few fruit while visiting his home. I found them very tasty.

You can see in the pictures here how thay are trained. He wraps the 4 x 4 posts with a peat based fabric to provide a surface that holds moisture and nutrients. The supports at the top are rebar. All of the plants are in fabric containers, which are reported to work best. Of course I have a few cuttings started.

Ned

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I was unaware that the Bamboo Farm and Coastal Gardens had a plot of Pitahayas growing. Thanks for the great pics Ned. Do you happen to know what varieties they're growing? I finally got around to making a structure for the four varieties that I had. Since then I got about 7 more varieties so I'll have to make a couple more. You're right Patty that these aren't the easiest plants to make structures for and move around. I'll have to add wheels on the next blueprint because my back is gonna be killing me once these get some size to them.

they look so cool, i had considered looking into getting some myself but i figured it best to taste/get more info before i jump on in. What do they taste like? and how long does it take to get fruit?

Great pics Ned, thanks.
Eyeckr, I like your trelliss much better. I couldn't find burlap at the time so I used canvas to wrap posts. Aerial roots are not clinging to it. I need a bigger pot, & the only way I could transplant is to cut the pot it's in & lift both posts. A 3rd person would have to lift plant roots. Or, I could cut the whole thing down & start over. A hard plant to grow in a pot!

Nice tree eyeckr! I might have known you had one! You have it set up nicely too.

I am not sure of the variety. I think there may be several. I was given one called Margaret, but I think it was named for the person that my friend got it from. I will say it tasted very good, but I don't know if I can relate it to anything I have tasted before. My friend, who is conducting the experiment at the BF&CG, has some at home also. He has a lot of tropical’s and a unique way of putting together a greenhouse to protect his plants. I will try to explain his method here sometime.

Ned