I've been trying for around 20 years to produce my own Flying Dragon fruits which I've never seen in the UK.
Last year my best in-ground plant produced a couple of flowers (but no fruit), so I fully expected this year to be a great success.
We had a beautiful warm early spring for a few weeks to the end of March with temperatures consistently +10C to +22C (50F to 72F). The FD flower buds were fattening nicely before I went away for a few days at the start of April.
While I was away the temperatures fell to -4C (25F), low enough to fry all the new growth and turn the flower buds somewhat brown and shiny looking.


I suspect this has put paid to any mature fruit this year. Or do you think they will recover?
Mike/Citrange

I doubt the flower buds will recover from 25F.

I saw never such type of damage on p. trifoliata. That looks very strange. Recovery? I'm afraid not.

Temperature was -3 C this morning, no damage on poncirus trifoliata flowers and flower buds.

Sorry to hear that However it's not a big surprise for flower buds to get frost nipped even by temperatures falling just couple of degrees below 0C. This generally happens even with plums, peaches, apricots, and other more cold hardy trees. Besides, critical frost damage temperature for most of the citrus with flower buds is just below -2 degrees of C scale. Though I'm not sure if that applies for FD, too.

I have always heard from our peach and blueberry growers that blooms can tolerate down to 27F without much problems.

Contrary to this, I've have a Florida King Peach tree that set fruit this year after severe damage to the blooms in mid February. It was in full bloom the night we had the16F frost and I did not see any fresh blooms after the frost.

Maybe there is a chance your FD will have fruit. Keep us posted.

@camo_hunter - Such a sudden drop in temperatures could virtually always result in, at least, flower bud loss. Usually followed by a very poor crop later that year. You must have had tremendous luck, or it was the micro climate which protected the tree and thus it didn't suffer any severe frost damage.

@Mike at what height did your FD start to produce flowers?

About 60cms tall.