Dragon fruit

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 3:24 pm

Hi- Echinocereus triglochidiatus fruit is pretty insipid and not very tasty at all, in my opinion. But something must like 'em as soon after they ripen they entirely disappear from garden plants.

Echinocereus stramineus is a different matter altogether. Delicious!

Whereas engelmannii is the lower elevation desert hedgehog farther west, stramineus grows like mad in Texas. Maybe it's too aggressive a species to be allowed into Australia?

peterb

Lewis_cacti · Post by **Lewis_cacti** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 11:30 pm

well, i certainly wont be allowed to import it,

but hopefully its already in cultivation in this country, but i havent seen one yet

i'll have to ask around.

Tom2643 · Post by **Tom2643** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:10 am

We had dragon fruit at our grocery here once... $12 a fruit. Strangely I saw more than a couple in carts. I had it in hawaii, it was good, much better chilled. The red and white tasted pretty similar in my opinion.

according to pine island (home of a ton of cultivars, i don't know if they sell to home growers or just wholesale though) yellow is a selenicereus

http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/dra ... yellow.htm

otherwise the rest are hylocereus

I've got a dark star and a purple haze at home...neither flowers ever though.

Buck Hemenway · Post by **Buck Hemenway** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:55 pm

I don't think that I have posted these pictures before. This is in Hong Kong in one of the fruit & vegetable market streets. Nearly every one of the large stalls had Dragon Fruit for sale. Her price is HK$15 (about US$2.00) per something, basket full or kilo. Pretty cheap. They grow much better in SE Asia than in their home area of Central America.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:00 pm

Those are the fattest one's I've ever seen, looks like hey have them on ice too... yum

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 12:44 am

Great pictures Buck.
Wow, they do look good enough to eat

Post by **daiv** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:25 pm

Cool! -Wonder how many tourists buy them there and think they are getting an exotic Asian fruit, not realizing it isn't native there at all? (I guess many probably wouldn't care like us plant freaks.

)

Tom2643 · Post by **Tom2643** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:22 am

not gonna lie, when i had it in hawaii i thought it was some strange hawaiian fruit, but once i cut it open I was quick to realize it was a cactus fruit

Post by **daiv** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:43 am

Well nothing wrong with that Tom! How did you know it was a cactus fruit when you opened it?

Tom2643 · Post by **Tom2643** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 4:55 am

it looked a lot like a prickly pear fruit, just with smaller seeds. Plus it just seemed cactus-y to me, i don't really know why.

Post by **daiv** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:55 pm

Ha! It's that Cactus-Growers blood in you!

Lewis_cacti · Post by **Lewis_cacti** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:24 am

Dragonfruit is becoming more widely avaible here.. i knew that it was widely grown in SE asia.. i inititally thought it was native to there too... a few years ago most of the dragonfruit in Aus was imported from SE Asia.. now it is grown commercially in Queensland...that sounds like an alright job... getting an income from growing cacti..now that's a thought.

well, its been a while.. how are the dragonfruit seedlings going Christer and Lachy??

Ndoki · Post by **Ndoki** » Wed Jun 25, 2008 7:17 am

I'm sure the topic has been sufficiently covered but I'll throw in my two cents anyways.

When I was younger I always was fascinated by dragonfruit and the other day I had the chance to try one. The seeds resemble those of a kiwi and don't need to be removed nor have much flavour. The fruit itself also seems to taste a lot like a kiwi, although weaker and with a slightly more 'vegetation' taste.. I don't know how else I'd explain it. Also the fruit has a texture closer to a melon.

Oh and if it helps any I found the easiest way to eat it is to cut it into quarters, then all you have to do is bend the skin outwards and the fruit separates from it no problem.

Loph · Post by **Loph** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:53 am

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i looooooooove dragon fruit! in fact is is dragon fruit season right now! flowerin and fruitin...yummy. the flowers are great as well, HUGE night bloomers, but nothing for the nose.

the trick to dragon fruit is to cut the growing tips right before the flwoering season. this yeilds WAY more fruit!!! they flower for a day, sometimes 2 then start to fruit. i get the same as daiv, about 3 ish weeks until fruits are ready

dragon fruit, as far as i know, only come in 2 colours. white flesh and purple flesh (and inbetween shades of red-pink). those yellow skinned fruits i think are Seleinicereus, not hylocereus.

here is a purple one. they are usually a little smaller and the outer skin "petals" or flaps or whatever are dark at the tips instead of white.

these are the same ones for grafting, but most grafting farms have "varieties" that are bred more for being fat and good scion growth, while fruit farmers breed for fruit yeild. the ones you see moon cactus on in wallmart, *probably* wont have a LOT of fruit.

here are some of mine a few days ago.....me loves me dragon fruit. it is pretty sweet, but if picked early it is noticably less sweet....and if being exported say from her ein taiwan to usa they are going to pick early so they dont spoil. not much you can do about that when importing them

i used to buy them in canada ($5-8 EACH!) and they were far less sweet than here in taiwan....where they cost about $2USD per KG right now!

Post by **daiv** » Thu Jun 26, 2008 2:07 pm

Good info Loph - fun to see them thriving there. You are right, the yellow is Selenicereus megalanthus.

That is the one I tried sending you, but to my dismay, it never left our shipping dept.