Nature Note 2022 (7)

[anna_wing]

All three dragonfruit (mine are supposed to be Hylocerus costaricencis the shocking-pink skinned with dark-pink-fleshed species) are now budding! The first two flowers I mentioned in the previous post finally bloomed gorgeously one night and the fruit set successfully (this species self-pollinates, apparently).

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hylocerus+costaricencis+flowers&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

The smell is strong but rather unpleasant, unfortunately, and the flowers only last one night, but they are incredibly beautiful. Like arboreal waterlilies.


We are buying dried rice sheaves from the market and hanging them from a light bamboo frame, and all manner of small seed-eating birds have shown up. Munias, sparrows, various finch/thrush/bulbul-type things.

Comments

[shirebound]

all manner of small seed-eating birds have shown up

Wonderful!

[bunn]

A pity about the smell, but what a flower! I have never seen dragonfruit flowers before. Somehow it seems strange that they are so pale when the fruit is so pink - but then, I suppose the same applies to apples.

[anna_wing]

It's a cactus, like the related genus Cereus, which also has gorgeous flowers. One night only. This species self-pollinates, but some others don't. I'm not actually sure it's a costaricencis, either. Dragonfruit has been grown in Southeast Asia for quite a long time now (Vietnam was the first major producer, I think), so they've probably developed a lot of local cultivars from whatever species they started with. Different species come in different colours. You could probably grow them in the UK in a sub-tropical greenhouse. The plants take around three years to fruit outdoors in a tropical climate, and live for 20-30 years. Avoid pesticides or fungicides after flowering, since it ends up in the fruit. Compost and pure-element fertiliser should be OK.

https://tastylicious.com/dragon-fruit-varieties/

[bunn]

Wow. I had no idea they came in such a wide variety! I am tempted by the 'might do well in a subtropical greenhouse' since I'm at sea level now and have a big room with very sunny windows... but I think I might have difficulty getting plants here. Will file the idea away in case I feel adventurous with buying seeds next year. I should probably focus on cossetting my poor orange and lemon trees which had a terrible time whn the roof came off but have somehow made it through.

[anna_wing]

https://www.avarietyoffruits.com/dragon-fruit/question-what-type-of-climate-does-dragon-fruit-grow-in.html

Good luck! The taste varies. Some are sweet. Some are tasteless. Matter of luck.

[bunn]

Yes, the ones I've occasionally eaten here have mostly been on the tasteless side. But... they grow in USDA zone 9! That's cooler than I thought. We're more or less in that zone, I am increasingly tempted to try growing one if I can find a nice variety.

[anna_wing]

One way would be to get the seeds from a sweet one and try germinating them.