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I have just got two self fruiting cultivars of this orchid cactus which create enormous night opening flowers up to 16" in diameter and create large red spike covered edible fruits (in time - mine are about 10" long only). Is there anyone else here growing these? Since they are epiphytic from humid tropical forests (they create areial roots) I was curious to know if I could mount them to cork bark and grow them like my mounted orchids in the hot lowland Nepenthes chamber as long as I didn't water them directly just letting them subsist on the humidity for the most part?
 
It's not very likely that you would succeed, the problem is that they are very expansive plants. Comparable to trying to mount rajah to cork bark - just too heavy and bulky. I have a purple variety coming to me from Israel pretty soon.

P.S. they are actually epilythic. They start life on the ground and eventually wander their way to the tree tops and along the way sometimes become severed from the terrestrial base.

Joe
 
Hey Joe,

Yeah, I've found some web pages showing them, I'd need a tree to mount it on!
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I wonder how long it takes to grow one like i've seen online that's flowering and making fruits?
 
It's about 3 years from cutting to fruiting plant and each year the flowering and fruiting gets better. (assuming that each year is a normal healthy growing year)
Beautiful blooms to enjoy

Joe
 
I know of 2 people here in SoCal that simply grow them outside in full sun. The fruits look awesome, but I don't like the taste.
 
3 years isn't too bad, course in the house might be way different as I'll have to keep it manageable not like the trees I've seen, just a few of those huge blooms Is all I'm after!
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I grow this plant, and so does my grandpa. IT IS SO EXPANSIVE. I had to prune it for him because it was getting in they way, I really hated to see the cuttings go to waste
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Oh well but yah, I have the pink/white flwoering species, we yield lots of fruit each year and it taste great to me. Looks like a kiwi inside a firball except it taste sigary sweet.
Happy growing
 
You all keep talking about the fruit, which has seeds in it right? *nudge nudge*

I've been wanting a dragon fruit plant for ages. T-T They're just so rare around here!
 
One fruit will have thousands of seeds in it. I bought mine on ebay or somewhere, never did sprout.
 
  • #10
ive got one of these but it seems in suspended animation. if anyone winds up with a bunch of extra fruit keep me in mind, would really be interested in trying it. ive had prickly pear(both stems and fruit) and like it.
 
  • #11
Dragon fruit is a common fruit in our local market. We have the usual white-flesh type but recently have the psychedelic-pink-type. I dislike both in terms of taste.
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Is the pink-fleshed type rare?
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  • #12
ther is a purple variety too now. You gotta pay attention to which you are growing though as the name refers to more than one species or Genus. Selenicereus grandiflorus, Selen. megalanthus, Hylocereus undatus, Hylo. guatemalensis all refer to dragon fruit for the shape but they have their own attributes.

Joe
 
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