Cereus Peruvianus/Apple Cactus (forum)

AnthonyR. starts with ...
Hi, i have had dragonfruit planted for a few years now in an area that gets a few frosts every year and as a result the Red Dragonfruit(used to pollinate the white Dragonfruit) consistently end up dying. No red flowers = no pollen = no white fruit. Does anyone have any experience with cross pollinating D/fruit with pollen from C/Peruvianus(Apple Cactus) and if you have how did it go.

Time: 29th April 2013 11:06am

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About the Author Anthony9
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Diana says...
Hi Anthony,

I am not sure about apple cactus (it doesn't sound promising though). I didn't know that white dragonfruit is needed to pollinate red dragonfruit. I have two (one white and one red but I don't remember which is which). The one with more spines had tonnes of flowers this year and we hand pollinated between the flowers but nothing happened. The other one (smaller, younger, fewer spines and slimmer stems) had two flowers and set one good fruit which is ripening. I have heard quite a few times that dragonfruit don't need to cross pollinate.
Pictures - Click to enlarge

Picture: 1
Picture: 2

Time: 5th May 2013 12:22am

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About the Author Diana
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Diana says...
Actually the Daley's shop information says that both the red and white fleshed ones they have are self pollinating.


Time: 5th May 2013 10:50am

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AnthonyR. says...
Hi Dianne. Thank for your response. The variety of white D/fruit that i originally purchased required cross pollination by either Red or Yellow (Megalanthus) flowers. Sadly, the yellows died from frost and every year my reds struggle to grow after being cut to ground by frosts and as a result very rarely set flowers at the same time as the whites. Therefor i have a lot of pretty flowers on my whites but no fruit. Have just purchased some whites from Daleys(self fertile) so I'll see how they go. I was hoping the apple cactus may have been a possible pollinator for my original whites but maybe not. Although I might try a few next summer to see. Thanks again.


Time: 6th May 2013 3:45pm

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Original Post was last edited: 6th May 2013 3:48pm
About the Author Anthony9
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Diana says...
Thanks Anthony,

Which one do you think the flowering dragonfruit is in my picture? The one next to it has a fruit (I think that may be a red one, it has thinner branches and fewer spines), but the one with the flowers (thicker, more spines) has never fruited. The 'red' one is a Daleys one I think, but I can't remember where the other one is from.

Diana

Time: 7th May 2013 7:15am

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AnthonyR. says...
Hi Diana,
From my experience over the last few years i would say the one with the flowers(thicker, more spines) would be the white fruit. The reds seem to be the less prickly of the two. If your whites are anything like the ones I grew, the only way to get them to set fruit is to cross pollinate with the red which resulted in large fruit(750 gram)most of the time. The hard part is having both types of flower on the same night. Did have limited success with putting red pollen in the fridge in a sealed container if white flowers were a day or two off opening. Nice looking plants by the way. Anthony

Time: 7th May 2013 11:35am

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Original Post was last edited: 7th May 2013 11:36am
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Diana says...
Thanks very much Anthony, that's very helpful. I need to get another red nearby to increase the chance of good flowering timing, or a more certain way of getting white fruit would be to rip it out and get a selfing one I think.

Time: 7th May 2013 5:34pm

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