Dragon Fruit
| Dragon Fruit26-09-2020 18:50 | |
HarveyH55 ★★★★★(5196) |
I've had these climbing cactus, pretty much as long as I've had the house. Mostly a nuisance at first, liked to climb the stucco, and had to remove it, when it was time to paint. Eventually, pieces got established, and managed to survive well enough to flower. It was pretty cool, large (8-10 inches across), white flowers, and only open at night, one night only. Started doing time lapse videos. Still working on getting a good one, mostly down to getting the lighting set up right. Not really easy, the flowers are big, and move some as they open. Only get one shot at it, and not always ideal place to set the camera, and a light. Here's the link to my YouTube channel, and quite a few of my attempts, many other videos as well, over 50, I think. I've got a good video uploaded, but have been able to publish it. YouTube made some changes, and my out dated computer/browsers, don't play well. Most of the options menus don't show, and few are clickable. I haven't had much luck getting logged in, on my laptop yet. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvTPkmk586mv0UXwBjHp9eQ This is the first time it's bore fruit. I've no idea what they taste like, but the flowers have a very sweet, almost intoxicating fragrance. Taking a little gamble, as I'm no cactus expert, and just going on appearance. Reasonably sure it's the same species, and food safe. Walmart sells these for $6 each. Not that curious, and pretty sure they are just like all of Walmart fruit, and picked way too early. I'm figuring on about two more weeks. It's only started to get bigger this past week. No where near the size of the ones at Walmart. Attached image: 
Edited on 26-09-2020 19:06 |
| 26-09-2020 23:02 | |
| HarveyH55★★★★★ (5196) |
Finally got my 2020 cactus time lapse video published on YouTube, about 30 seconds... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6UwBT3qi9k |
| 27-09-2020 03:04 | |
| duncan61★★★★★ (2021) |
That is the best thing I have seen on this forum |
| 27-09-2020 04:13 | |
| HarveyH55★★★★★ (5196) |
Still not real sure when it's ripe, and ready to pick. The stuff online is all over the place, on what and when. Pretty sure a lot of it comes from more of a farmer's perspective, probably a little early, to get them to market. Guess it's mostly pick it, when I feels right, hope for the best. Could be a day or two, or another week or so. Be easier, if I had more than one. Everything I've read, says they are best, when picked ripe. They don't ripen anymore, if picked early. Just have to keep checking on it everyday, trust my instincts on changes. |
| 02-10-2020 19:49 | |
| HarveyH55★★★★★ (5196) |
Picked it yesterday, and got a shocking surprise, when I cut it in half. Was expecting it to be the common white flesh, with tiny black seeds. It was the deep red, almost purple flesh. I saw some when looking for ways to figure out when to pick them. I wanted them, but had no idea where I'd find some to start. Seeds probably take a few years. There was anything really unpleasant about them. The texture of the flesh was a lot like a melon, mostly water. In this ones, case, the juice look sort of like blood. Hope it doesn't stain... Washed up fine, so should come out in the laundry. It wasn't sugary sweet, very mild. The flavor wasn't as pronounced as a melon, but similar. I don't see me spending $6 at Walmart for one. More in the $1.00 range, to catch my interest. Have to be some serious health benefits to boost the price, not marketing hype. I'll eat them, as my cactus producing them. The flavor is pleasant, and nothing over whelming about them. I had 4 pineapples this year, all got ripe, less than a week apart. First two were small, and was plenty. The last two, had some trouble though. I don't get pineapples every year, won't miss the for a few. They are so much better than store bought. Think it has to do with them being picked way too early. I wait until they show a lot of yellow. They don't ripen evenly on the plant. The smaller ones, you can get away with it. But the large ones, you get over ripe, and under ripe, all in one. The ripen evenly after their picked though. Going to cut back a lot of the new growth, and see of I can start some the entire length of the fence. The flowers and fruit seem to come off the older growth. Least the fruit came off a branch I had trimmed before. Never messed with them much, just let them grow. I prune, mostly when they are hanging in the way. They don't have a lot of needles, but they shed, when you get poked. Most come out easy with duct tape. |
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