dragonfruit

[steam fire and ice]

They finally are showing some minor growth!!!!!!!!!!! I started from seeds some dragonfruit plants back in Sept., and now they finally are showing some form of growth. I'm actually getting excited now, maybe they will actually get more than 1 inch big before they are a year old. ha ha ha. I didnt want to buy a plant, and no one I knew around here had one that I could have gotten a cutting off of, so I went the seed route. Its been a patience game with these things. I have almost thrown them out a couple of times from getting frustrated with them, but I just couldnt do it. Now they are finally doing something. I figured it would just be something exotic I could grow while I am here.

[Ladyofthelakes]

I just looked these up on google. Very pretty. What does the fruit taste like. Why does it take a year to do any growing. It looks like a fruit that grows on a cactus.

[mstribling]

this fruit is grown at my home. Sweet taste.

[basalt]

I planted some last year and they came up very quickly, I dried the seed first - I wonder if dormancy is an issue, they were from the red variety.
Mine after a year are six inches long and a tangled mass of branching green fingers and aerial roots. I really should get them something to climb up.
Chances of getting them to flower on my windowsill - practically nil but that's not the point

[steam fire and ice]

Originally Posted by Ladyofthelakes

I just looked these up on google. Very pretty. What does the fruit taste like. Why does it take a year to do any growing. It looks like a fruit that grows on a cactus.

Vivienne,
I have no idea why its taking so long to do anything. I have heard they are like a cactus. I do know it could take a year to two before it would get to the point it would produce fruit, but its like mine are taking the two year plan..... ha ha ha as far as the taste..... hard to describe really, it is extremely juicy, and slightly sweet, not overly powering. You could probably find some at a whole foods store if there was one near you to try. The kind I planted seeds from was Here in Okinawa, they are grown everywhere, and if you live somewhere with a blacony, lots of times you will see them just flowing over the balcony down towards the ground.
Here is a picture of the way someone was growing theirs, I get so amazed by how little root room they need, for such a huge plant, they can actually get over 20 feet long. The next two are a couple of my plants with their finally little nub 3rd leaf. It only took about 10 days to get the first two leaves, and until about a week ago, the rest of time to get the nub to actually grow. Mine are from the white dragonfruit. I loved how the inside of it looked like vanilla ice cream.

[steam fire and ice]

Originally Posted by basalt

I planted some last year and they came up very quickly, I dried the seed first - I wonder if dormancy is an issue, they were from the red variety.
Mine after a year are six inches long and a tangled mass of branching green fingers and aerial roots. I really should get them something to climb up.
Chances of getting them to flower on my windowsill - practically nil but that's not the point

I dried my seeds first too, I dont know, did yours take a while to get the third "leaf" on them? Mine is from the white fruits. I know once they put out aerial roots, those could be repotted as a starter too. As far as flowering on the windowsill, it all depends on the weather there. They grow them all over balconys here, and in small areas. But japan is known for growing lots of things in small areas. Do you have a balcony you could hang them off of? do you have much of a yard area? I know of someone around here that has built a scaffold around it to support theirs.

Here is actually a couple of pictures of the fruits we got our seeds from.

[basalt]

They did take a while to get that first true leaf going then sort of went berserk, the one on my office windowsill now has nine stems from one root and the seed leaves are still present. I could grow them outside in the summer but they'd not survive the autmum, my best bet might be growing them up a moss pole and moving them round so suite the weather.
How long do they take to reach flowering size?

[steam fire and ice]

Originally Posted by basalt

They did take a while to get that first true leaf going then sort of went berserk, the one on my office windowsill now has nine stems from one root and the seed leaves are still present. I could grow them outside in the summer but they'd not survive the autmum, my best bet might be growing them up a moss pole and moving them round so suite the weather.
How long do they take to reach flowering size?

If it gets really cold, yes they would need to come indoors. They are not frost or cold tolerant. From what I have read on them so far, they usually are flowering from a year to two years. I know to start flowering they will be extremely tall. Most around here dont start until they are well over 10 feet. One of the girls around here, hers is in the second season of getting ready to bloom and hers is almost 3 years old and didnt start until mid last summer, so it took hers almost 2 years, but she has had bunches of the fruits. She was actually selling off her plant, and seeing it was amazing to look at. Im thinking this is a patience building plant as well.

[heatherm]

Interesting. If I ever see the seeds I'll try growing them here. We cannot import seeds without permission and phyto-sanitary certificates etc, but the plant sounds like it would grow here quite easily.

Heather

[orchids4me]

Never heard of this one but it is interesting.
Keep us posted on their progress

[steam fire and ice]

I was thinking today I wanted to see how far these things have come since I last posted in the end of march. Well here are my plants today. If you look at the one on the farthest right up towards the top, there is a first airial root starting. When you grow one from a cutting, you can trim off there and it will make a new plant too.

[Amblnc38]

I love them! They're adorable!