Yes, I gave up on figs for three days.  Have been attending the pitihaya/pitaya/dragonfruit festival in San Marcos and Irvine, California for the past three days.  Visited a couple of grower friends on Thursday and will visit one more grower tomorrow and then home to let my fig trees know I haven't forgot about them! :)

 
 

 
 

Harvey can you explain the taste on those? I have never tried dragon fruit.

Beautiful fruit! I am sure your figs are Ok with that loud speaker screaming at the birds...

Brian, I'm bad at being able to explain flavors.  Good dragonfruit are great while there is a lot of junk out there.  I don't think I'd ever buy one in a store again as they are almost always bad, though folks like Gray Martin (friend in first photo) hope to change that.  Most white-fleshed varieties are bland tasting or at least fairly mild, but some can be pretty good.  Gray has developed a nice white one that I tasted on Thursday (he's bred and trialed over 4,000 seedlings!)  Most dark red ones are more acidic and not sweet enough for my taste but I have had them make some of the best smoothies ever (add a little sugar and maybe some lime juice).  The pink-fleshed ones are usually my favorite and are quite sweet (brix 16-20) and mildly acidic and, possibly, flavor intensity of something such as watermelon (not that it tastes like a watermelon).  The colors are wild, IMO.  They are a challenge to grow in my climate though I did pick two fruit from a protected outdoor plant earlier this month.  Many require cross-pollination (though Gray again is breeding for self-fertility).  I have been toying with the idea of putting up a high tunnel and growing commercially, but maybe I should have my head examined to take on yet another project.

Dragonfruit lose acidity while being refrigerated so that may be helpful to dark red types but harmful to others.  If you've had bad impressions from a fruit from a store, it's probably because of the source or storage.  I generally prefer them refrigerated but the best ones are good at room temperature as well.

Grasa, my speakers are definitely helping.  My sound card doesn't have a distress call for mocking birds and they are still causing some problems but it's quite rare that I see finch, sprarrows, or starlings.  I didn't catch whatever animal that was giving me problems in my first night after getting two traps and closed the traps before leaving and will resume my efforts tomorrow night.

I'm not back home alive yet....

Chestnuts will probably start being sold in about one month, maybe a little more.  I won't be posting much around here beginning in a few weeks.

I've seen this fruit in a Vancouver Asian market when I visited Paul and his wife and I thought it was very unique and interesting fruit. Just beautiful.
I just don't know why I didn't grab one?

I did buy some other unique and exotic fruit and I thought it was good. Hopefully these fruit become more available around here.

I like dragon fruit, I have a number of varieties in a large pot. I really need to separate them and train them so they might produce fruit. Not sure how well they will do without a greenhouse, though Edible Landscaping grows them not far from here, but in a greenhouse. They are really refreshing cold. I saw them for sale in Chinatown in Manhatten a couple of weeks ago, and they are available in season at our large Asian market here in Richmond,VA. Those are the white type, the only one I have tried. I had the same feeling Rafed had, wishing I had bought some in NY, they were cheap enough...I did buy some figs from a vendor, a pint of black mission for $2, could have been better, but not terrible.

Mike in Hanover, VA

Mike, in zone 7 you would need to keep them indoors or greenhouse during winter.  Freezing or frost is very bad for them.  Even in 9b I had many die.

Hershell is the greenhouse king here and is planning to grow them.

wait, what speakers, what loud sound for birds... did I miss a thread? LOL

is there a new way of getting rid of birds?

ah, those Dragon fruit are indeed delicious. My friend is growing along his fence in the back...I loved the taste, although his (I thought) were on the smaller side, but still very yummy. They do really well in LA.

Aaron, check out birdguard.com though maybd not suitable for urban conditions.

Try Halley's Comet dragon fruit.


Photo from Pine Island Nursery

Interesting post Harvey, thanks! I've been wanting a couple dragon fruit plants for my fruit collection but haven't decided on any yet. I've narrowed them down to 5 varieties and Halleys Comet is on the list. Wayne, is this an exceptional flavored variety? I've read that the pink colored fruits are generally the most flavorful. Do you find this to be true?

Halley's Comet is one of the better varieties and I have tried it several times and am growing it. Physical Grafitti is similar and the most productive at the Irvine trials. Both of tbese and several others were developes by Paul Thomson, co-founder of CRFG and renamed by Pine Island. The pink varieties are generally my favorite, as stated above.

Grower direct prices are tylically $4/pound at tbeir farms, $3 wholesale.

I liked Halley's Comet so much that I came home with 8 three foot plants.

do you have other varieties for pollination

Halley' Comet does not need cross or hand pollination but probably would give a better crop.


http://dragonfruitplants.com/

White pitaya. Semi-sweet, semi-tart. Very refreshing and juicy.  Unfortunately, I don't know the variety type.  This was given to me from a classmate who got it from his mom's place.  THE BIGGEST I'VE EVER SEEN!  About the size of a baby's head.  And, of course, he says this was a smaller size one.  

My DF are still young 'uns.

 

Very neat stuff, learning new things, thanks all for sharing.

Now I wish I could get my hands on a good dragonfruit to try!

Here is a GIF series I did a few years ago:

 

I want to make it clear that I don't dis-like Halley's Comet.  I have eaten several of them and it is one of my favorite.  But it is quite similar to several others.  In addition, over a course of several years at trials in Irvine, CA, it has produced about 25% as much of a crop per plant as Physical Graffiti (5,979 grams vs. 23,429 grams) which also tastes quite good .

From what I read, I'll just deal with the lizards, rattlesnakes, gophers, slugs, and all that.  No need for another challenge.

I don't have gopher or rattlesnakes so I can handle the challenge.  I don't consider lizards a challenge or problem at all.  They eat bugs.

Harvey, that looks  awesome!  I just tried my first DF and updated my previous post on the hand pollination attempt a few minutes ago and ran into this thread.  That looks like a  great time!  What is in the trays of plastic cups?  Is that a pitaya sorbet or custard?