Dragon Fruit

I planted these Dragon Fruit branches last September and already have fruit buds.

(07/17)

(07/19)

I have another Dragon Fruit plant near my Avocado tree and noticed it has a flower too. This is my original plant I got from a neighbor almost two years ago. It is kind of tucked away and I do not pay it much attention, but noticed the flower sticking through the fence. 

(07/24) One of the flowers dropped and it looks like the bottom one will drop as well. Next I think I have to remove one of the flowers to make room for one to survive. They are just too close together.

This flower is growing nicely through the fence. It has a good support system, so expect it will grow nicely.

(07/25) It was a really tough decision, but the two flowers are just too close together, so I had to remove one, plus I decided to remove the bottom one that was still small. 

I selected the largest to remain and removed the other two.

Dragon Fruit flowers are edible, so will slice it and cook it when making Tempura.

(07/28)

(07/30) on 30 July around 2pm I noticed the flower starting to open. You can tell this when the inner white part of the flower can be seen under the green pod. This means the flower will be in full bloom in around 8 hours.

I checked the flower at around 10:30 pm and it was in full bloom. I used a toothbrush to gather pollen from the inner antlers and brushed them on the Stigma. Dragon Fruit pollen is quite large. Now I am not sure if this is a self pollinating verity or requires cross-pollination, but I will see in 35-40 days, which is how long it takes a fruit to mature from pollination.

Roughly 20 cm (8 in) wide.

Roughly 30 cm (12 in) long.

(08/02) Dragon Fruit flowers only bloom for one day and wilt the following day, which is a shame considering how beautiful they are. The fruit is attached to the branch and if it remains after a week, it is a pretty good sign it pollinated and will mature into a delicious fruit.