Mallika Mango

Mallika still has not flushed yet.  I have found evidence of more plumping buds. Altogether I see seven buds that are swelling.  I hope the plant will have a lot of vegetative growth.  If it flushes flower panicles, I will most likely have to cut them off.

Wurtz Avocado

I ordered a Wurtz avocado this week from Ebay.  It arrived Wednesday, December 9, 2015.  I am suprised at how non-compact it is.  Wurtz is supposed to be a dwarf tree.  I was kind of expecting more branching along the trunk of the tree and a little less scraggliness.  It is not a bad little tree, it just needs to shape up a bit.  Many of the stems of the tree are covered by a black substance that reminds me of sooty mold.  I'm not sure if this is something I should be concerned with.  Some of the leaves and limbs look a little droopy and dehydrated.  I suppose the plant suffered shock in the shipping process.  I pruned some of the floppy limbs, and I am trying to make it happy so that it will perk up.  A good thing about the plant is the number of buds it has.  The limbs seem to be coved with apical buds.  Whenever the tree recovers or when the spring arrives, it will be interesting to see if all those buds develop.  If so, then it should be one beautiful little tree.  For right now, I have a Charllie Brown tree, which is fitting because it is almost Christmas.</p>

Seedling Red Dragon Fruit

I ate my first dragon fruit this summer.  Unfortunately, it wasn't the best.  It tasted like, had the consistency of, and was the color of a pickled beet.  The sugar content was non-existent.  The fruit came from Nicaragua, so I suspect it was picked before it was totally ripe.  The red varieties grown there are Lisa, Sin Espinas, San Ignacio, Cebra, and Rosa, Orejona.  My little plant will most likely yield fruit similar to these varieties.  At present, the plant is loaded with spines, so it is unlikely to be a Sin Espinas.  I kind of wonder why the people of Nicaragua mostly grow the red varities as opposed to the white and magenta flesh.  The fruit is on top of the Physical Graffiti dragon

Meditating Mallika

The Mallika mango still has not begun to put out new growth.  I can tell the buds are still plumping.  For an impatient persong like me, the process seems to be taking forever.  The plant arrived on November 11, 2015.  I have seen evidence of swelling buds for weeks now.  Still no new stems yet.  Perhaps by Christmas.</p>

Mallika Mango Making Moves

The buds of my little Mallika continue to swell.  I even spotted a fourth bud swelling that was hidden behind a leaf scar.  If all the buds continue, I will have four new branches soon.  That will be a great start to make a bushy canopy.

Pickering Mango

On Saturday, Novembe 28, I recieved a grafted Pickering mango plant from Plantogram.  She is a beautiful little tree.  I tip most of the stems to encourage busy new growth.  Judging from the slightly larger caliper of the trunk, the tree is probably 6 months to 1 year older than my Mallika.

Mystery Dragon Fruit Growth

The mystery dragon fruit appears to have slowed its growth.  It has put on a great deal of mass considering that it has been growing indoors for 1.5 months.  I read a document titled "Morphometric Analysis of 21 Pitahaya,"  which tries to discern identifying characteristics of pitahaya varieties.  According to the infomation provided in that document, I believe the most likely color of the frit will be magenta.  I hope it fruits this summer, and I hope the fruit is delicious.

Mystery Dragon Fruit Growth

I brought my tropicals indoors on October 17. Most times, my plants don't grow well indoors despite being in front of a south-facing window. I decided to ditch my 5000K lights and get 6500K lights. I also placed more lights on each plant. As a result, my mystery dragon fruit plant has grown greatly even though it is indoors. Below is a before-and-after picture on 10/17 and 11/24.

Mango Mania

I started buying freeze-dried mango chips from my grocer. Man! Those things are expensive but good. I regularly buy fresh mangoes from the market, but they taste bland at best. I decided to try growing my own.

My Mallika mango pictured below arrived November 11, 2015. I pruned it pretty severely because I must train it to stay small and compact. It was about 5' tall when it arrived. It's been about 2 weeks, and I am anxiously awaiting to see when it will flush new vegetative growth. I am using a water meter to test the soil before watering. If my meter reads wet or even moist, I don't water. If it reads dry, I water. Since it is late fall and nearly winter, I must keep the tree indoors. I have it positioned at a south-facing window and I am running 2 grow lights. I just ordered a Pickering mango, and it should arrive Saturday.

Dragging Dragon's Inside

I brought my plants inside.   The nighttime temps are going to be near freezing.  God willing, I cannot wait to see what next spring and summer will bring.  Hopefully fruit.
 

Dragon fruits, getting big

The hylocereus plants have grown nicely this summer.  I hope that I get some fruit from Lowe's.   It had deep purple flesh and tasted like a beet.  I hope my fruit from my plants will be much better.

Talinum fruticosum perhaps?

I have no clue what this is.

Dragon Summer Flush

All of my dragons are growing new shoots at present.  I hope the biggest one will flower.  There is still time.  If it doesn't flower within the next month, it will run out of warm weather to ripen the fruit.

Potted Dragons

I finished repotting the last and largest plant around 9:30 last night.  I like view uniform the poles look.

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New Support Trellis for Dragon Fruit Plants

<\p>Two days ago an Asian gentleman knocked on my door. He wanted to by my large aloe and dragon fruit plants. He said his had died because he left them outdoors during the winter. Well I sold him some "thanh long" as he called it. He suggested that I use a 4x4 beam as a trellis. I had already began to think about changing the trellising. The ladder trellises that I was using kept blowing over with the breeze. It seems he solved my problem for me. My only concern is that I could not find non-pressure-treated lumber. I hope those chemicals don't leach into my dragon fruit. Additionally, I planted an extra pot of dragon fruit just in case someone knocks on my door next year. I'll be ready.

Delight dragon fruit

this is my delight dragon fruit plant. There are actually two cuttings that are growing, one in front and another in back. The cutting in the front seems to be more vigorous and is therefore growing stronger. I hope to get the stands to 2nd up. I remember that my original the light dragon fruit plant had really thick stands. Unfortunately, the original plant died in the hard winter of 2014. The weaker plant in the back was cut from the original plant. It will probably be at least another year or two before I can get this plant to fruit.

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Seedling dragon fruit

this is my seedling dragon fruit plant. Its growing slower than the other more established plants. But at least it's growing. I don't know what type of fruit this will you. my best guess is that the fruit will be white.

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Physical Graffiti 2

this is my second Physical Graffiti plant. This plant was started from a cutting of the survivor of the winter of 2014. The plant is trying its best to catch up with my larger Physical Graffiti. I have discovered that physical grafitti plants are very resilient and fast growers.

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Selenicereus megalanthus

the yellow dragon fruit has grown just a little bit. The students are spindly due to lack of light. I have decided not to fuss too much over this plant because the probability of getting it to fruit is low. It means a much more tropical environment then I can give it. I have read that people in Florida California and Texas have problems getting it to fruit. The chance of me getting it to fruit here in North Carolina is slim and none. So I will let it grow, but I'm not going to worry myself too much about it.

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Mystery Dragon Fruit

the mystery plant has gotten a little larger. I still don't know what type of plant this is. It definitely does not grow as fast as the Physical Graffiti. Oh well, maybe she'll give me some fruit and I will know what type of plant this is. I researched last night. My best guess is that the fruit will be white or some sort of mixture of white and red.

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Physical Graffiti

she's gotten much larger over the winter. I hope that she can produce fruit this spring and summer.

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Progress

Still growing

Go Graffiti Grow

It is amazing how fast these plants grow.   Not only are the three branches still growing, but there are two buttons starting to form on an older branch.   If only I could supply more light to thicken up the branches. I probably have another1.5 months of cold winter before I can begin to take the plant outside occasionally.   Now comes the fun part-- keeping the size manageable. 

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Hylocereus Soaking up Sun

Grow Baby, grow!

Graffiti Growing

my physical grafitti plant has grown right through the winter. Even though the lighting conditions aren't the best, you still manages to grow. Unfortunately some of the strands are not as thick as they could be, however that is to be expected.

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