Pitaya Plans

I am bored and sleepy. This has caused the wheels of my mind to start churning. It would be wonderful if I could grow pitaya plants to the point of fruiting and then sell them at the local flea market. I don't know if there is a market for them, but there is definitely a shortage: I have never seen them in this area, and a search for them at the end of summer proved fruitless, literally. I have thought the same thing about my banana plants. Sell all the many pups. Anyway, if I trim the tips of the pitaya plant so that the plant grows more or less within the circumference of the container. I saw a picture of a pitaya that looked like a weeping willow with an extremely good hair cut. All the weeping branches were trimmed away from the ground at the same height. I would like to replicate this look at some point.

Prune Pitaya???

I want the Lowe's hylocereus to branch more in different directions. I had thought to prune the plant, and my hunch has been confirmed by the following website: http://www.kadasgarden.com/grafting5.html. I hope to do no harm, but I will never know if this will work until I try. My action plan is to prune the growing tips of the two growing shoots. The hope is that they will flush out new stems from other areoles.

O.k., so I did it. I trimmed all the tips and even cut off the very first branch to grow under my care. I hope that many more branches will grow, some of which should climb the impromptu trellis. Other branches can begin to hang down the side of the basket. As I just typed the last sentence, I began to think, "the stems probably will not hang down the side because the sun is coming from above, not below." I guess I will have to wait for spring and summer when I can put the plant outside so that sunlight will reach all parts.

While I was cutting tips off, I tasted a part of the plant. It's a little slimy but otherwise not bad. Breakfast anyone? The 3-inch branch that I cut off is now sitting in the room to cure. I about a week or two, I will put it in a pot to see if I can start another plant from the cutting. I hope the plant gives good fruit.

Dragon Fruit Trellis

I made a make-shift trellis for my pitaya plant. I used bamboo from my neighbor's yard; the only problems is that I don't know how to work with bamboo. I'm not sure how sound the structure is. I originally intended to just let the plant grow and drape over the pot. I still intend to let the plant hang over the container, but if a limb or two decide that they want to grow, now there is something to climb. I will add another inch of soil once the plant gets larger to help the pole be anchor more in the earth.

Seedling Dragon Fruit

The little seedlings that I planted back in September are scattered here and there. They seemed to stop growing after I transplanted them into different pots. The plant pictured is the first one that seems to be growing a second branch.

However, the plants that I placed outside in the greenhouse in the sun are growing thicker stems.

White Sugarloaf Pineapples

The white pineapple plants are growing fabulously.

Pineapple Inflorescence

The pineapple is growing larger each day. It does not seem hampered by being indoors. I hope the pineapple is delicious.

Notice that there is a shoot at the bottom of the pineapple.

Cinnamon

There is a red, 3-inch shoot emerging from the soil of the cinnamon plant. I was concerned that the plant had not shown any signs of growth since I brought it inside for the winter. If the shoot has roots, I may remove it to start a second cinnamon plant.

Hylocereus undatus Lowe's

The plant I purchased from Lowe's has about doubled it size in the past 3 months.

I think that a new branch is starting to form.

Dragon Fruit

I just receive a dragon fruit plant from Wellspring Gardens. It is definitely bigger than my 3-month-old seedlings; however, I hypothesize that this plant is a seedling itself. It may be 6-8 months old. It is interesting to see how different the various hylocereus plants are. This one seems to be paler than my larger plant, and it has really well-defined spines in comparison to my plant.

Meyer lemon blooming

Yes!

Dragon fruit

The new branches continue to grow nicely.

Avocado plant

I brought this one indoors over the winter and left the other two in the greenhouse.  They are all about the same height.  One has a thicker stem than the other two.

White sugarloaf pineapples

This is their first winter. They are looking good; however, the leaves are not as rigid as the yellow pineapples.

Pineapple inflorescence update

It's coming along nicely.

Meyer lemon blooms

My little lemon continues to bloom.

Pineapple progress

Hylocereus undatus

It's growing.

Dragon fruit, pitaya, hylocereus undatus update

My little dragon fruit plant is growing three new branches now. I'm excited. One day I will eat some dragon fruit.

Pineapple size comparison

The first two pictures are my 2nd crop of pineapples taken in early April 2012. The last one is the 3rd crop of pineapples taken late November 2012.

Pineapple inflorescence update

The pineapple inflorescence is definitely getting larger. The pineapple seems larger than the last crop. It should be ready around April.

Meyer lemon bloom

Pineapple flower

Just another perspective view.

Pineapple flower

This is the pineapple I blogged about on October 6. The flower has gotten larger and the purple flowerlets have emerged.

Dragon Fruit

My little hylocereus undatus a.k.a pitaya has grown a lot.

Meyer lemon

Meyer Lemon Flush

Growing vanilla vine

I purchased vanilla from Wellspring Gardens in April-June. It is slow growing, but it is now trying to climb the avocado tree. I had a piece that broke off. I left it in the soil. It is now growing (notice the little green hook in the bottom foreground of the picture).

Over-wintering citrus

These are more citrus that I brought in for the winter.Meyer lemon from Gurney'sGrafted Clementine Orange from Lowe'sKey lime from Gurney's. I love her whimsical branches.

Tangerine Plants

I brought my citrus in for the winter. I could have waited for another 2-3 weeks, but I was already moving bananas. I figured I may as well move the citrus while I was at it.Gurney's citura tangerine. It has never flowered. Two seedlings that have been growing since around February of 2010. The have never flowered, but they are getting tall.

Dragon fruit seedlings

I planted some purple and white pitaya seeds around September 8. It is a month later, and the little hylocereus are growing well.

Pineapple Flower

I have been so busy with work and attempting to build a greenhouse, that I haven't paid much attention to my plants. The looked a little sad. I trimmed the dead leaves off and watered them. To my surprise, I discovered that one of my pineapples planted in January of 2011 is flowering. I had planned to force it to flower along with its companion this coming December. I guess she has other plans. She should ripen about March or April.