Wellspring Dragon Fruit

The plant shows signs of impending branches in two locations.  It's kind of hard to tell from the photo.

Meyer Lemon Cutting

I pruned a branch from the lemon tree because it was crossing over another more vigorous branch.  I've tried rooting other cuttings with minimal success.  I decided to peel back the bark to expose the cambium layer, dipped the plant in rooting hormone, wrapped the stem in moist moss, wrapped the moss in plastic, and cut the leaves to discourage transpiration.  We'll see if this helps the plant develop a decent root system.

Seedling Dragon Fruit

This is the tallest of the seedlings.  Its height is just under 2 inches tall.  The plants out in the greenhouse are wider because they are getting more sun.  The thinner, lanky plants are stretchhing towards the sun.

Pineapple Infloresence

The pineapple is getting bigger.  She will probably ready for harvest by April or May.  Hopefully I can put her out in the sun for that last month so as to improve the sugar content.

I don't see any sign of flowering from the other two pineapples that I attempted to force flower. Perhaps I'll see evidence in another couple of weeks.

Meyer Lemon

The Meyer lemon plant is going to flower again.  She seems to like spending her winter in the greenhouse much better than in th house.  When I first put her out into the greenhouse, she looked tired and had yellowing leaves.  I attribute the yellow to a reduction of energy stores due to lack of sunlight and the depletion of energy by forming fruits.

I have discovered that my citrus fare far better in the greenhouse than the main house.  All I need is to keep the greenhouse from freezing, preferably no less than 40F degrees.

Seedling Tangerine Ready to Bloom???

I hope that the smaller-sized seedling tangerine may be ready to bloom.  Some branches have clusters of multi-sectioned buds.  The Meyer lemon has similar-looking buds before she flowers.

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.