I live in the SF Bay Area, in a rather cool climate. Last winter was my first winter trying to grow dragon fruit, and of all the varieties I tried Physical Graffiti was the most robust and cold tolerant. I got two fruits over the summer, taking about 45 days to ripen after pollinating with a Vietnam White variety. There were four other blossoms that dropped. The fruits were really large and really delicious, and weighed 800-840 gm (1.75-1.86 lb).
@@michaellouie4765 I'm across the Bay in Newark. The daytime air temperatures are about the same as in San Mateo, but it's sunnier and more likely to sunburn the plants, and the nighttime temperatures are often much cooler because it's more likely to stay clear at night here. You get a lot of night clouds that trap the heat, but our more desert-like climate here is more likely to have clear nights. On clear nights the air temperature drops more, but more importantly, the surfaces of any plants exposed to the night time sky drop below the air temperature owing to radiative cooling. So we get a lot of dew, and often frost in the winter. It's the dew on the dragon fruit branches that's really destructive, resulting quickly in cactus rust. Dragon fruit tolerate moisture and being wet when it's warm enough, but when it's cool their immune systems fail and they develop all kinds of rot. Since posting last year, I built a hoop house to cover the dragon fruit, and that really works. It doesn't change the nighttime air temperature, but it keeps the dew and frost off. Last night, for example, the air temperature in the hoop house dropped to 33 F, and remained there for many hours. I doubt it got that cold in San Mateo last night. I have about two dozen varieties in there. You're welcome to come by and see it sometime. I'll be leaving dozens of 1 gal pots of different varieties out in the open air this winter to see which die back and which are sufficiently hardy for my climate.
Awesome dude! I have an issue with the ants as well. I finally found something that works and thought I’d share. Take an old sour cream container and poke 4-6 holes on the sides near the bottom, bout 1/2” up. Take an old piece of bread, or leftover eggos, and soak them in a solution of borax and water. Put that stuff in the container, close it up, and set it near your plants. Give it a few days and rebait if needed. I swear dude, I haven’t seen an ant in about a month since I set this stuff out
I live in the SF Bay Area, in a rather cool climate. Last winter was my first winter trying to grow dragon fruit, and of all the varieties I tried Physical Graffiti was the most robust and cold tolerant. I got two fruits over the summer, taking about 45 days to ripen after pollinating with a Vietnam White variety. There were four other blossoms that dropped. The fruits were really large and really delicious, and weighed 800-840 gm (1.75-1.86 lb).
Thanks for sharing! I agree it is the most hardy of Paul Thomson's hybrids.
What city (microclimate) do you grow DF? I am in San Mateo.
@@michaellouie4765 I'm across the Bay in Newark. The daytime air temperatures are about the same as in San Mateo, but it's sunnier and more likely to sunburn the plants, and the nighttime temperatures are often much cooler because it's more likely to stay clear at night here. You get a lot of night clouds that trap the heat, but our more desert-like climate here is more likely to have clear nights. On clear nights the air temperature drops more, but more importantly, the surfaces of any plants exposed to the night time sky drop below the air temperature owing to radiative cooling. So we get a lot of dew, and often frost in the winter. It's the dew on the dragon fruit branches that's really destructive, resulting quickly in cactus rust. Dragon fruit tolerate moisture and being wet when it's warm enough, but when it's cool their immune systems fail and they develop all kinds of rot. Since posting last year, I built a hoop house to cover the dragon fruit, and that really works. It doesn't change the nighttime air temperature, but it keeps the dew and frost off. Last night, for example, the air temperature in the hoop house dropped to 33 F, and remained there for many hours. I doubt it got that cold in San Mateo last night. I have about two dozen varieties in there. You're welcome to come by and see it sometime. I'll be leaving dozens of 1 gal pots of different varieties out in the open air this winter to see which die back and which are sufficiently hardy for my climate.
Others: buy my new hybrid.
Unbiased Paul: just keep growing your PG!
Thanks bro for the honest reviews as always!
Lol, it's the number one variety grown commercially in California for a reason!
Awesome dude! I have an issue with the ants as well. I finally found something that works and thought I’d share. Take an old sour cream container and poke 4-6 holes on the sides near the bottom, bout 1/2” up. Take an old piece of bread, or leftover eggos, and soak them in a solution of borax and water. Put that stuff in the container, close it up, and set it near your plants. Give it a few days and rebait if needed. I swear dude, I haven’t seen an ant in about a month since I set this stuff out
Nice! I have never heard of the Eggo method. I'll try it when it warms up again in the spring. They ants are much less active this time of year.
Happy to hear that you liked PG. I've bought a small cutting this year. Hoping next year I may get fruit!
It's hard to beat!
since physical graffiti is self sterile could it be that what was used to cross-pollinate it with, make a difference in taste??
very good friend
Thank you! Cheers!
Is Physical Graffiti Self Fertile or Self Sterile?
Some claim it is self-fertile, but I have never gotten fruit from a self-pollinated blossom. So I cross pollinate.
This was randomly recommended in my UA-cam feed. Does this creator just taste dragon fruit?
Grows them, really good info as well.
We do everything related to dragon fruit :)
Thanks Dan