Friday, January 02, 2009

Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit)

On August 18, 2008, I noticed these dragon fruit buds on my vine. I decided to photograph their growth.


1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 1



I don't know what happened to the third bud.


1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 2



1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 3



1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 4


They bloom at night. This was on September 6.


1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 5


The next morning, I was pleased to see the blooms hadn't faded. The flowers reminded me of Dutchman's Pipe Cactus, also called the Night Blooming Cereus. Like how I captured the bees buzzing in?


1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 6



1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 7



1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 8


Close-ups of the bees and blooms.


1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 9



1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 10



1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 11



1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 12


Eventually the blooms turn to fruit, or rather the area behind the blooms become fruit.


1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 13



1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 14


Finally ready for harvesting two months later on October 20.


1.2 Life Cycle of Thanh Long (Vietnamese Dragon Fruit) 15


My vine doesn't produce nearly as much as my youngest uncle's dragon fruit, but way better than my previous dragon fruit flower and old house's dragon fruit pictures.

Other garden updates.

*****
1 year ago today, Bo Xao Xa (Vietnamese Beef Sauteed with Lemongrass).
2 years ago today, the Best of 2006 roses from my garden.
at

14 comments:

  1. JenSeptember 14, 2009 at 7:49 AM

    holy cow...my mom's got 2 of these and we thought the whole purpose of this thing was for the flowers! HAHAHAHA! i had no idea THIS was what the dragon fruit looked it!! thank you so much for sharing! Now i'm excited about the fruit!!!

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  2. Food, she thought.September 14, 2009 at 9:06 AM

    That is so beautiful, thank you for sharing.

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  3. ShirleySeptember 14, 2009 at 9:23 AM

    Awesome pictures! I had a cereus plant but it died in a freeze. Now you make me want another one. BTW what does the fruit taste like? I saw them in the Asian grocery store yesterday but didn't get any....

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  4. Mary BergfeldSeptember 14, 2009 at 9:37 AM

    What gorgeous photography! I'm impressed by you skill with a camera.

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  5. TS of eatingclub vancouverSeptember 14, 2009 at 10:43 AM

    Oh, I like! It's like time-lapse photography! I don't think I've ever seen a dragonfruit plant before.

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  6. AnonymousSeptember 14, 2009 at 1:26 PM

    Gorgeous pics and yummy-looking dragonfruit! Hope you're getting as fabulous a batch this year.

    My sister keeps telling me how many flowers my father's plants have and I'm planning a trip home that will coincide with the fruits being ready to be eaten by greedy lil me, instead of missing out and reading my sister's gleeful (and cruel) emails about how they are soooo sick of eating dragon fruit.

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  7. Inez ValentinaSeptember 14, 2009 at 3:17 PM

    Amazing! As the caption at the top says the photo was taken in August of 2008, at first I thought, holy crap these take long to grow!!

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  8. Tigger mumSeptember 14, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    Great pics! Love that you showed the fruit growing!!! Amazing!

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  9. EatTravelEatSeptember 14, 2009 at 4:56 PM

    Beautiful cycle of the dragonfruit! It seems like more and more people are growing dragonfruit :). We just started growing a dragonfruit plant at my garden from our farmers market (which was a trimming from a main tree with roots on it- only 5 dollars). Wonder how long it will take for the plant to make fruits- it is surviving right now though!

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  10. caninecologneSeptember 14, 2009 at 7:12 PM

    hi wc - those are gorgeous pictures of the dragon fruit blossoms! nice to see the cycle of how they bloom and turn into the fruit.

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  11. taste travellerSeptember 15, 2009 at 4:33 AM

    Thanks for posting these - I never knew how dragonfruit grow. It's fascinating and beautiful (and quick, too!)

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  12. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2009 at 1:05 PM

    LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE the pictures! amazing!

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  13. UnknownSeptember 23, 2009 at 3:25 PM

    wow, thanks for the great pictures. I started my dragon fruit plant from cuttings last year and I saw new growth. little did I know it was a bud soon to be blossom and soon to be fruit. I am very excited. Can't wait, my daughter loves the dragon fruit.so it is about two months from time it forms to bloom, to ready to harvest right? do you need to do anything else when it blooms to ensure fruit ?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wandering ChopsticksNovember 1, 2009 at 1:42 AM

    Jen,
    Funny! So what has your mom been doing after the flower fruited?

    Liz,
    You're welcome.

    Shirley,
    Tastes like a light kiwi fruit, or cactus fruit.

    Mary,
    Thanks! These were taken with my old point-and-shoot.

    TS,
    I was trying to come up with something new from my usual standard fruit pictures.

    Oanh,
    I've gotten a bumper crop this year. It's been great.

    Val,
    Haha. Yeah, it just takes me a while to get around to blogging.

    Tigger Mum,
    I'm surprised I remembered to take photos often enough to show the growth.

    ETE,
    Just need one cutting and then it can be passed along to others. It took several years from the first cutting before my family got any fruit.

    Canine Cologne,
    Thanks!

    Taste Traveller,
    Dragon fruit is still a novelty for a lot of people.

    CharlieFlii,
    Thanks!

    Si,
    I really don't know. My uncle planted the dragon fruit. I just water it occasionally. :P

    ReplyDelete

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