Cereus- 'Peruvian Apple'

Created by popular request. Share what you know about man's past and present use of cacti.
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Erigid
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2015 11:37 pm
Location: Inland Empire, So. Calif.

Cereus- 'Peruvian Apple'

Post by Erigid »

Hi-

Is there a source for Cereus sp grown for their fruit taste? I have one given as a cutting, no other information besides the plant came from the UCRiverside plant sale.

It does well here and I do like the fruit... the problem is the majority of flowers just fall off immediately after blooming. This year it's been 100% drop. I see some comments about this species being self fertile but this consistent very low fruit production has got me wondering. Would another specimen that's not a clone help with fruit production?

I water this plant semi regularly, hoping it would encourage more flowers and higher fruit set but does not seem to be working.. as of now it's just growing taller. :roll:
jfabiao
Posts: 382
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2015 9:45 am
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
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Re: Cereus- 'Peruvian Apple'

Post by jfabiao »

I remember reading somewhere that the flowers are mostly fertile at around 10 p.m., so it might pay off to do a few hourly rounds of hand pollination after sunset. I had two different Cereus in my garden for more than thirty years, they flowered a couple of weeks apart (meaning there was a very slight overlap) and all I got in that time was two fruits that yelded non-viable seed (the seeds germinated but never passed from the cotyledon stage).
Z, in (mostly) sunny Lisbon.
http://jardineiroazelha.blogspot.pt/
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