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Cereus- 'Peruvian Apple'

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 9:45 pm
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:

Re: Cereus- 'Peruvian Apple'

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:39 am
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).