Technical Posters on Dragon Fruits

I have just came back from Sabah, East Malaysia. I was attending the 18th Malaysian Society of Plant Physiology (MSPP) Conference at Le Meredian Hotel. It was officiated by the Sabah State Agrciculture Minister. I saw a lot of new and old faces get back together. There are various topics discussed from global warming to dragon fruits planting. The meeting was diverse and many new ideas discussed. There was a post tour conference to Kinabalu Parks and Poring which I had been.

I had the opportunity to give an oral presentaion on dragon fruits entitles "Challenges in Dragon Fruits Growing in Malaysia". There were 3 other papers related to dragon fruits. I have managed to include two posters here.

Dragon Fruits Harvesting

I have visited a farm in Malacca, 80 km from Kuala Lumpur to observe dragon fruit harvesting. The farm is around 20 ac. situated nearby roadside. It was not a peak season during our visit however, the owner was kindly enough to take some photos to be posted in my blog. I hope there is some interesting to note and observe how washing, grading and sorting is done once the fruits are harvested.(The pics are not in sequence)

After MAHA 2015

It was an exciting moment for farmers through out Malaysia. MAHA is the platform where everyone could see agricultural activities carried out by private sectors, farmers , government agencies, universities etc. Oversea and international participants include Australia, UK, India, China, Indonesia, Denmark and others .
The acceptance from the public was overwhelming. More than 1 Million people turned up for the 13-day exhibition.
I manage to put two posters one on" Disease control dragon fruits in farmer's farm, the other poster on Heliconia growing as landscape plants. My poster is in Malay (Bahasa Melayu)

Dragon Fruit Phenology

Dragon fruits mature very fast. It take a year to produce fruits.The fruiting cycle take about 45 days.

Dragon Fruits Made Good Entry For MAHA 2015

I have become one of the panel judges for Fruit Section for the last five years. Fruits that enter the contest includes durian,nangka,citrus, pineapple, salak, pulasan, bananas, mangos, guava,wax apple, dragon fruits.They came from all over the states except Sarawak. Sarawak has never enter the fruits contest for so long. The fruits that came to the contest is from the various farms that was selected previously. All those farms are registered through Department Of Agriculture (DOA). There are 2 categories of assesement Farm leve (70%) Products (30%).

Dragon fruits seems this time had the largest entry i.e 8. I was suprised that there are different types of red dragon fruits judging from the scales of the fruits. There are variety which have less scales or bracts compared to the normal red ones. The second largest entry is pineapple and citrus i.e 5 followed by mangos 4 entry.

Those who win will received reward from the Prime Minister on the 12 th of August; appreciation and recognition for their hard work.

Techniques in Dragon Fruit Planting

There are many techniques of how dragon fruits can be planted. It can be planted in row, single and so forth. Not only dragon fruits can be planting as big plantations but it could planted in a house compound. Both big and small growers can benefit from this crop- as only planting techniques needs some changes. Be creative

Tallest Dragon Fruits in The World

Wow! I have never seen such tall dragon fruits like this. It was taken in Tawau, Sabah during my recent visit there. The cactus grow on a big dipterocarp, 100 ft in height. The epiphytic cactus grows happily on the tree stems. I notice no fruits bearing that time. I conclude that dragon fruits need full sunshine hours to bear flowers and fruits.