Hello dragon fruit enthusiasts! This is Jay, with Hybridizing Dragon Fruit, where we teach YOU how to make your very own dragon fruit varieties!

Today’s video is a very special one! We are going to go over some incredibly important principles, that are absolutely essential to growing the kind of quality dragons that will stand the test of time, and will one day, end up in everyone’s back yard.

Ever wonder why Paul Thompson’s hybrids are so incredibly good? Well, we are going to go over some of the very same concepts he used when creating his hybrids. In addition to some new innovative insights that will help you to more reliably transfer your desired traits by stacking the deck, to grow the very best seedlings possible!

We are going to talk, in detail, about: choosing the ideal parents, large sample sizes, trait expression, and much much more, to ensure a crop of seedlings that will produce your next game changing hybrid! This is the kind of hybridizing instruction you can ONLY find here at HDF! And with that… let’s get started!

In Section 1, we are going to talk about parent selection, traits, and phenotype, in the planning phase of hybridizing dragon fruit.

When it comes down to creating a high quality dragon, the gold standard you are striving for, is a hybrid with traits superior to its parent plants. You want to combine the best traits of both parents to achieve a form of what is called “Heterosis,” or more commonly, “Hybrid Vigor.”

Dragon fruit parents are not “pure lines”. Like corn, they are complex genetic mixes. This means that even in the (F1) also known as the first generation you can achieve hybrid vigor. While hybrid vigor can produce plants stronger than their parents, by crossing two genetically different plants, it’s not guaranteed and is actually a rare occurrence! Breeding is a numbers game, and the more times you roll those dice, the better your chances of finding a superior plant will be.

A second generation, or (F2) crossing of two hybrid plants, exhibits the most genetic variation. This is often desirable for breeders because it unlocks traits hidden in the (F1). Recessive traits (which can be positive OR negative), will appear more often in the (F2) at around 25% for a single gene. So, what does this tell us about choosing parent plants? Well based on what we just learned, it sounds as if the (F2) sounds like the sweet spot. However, the reality is… what’s actually more important, is that we should choose parents based on their phenotype (how they look, perform, taste, etc.) regardless of whether they are (F1) or (F2). You see, a phenotype is the actual expression of a trait, as a result of the plants genetics interacting with environmental factors, such as temperature, light intensity, etc.

Now, every time a seed is formed, its genetic outcome will be different than the next. Each one is completely unique. In every fruit  you harvest, the dice is rolled once for each individual seed that reaches maturity. Giving you potentially hundreds or even thousands of recombined genetics to discover! Remember, the more dice rolls you have, the better your chances for a successful outcome. This concept is of vital importance, and will directly dictate your level of success (along with a bit of luck!). So, if you are growing out just 2 or 3 seedlings from unknown or highly inbred parents and hoping to get a quality dragon… well, this is NOT going to be a very realistic outcome to expect. I’m sorry to say…

This is one of the big reasons there are a flood of varieties with exciting and sometimes misleading names available, that are rather lack luster in overall quality; due to slow growth, production, hardiness, etc. It’s the result of a lack of knowledge when it comes to actual hybridizing. And that is something we here at HDF are very passionate about changing, as we teach more and more people how to use genetics like a wonderful paint brush on the world ’s most beautiful canvas… But I digress.

In section 2 we are going to talk about trait expression, large sample sizes, and the nuances of flavor, in the execution phase of hybridizing dragon fruit.

In this section we are going to share some of our results with you to better illustrate, quite beautifully, what is possible with proper planning and a bit of luck! I am going to teach you how to have better control over the traits transferred in your hybrid creations, and give you a clear idea of what you need to do to be more successful!

For our first round of hybrids we choose two varieties that rivaled each other in a few desirable traits that we wanted in our finished hybrid. Such as: a rapid growth rate, incredible hardiness, great flavor notes, and fruit production. While having just a few different traits, such as: fruit size, and opposing resistances, that we will attempt to transfer through breeding, using some advanced techniques.

For example. Both parents chosen are rapid growing and incredibly hardy! One more against heat, the other more against cold, and neither are particularly weak to the opposing element. Now, barring the negative recessive outcomes, our chances of achieving a hybrid that is strong against one of those elements should be incredibly high! This is a sound breeding strategy often called stacked traits.

If both parents already possess high vigor or resilience, the “FLOOR” for the seedlings is HIGHER! Remember, you aren't trying to "fix" a weak plant, you are refining a strong one. And while the chances of getting both traits is absolutely possible, it will not happen nearly as often. However, this is still a pretty favorable situation though, genetically speaking. Better setting us up for success!

Now let’s talk about the fun part, the traits themselves and how to better transfer them, by stacking the deck successfully. Here at HDF headquarters we have developed a variety of dragonfruit we call “Peachy Keen” that is primarily peach flavored. Pretty cool right? Ever had a dragonfruit that tasted like peaches? Me either! Would you like to know how did we did it? Well, the answer is: large sample size growing!

One of the parents we chose is a rare species that has fruit with many flavor notes, like many dragonfruit that have some complexity to them. Those flavor notes are different in each fruit, and vary in strength. The combination of those notes, and the weight each one carries determines how your fruit tastes, from a genetic standpoint (as other environmental factors can also greatly affect flavor).

One of the flavor notes in the mother plant’s fruit has a nice peachy aftertaste. In order for us to get this flavor note as a prominent  flavor instead of a more background flavor was the result of sheer brute force (and a bit of luck!).

Because flavor is so complex, most seedlings will taste "muddy" or average at best. It takes a very large population to find that one specific seedling where the genetic "volume sliders" for those aromatic compounds hit the exact levels to mimic a peach. This is a great real-world example of whats called transgressive segregation (where offspring have a trait more extreme than either parent).

We grew out 30 hybrids to full flowering maturity. That means we had 30 different recombinations of the available flavor notes in varying levels of intensity (essentially, flavor profiles). Out of 30 mature plants only two had an increase in the amount of peach flavor intensity. With the first hybrid expressing this flavor somewhere in the middle ground, and the latter one, having that peach flavor as a primary flavor note!

And the final topic I would like to talk about is Brix readings, and  how they actually relate to the flavor of your fruit. Brix is a metric that has been grossly overemphasized in the advertising and perceived worth of a particular cultivar. While a high reading will indicate an increased sugar content, which can be good. It says less than you think about a cultivar in most cases, and more likely about its care or harvesting method. Now don’t get me wrong, you are not likely to ever find a dragonfruit that tastes pleasant at a 12% Brix reading. It has merit, as It does affect flavor, but in ways you may not expect…

Any experienced grower can tell you, they have had a fruit with a low brix score (lets say 15 or 16) that either tasted incredibly good, or even tasted as if the sugar content was much higher than what the reading should indicate. And the same thing, vice versa. That is because there are so many incredibly complex factors that go into how your fruit actually tastes. Such as:  a complex blend of aromatics that make up its flavor notes and profile, the amount of nutrition the plant has received, the amount, and intensity of sunlight, and very importantly… the timing of when the fruit is actually picked.

Waiting until your fruit has brown brachs and is cracking (due to ripeness, not overwatering) is commonly advised in the dragon fruit community. Extreme ripeness or even overripeness will produce fruit with superior brix levels, making them noticeably sweeter. However, this comes at a cost that many growers are not aware of. Substantially less flavor complexity. As more sugars are created the fruit often times starts to lose quite a bit of its acidity and complexity that often times leaves the fruit very one dimensional in flavor, even if pleasing. 

However, had you picked that fruit just a couple days after the fruit had turned color (for a surprising amount of varieties) your fruit will have a more balanced combination of sugars and acids that lead to an often much more complex flavor that is even better than you had expected or experienced before. So make sure you harvest your fruit at multiple points during its fruiting cycle to determine where the profile is at its peak, and record that timing for future reference. This is often different from variety to variety, trial an error will be your best guide here. So, don’t be dazzled by high Brix numbers alone as they don’t always end up tasting the best in the end. Flavor is a far too complex of an experience to be summed up in a single number.

With all of this new found knowledge let’s start stacking the deck together. Don't just cross two plants because they have impressive sounding names. Make sure you are using the best possible parents to ensure a much more favorable outcome! Use the HDF Worksheet to see where they complement each other, and take full advantage, to help you pick the optimal parents!

(you will find the link to the FREE download, in the description below)

Be mindful of known undesirable traits as well during the planning phase, so that offending parents can be avoided at best, and the bad trait is tracked if parent selection is… unavoidable. Think really carefully! Especially about important factors such as flavor, growth rates, productivity, and resilience. Try to choose cultivars that display the stacked traits you specifically desire, to better ensure it transfers over to the next generation. For example: If Parent A has a 9/10 growth rate but a 5/10 for cold hardiness, you want to choose a Parent B that is much higher like  an 8/10 or better for cold hardiness, and a similar 9/10 growth rate, to stack the deck in your favor! Writing all of this down will be an absolutely invaluable tool to help you choose the best parents possible, to achieve your ideal hybrid creation. So, be sure to use our HDF Hybridizing worksheet! 

And last but certainly not least: having seasons of experience with the plants you wish to hybridize is absolutely the one of the BEST ways period, to make an informed decision, and have a better understanding of how the offspring of your union, are likely to develop. There are many insights you will develop through observing your plant’s phenotype. Witnessing how it reacts to a myriad of environmental factors spanning multiple seasons. This is how the best hybrids are made! With an understanding of what you are working with, in the first place…

If you would like to learn more about creating your own dragonfruit hybrids, please give us a thumbs up, a subscribe, and be sure to join our Facebook group @Facebook.com/groups/HybridizingDragonFruit. And if you want to learn more about our very own HDF exclusive hybrids, be sure to check out HybridizingDragonFruit.com!

Grow something… AMAZING!