Peruvian Apple Cactus (From Good Tasting Clone) – Seed

Peruvian Apple Cactus is a lesser known cactus fruit with a lot of untapped potential. The fruit is quality is quite similar to dragonfruit, though some types have higher eating quality than the sometimes bland dragonfruits commonly available. Unlike dragonfruit, Apple Cactus is cold tolerant and is a columnar cactus that does not require a trellis. These are two distinct advantages over dragonfruit. These cacti are very common as yard specimens on the droughty Lake Wales Ridge, where they often grow with no care and produce abundant amounts of fruit. There is variation between types, but some kinds readily tolerate temperatures into the lower 20’s and can be found growing in parts of Central Florida that regularly get some serious cold.

The fruit is light, lightly to moderately sweet with crunchy seeds reminiscent of kiwi. The good ones can be quite decent, while inferior selections run on the bland side. There have been efforts to turn this cactus into a commercial dry land crop, with named selections being made in that country. The fruit is decent to eat out of hand, but we believe real commercial potential lies in dehydrated fruit. The dried fruit (including skin) becomes very sweet with fantastic texture and great flavor, really a lot like a dried apple. There is some discussion that unopened flower buds may be eaten as a vegetable, in the same way that is done in Asia with dragonfruit buds. We haven’t tried this yet but intend to look further into the topic.

This listing is for seed saved from a better tasting clone of Apple Cactus, though perhaps not an “elite” clone which are very challenging to get at this time. At the HEART Village we planted clones from a number of places and found this variety to be superior in flavor as well as an upright and vigorous plant. Craig, the Florida Fruit Geek, has written about clones called “JJ” followed by numbers. These were collected from our planting at the HEART Village. We believe his favored clone of the “JJ” plants is the same one we are offering seed of, as we only shared a few kinds and this one is clearly superior. The fruit of this variety does split when it is ripe, though the pulp is surprisingly resistant to rot when the flesh is exposed for a day or two. The fruit of this variety is quite large.

Years ago we sprouted some Apple Cactus from seed. We were pleasantly surprised to find that not too many years later one of those seedlings in a local yard began bearing fruit. Time to bearing probably has more to do with size of the plant vs age. At this time we can’t recommend any particularly good ways to germinate cactus seed, but growers seem to report that the seed of this species is long lived when dried and germinates readily. Using a light seedling mix and avoiding excessive watering would seem prudent. We have no idea how much variability may exist in this species when grown from seed. Growing new plants from seed may give rise to new improved varieties, something that is sorely needed for a species that has been almost completely overlooked by the fruit growing community.

Cereus repandus/peruvianus

50 seeds