Saturday, April 3, 2010

How to Train Your Dragon......Fruit

I am always looking for neat and unusual plants to try and grow. If they produce food of any kind even better. I tend to lean towards fruit however, just the sweet tooth talking I guess. I learned about Dragon Fruit from my Cactus studies. They are in the genus Hylocereus.
Believe it or not, you may actually have a Dragon Fruit plant growing in your house right now! If not, you have probably seen one numerous times. Remember seeing something that looks like this?

Photo courtesy of W. Chow ( http://www.vivapitaya.com ) He has a GREAT website to learn more about this unusual fruit.
The green rootstock is Dragon Fruit or Hylocereus undatus. I have actually done this before, you can just cut the top part off.....the yellow, orange or red Cactus. Unfortunately, it will not live on its own. That cactus can not produce chlorophyll, that is why it is grafted onto something that can. Another option is to wait until the rootstock sends out a shoot and root it. This is very simple. Once the shoot is large enough to cut off, dip the cut end into a little root hormone and place in a pot with some potting mix. Keep soil barely damp. It should root in a couple of weeks.
These plants can very easily be grown in pots. Roger Washington down in Florida grows them in containers at his farm. He runs a company called Reddragonfruit.com


Dragon Fruit is native to South and Central America, it is commercially grown successfully in both Thailand and Vietnam. Southern California and parts of Florida are very good for growing Dragons. So, looking at these places, you can tell that they are not looking to live in the Sahara Desert. If you don't live in a tropical environment, they can be grown in a greenhouse.
They enjoy temperatures between 31 degrees and 100 degrees, either side of these extremes will hurt the plant. They can grow on a wide range of soil types, as long as it has good drainage. Although Dragons are members of the cactus family and may withstand dry periods, they have a fairly high water requirement. The plants should be planted in full or almost full sun (very light shade) for best growth and fruit production. An application of a 6-6-6 type fertilizer every two months is recommended.
As for many fruiting plants, the very young plants will not liberally flower or fruit at all until they have gotten much older and larger. These things need to put on quite a bit of weight, average of ten pounds worth of vines usually before they even think about flowering and fruiting. This can actually be attained in just a couple of years, depending on the size of the cutting used.
Lets say you have gotten yours to pretty good size, yet you see no flowers. It might be time to go on a midnight raid. Dragon Fruit plants bloom only at night, and unless you have a lot of bats or moths that pollinate Dragons, you are going to have to do it. I know, why not wait until morning? The flower will be gone by then, the first inkling of daybreak and the flower fades. The good news is that the plant tends to flower a couple of times a year. Even so called self pollinating Dragons will fail to produce fruit without the help of Bats, Moths or you. If you can, you need to plant a couple of them to help with cross pollination.
How is this for a beautiful flower?


It is worth growing just for the scent and beauty.
If you can get it to produce and are good at pollinating, it is not unreasonable for 3 to 4 year old plants to produce about 220 lbs of fruit per year. The average life expectancy is around 20 years.
To support your Dragon, I found this useful information from the University of Florida. Dragon Fruit plants may become quite large and spreading, and therefore individual plants should be planted 15 to 25 ft or more away from trees, structures, and electrical lines. A strong trellis should be established that may withstand several hundred pounds of stem weight. A weak trellis may buckle under the weight of a mature plant. Do not use wires on the trellis because they may cut or damage the stems. If wire is used, it should be covered by hoses. For the home landscape, consider a trellis for individual plants which should consists of a post and a structure at the top of the post to support the plant. An arbor type trellis may also be constructed. Individual plants growing on a short tree or on a pile of rocks or blocks could also be used as supports for a few plants.
I created the post with a structure on top to support mine. I am hoping for some rapid growth this year.
In case you were wondering what the fruit looked like, here it is:

There are actually a few different varieties.
Red, with white pulp like above.
Red, with red pulp:


And a Yellow, with white pulp:


To top all this off, eating Dragon fruit is good for you. It is high in Vitamin C and dietary fiber. There are also reports that it aids in type 2 diabetes glucose level control.
I hope this encourages you to go out and try to find a Dragon Fruit plant. Maybe then you can make your OWN movie of how you Trained your dragon.
Happy Growing!
Darren

UPDATE: This has actually been one of my most popular posts! I have received many, many questions and comments regarding this one.
I have also received pictures of success that folks have had, such as this one from Irene W.


She lives in California. This is a nice harvest! Great job Irene!!

74 comments:

  1. What a coincidence! I was at Lowes the other day and noticed a cactus like the one in the first photo - I have one of these too. The tag read "grafted cactus" and I was going to ask you about that. Now I know!

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  2. Can you post a picture of your trellis or post with structure on top. I'm trying to figure out the best way to plant one, and am looking for ideas...

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  3. I have lots of Dragonfruit at home and sometimes get fruit after flowering but most of the time they just turn yellow and drop off.. Even when I cross pollinate them!! Whats happening here?

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    1. Are you keeping the soil moist? Many times if there are wild fluctuations in the moisture level, the plant will abort the fruit. It is basically going into survival mode.
      What about sun? If they are not getting enough sun or fertilizer, they might not be strong enough to support the fruit.
      You did not mention how old your plants were either. If they are very young, they might not be able to support the fruit.

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  4. What cross pollinating. How can you be sure?

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    1. You can't be sure. Your best bet is to go ahead and pollinate by hand if you want a better chance of having fruit.

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  5. Do you use a qtip?

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    1. You can. The best thing to use is a small artist paintbrush. Kind of like the one you probably used in grade school.

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  6. about 3 months ago i found a yellow dragon fruit tree hanging from a palm in sw florida and chopped it down. i cut it into pieces (ranging from 1-7 feet/some single stock others multiple branches) and put them in sand. i also hung some in a palm tree-unpotted. all have survived and roots are beginning to fill in pots. some have new shoots growing fairly rapidly without any fertilizer-just a watering once a week. i noticed recently noticed that the ones without pots are much thinner (lacking water?) than their potted counterparts-almost as if they are beginning to wither away; however they still look healthy.
    all of my cuttings (maybe 50 in total) came from a very large and mature fruit bearing tree. How long do you think it will take until these cuttings begin to bloom? why are the cutting not in a pot so much skinnier than the ones that are? any advice would be appreciated.

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    1. What wonderful luck!
      I might have to figure a way to get a piece of that plant.
      Anyway, to answer your questions.
      It is a very good chance that it is a lack of water that a few are weaker and thinner. It could also be that the roots have not found anything worth while on this particular palm, or possibly a sun issue?
      Try spraying them with a diluted solution of a water soluable plant food and see if it helps.
      As for how long it will take to flower and fruit. It will depend on your horticultural practices. If you take wicked good care of them, it will be sooner than if you neglect them. They need to be pretty heavy before they will fruit. Average of ten pounds worth of growth before they think about flowering.
      Hope that helps.

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  7. I live in Nova Scotia Canada so growing out side is not and option i did however keep the seeds out of a dragon fruit i purchased to eat and now have to dragon fruit plants. whats the chances of them actually surviving to make fruit?

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    1. Hello Sally,
      There is always a chance!
      It is going to depend on how much work you want to put into it.
      Do you have a greenhouse or a VERY sunny room. When I say sunny, I mean gets 8+ hours of direct sun.
      They may survive as plants no matter what you do, though they might be weak and spindly.
      I wish I could give you a cheerier answer, but that is my best shot.

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  8. You are giving a lot of great advice. I have have a few question. I live in New Jersey. I'm thinking of growing my 3 plants in 5 gallon pots. I will move the plants indoors in the winter and do my best to give it 8+ hours of sun. I might even buy a green house just for it but i'm still worried about the cold weather at night. I am hoping to cut time top off when it gets to 6 ft so I can manage them, what do you think? please give me your advice.

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    1. Hello One Picture,
      I must ask first, what part of New Jersey? I was born and raised there.
      To begin, I am thinking that a 5 gallon bucket will be too small. You might want to consider a 15 gallon pot. That is still a manageable size, though you might need a little help moving it as Dragon Fruits can get pretty heavy.
      A greenhouse would be an excellent idea, especially one of those portable ones. As for the cold at night, I know how cold it can get up there, been there, done that! LOL
      If you can run a small space heater in the greenhouse and keep the temperature at least above freezing, you will be fine. I do that here in Charleston. I run a heater in my greenhouse for my exotic tropicals and let it get to just above freezing. It actually got to 32 in there one night, though it was a short event. The Dragon Fruit came out just fine.
      I hope this gives you some encouragement and helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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  9. Hello,
    When you repot in say a 15+ gallon container, do you put only one dragon plant or two or three in the same pot and train them up the trellis? Also like another poster, I would like to see a picture of your trellis or at least know more about making one for dragon fruit.

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    1. When I repotted them, I put two in a pot, one on either side of the pot.
      I would post a picture of the device I used, but, and this is hard to believe, the plant was stolen sometime ago,
      It was heavy and I have no idea who did it or how!! They knew what they wanted, it was the only thing taken.
      I truly hope that they were just desperate to grow some fruit and it wasn't some stupid kid that did it.
      Basically, it was a 4x4 in the soil and a flat piece of plywood on top. The plant attached itself to the pole and laid across the board. Hopefully you can visualize this.

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    2. Thanks for all your important imformation, am new in dragon fruit and would like to know for a mature plant what is the recommended pot size and gallon. Thanks

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    3. Depending on whether you are some place warm and don't need to protect it often, a 30 gallon pot would be great. These things can get heavy, if you will be moving it in a lot, a 15 gallon might be better.

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    4. I live in Mauritius, its a tropical Island. Thanks for the information. Am not planning in moving the plants. I'll opt for the 30 gallon pot. But I saw a person who placed 4 plants in a half 55 gallon drum. Is it advisable to place 4 plants in 27 gallon pots. Thanks

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  10. Hey Jessica,
    You say you are not overwatering it, how often are you watering?
    What is your soil mix like? Store bought, heavy peat, sand, etc
    How much sun are you giving it?
    When you repotted it, is it possible you hurt the roots?
    Have you fed it at all, or was there fertilizer in the soil?
    Have you seen any kind of insects?
    What kind of temperatures have you been having?
    Sorry for all of the questions, they will help me get a little closer to the problem.

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  11. Hi Darren,

    I have several cuttings of dragon fruit planted in clay pots at home. I noticed that some black ants are starting to infest in one of the pots. These ants seem to enjoy climbing the cutting and hanging around the stem that just recently sprouted out of the cutting. Please advise if these ants pose any danger to the plant or should I just leave them be. I am a novice at gardening and I'm not sure how to respond in general to insects like black or red ants which I seem to have plenty walking around the house.

    Thanks,
    Benny

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  12. Hey Benny,
    Normally ants don't cause a problem. It could be they are just sightseeing.
    However, it is unusual.
    Check your plant very well for aphids or any kind of scale like insects.
    Ants are usually attracted to the sticky sweet excretion that these insects produce.
    The plant itself is under no danger from the ants, this might just be the warning sign of other insects around. Personally, I usually try to rid myself of ants when I see them, just because they are known to herd bad bugs.
    One other possibility is, if you have been having a lot of rain lately, they might be using the potted plant as a drier, safe place. Either way, I would try to get rid of them.
    Hope that helps!?
    Darren

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  13. Hi Darren,

    Thanks for responding so quickly. Great site by the way. I admire your passion for gardening.

    We have been getting a lot of rain lately, maybe that is the reason. I'll observe further and update you. I haven't seen any aphids or scaly insects thus far.

    I did some searches over the internet and some people recommend using ground cinnamon as a natural deterrent for ants, is this effective? What do you recommend for removing ants?

    Thanks,
    Benny

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  14. Hey Benny,
    I too have seen the cinnamon thing, though I have never tried it. It may or may not work, won't hurt to try.
    I usually do one of several things to get rid of ants. Sevin dust will work. I stir up the ants and then sprinkle that on them. Usually does the trick. If you water the pot often, it will often discourage them, but you have to be careful of overwatering the plant.
    Ant baits are good too.

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  15. hI darren is it ok to use a mixed saw dust and sand as a component for its planting....

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    1. Hello Ernie,
      The sand should be no problem, as long as it is not from the beach and loaded with salt AND it is a course builders sand. The stuff used in playgrounds and sandboxes is too fine.
      The sawdust concerns me. Fresh sawdust will actually leach nitrogen out of the soil as it decomposes. Also, if the wood that the sawdust came from has any chemicals in it, such as a wood preservative, that would be absorbed by the plant, and I don't think you would want to be eating that. The wood that it came from might be a mild problem too, something like cedar would have oils in it that the plants might not like.
      Hope that helps?!

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  16. Hi Darren,

    Thanks again for your previous advises. As promised, I want to update you regarding the ants.

    It seems what the ants are attracted to is the sticky secretions that are coming out of the plant's spikes. But after a while, the ants seems to dwindle in number and the sticky secretions has stopped. So i guess all is good.

    Out of the 4 cuttings I planted, 2 are growing nicely. however the other 2 seems to have no growth at all. And one of these has a bunch of roots growing at the top instead of stems. is this normal?

    Also I would like some advise on what kind of trellis design would be best if I'm using pots.

    Thanks,
    Benny

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  17. Hi Darren,

    i have ants on my dragon fruit cactus and have 11 buds on it now and it has sticky stuff on the buds is this a possible cause of the ants or no? sec when the flowers bloom at knight time does the flowers get pollinated by the moths and other bugs or do we have ot do it manually by a brush?

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  18. Hi Darren,

    I been growing this dragon fruit for a year now and since this is the first time for the flowers to start up ok I had three come out alone one at a time and the bud and other part came off and was that normal for that to happen? Now this is a fresh set of buds coming out all at once of 11 of them at a time so is this normal for it to happen and will this set of buds on there now of 11 be a good set of fruit?

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  19. Hey Benny,
    If you can send me pictures of the roots of the two that are not doing well, I might have a better explanation. Is it possible, and I have done this, those two were planted upside down?
    Anonymous- Apparently the sticky stuff is a fairly common event. I asked another tropical fruit friend of mine and she said it is possible the plant does that to attract the ants to help in pollination. I thought that was an interesting view. Yes, usually the moths and bats do the pollinating at night.
    The flower parts falling off were probably do to lack of pollination. When the new buds open, use a small painters brush and pollinate the flowers by hand and see what happens. like I mentioned above, usually bats and moths do the pollinating, but it is possible they took the night off. Never hurts to lend a helping hand when it comes to pollination.

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    1. Hi Darren,

      It is possible that I have planted them upside-down as I had no idea which side to plant. what i did was i cut the stem in half and placed each half, with the pointy end, to the soil. with the cut part on top.

      I'm glad to give you a picture for your referrence. Sorry to ask, how do I post the picture on this blog? Or should I email it to you?

      Thanks,
      Benny

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    2. No problem Benny. It will probably be easier to send it directly to my e-mail. TheCitrusGuy@netzero.com
      Thanks!

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    4. My now mature dragon fruit plant will sprout roots from all kinds of places, some of them 4 ft off the ground. I just leave them alone, they don't seem to hurt anything and they hang straight down. Maybe they are looking for a place to hang on to.

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    5. Segelkatt, that is exactly what they are wanting to do.....attach themselves to something. A tree, board or whatever. It does not hurt to leave nor cut them off. I have done both.

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  20. hello,
    I just want to ask.. I live in the Philippines and planted dragon fruits from cuttings a year ago, they grew alright but then the stems got thinner and seems to be breaking apart. it still doesn't bear fruit or even bloom. I water it every other day and the soil has sandy texture.. I don't apply fertilizer on it..can you give me an organic fertilizer recipe that is easy to make? thank you.

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    1. It is strange that the stems are breaking apart. Is it getting full sun? As for an organic fertilizer, if you can make some compost tea, that will be wonderful. All that is, is, put some compost in some kind of porous bag and let it steep in some water in full sun for a few hours or a day. Use that water as fertilizer.

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  21. Hi,
    I´ve been growing up dragon fruit for 18 months and this year one of the plants started 3 flower buds and they stop growing in a very initial phase. They do not grow 10 days from now. They are in pots, I watered them every week. 13 hrs sunlight, temperatures raging 53 - 71 and they are fertilized.
    I have no clue for what is happening...
    Thank you

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    1. Sorry it took so long to answer. Hopefully your temperatures have warmed up a bit. I think that is your problem, the cooler temperatures just kind of slowed the process down. Once it warms up, they should restart growing.

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  22. Seriously?! Clever name!

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  23. Hi i have a few dragon fruit plants growing indoors in a pot, they are around 1 year old and i have noticed these white root like things growing from the main stems on some of the plants, is this a disease or is it normal for them to grow these things? Thanks in advance

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    1. It is normal. Those are the roots that attach themselves to trees and such. You can cut them off if they bother you.

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    2. Thank you was a little worried but good to no :) thanks again.

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  24. I cut a piece off what I thought was a night blooming cactus and stuck it in a pot, treated it like any other cactus, not too much water, I kept it on a balcony where it got sun from 10 a.m, until 6 p. m..After a while (can't remember how long) it sprouted an arm and then another and another. Then a bud grew at the end of one arm (I was still waiting for the red flower!) and a white and yellow flower grew which lasted a whole 3 days. This turned into red dragon fruit with white flesh, I had never heard of this but a neighbor told me what it was and that I could eat it. The next summer it grew like mad, still in the same pot but no flowers or fruit.I don't think I ever fertilized it. The next spring this had gotten so big it turned over the pot and it was just unwieldy. I live in an apartment but have a community garden plot. So I heaved this monster down to my car (thank goodness for elevators) and stuffed into the back of the van, laid it down and broke off only one arm. In the garden I planted it in a corner and put a very tall (5 foot and cylindrical) tomato cage over it to hold up these arms. It was very happy and grew a lot more. This is now the third summer. Then the flower buds started coming, at one time there were 11 of them but several did not take. So far this summer I have harvested 4 of them, one more is just about ripe, there are 3 which are about half the size of the others and still growing and there is one more new bud. The arm that broke off in transit I again put in a pot, waited until it started growing an arm and then gave it away. The arms that start growing through the fence and interfering with people passing by I also cut off and pot them up. Once they start sprouting little nubs I give them away also.
    The tomato cage was not a good idea but I'm stuck with it at least for the time being. Some of the arms are so long they reach the ground. Can I just prune them or will that interfere with them blooming? Or will they burrow into the ground and make new plants? I really just want the one plant and would like to train it into a tree-like shape like you show the ones in the pots. Can I do that now by just pruning? I live in SoCal where these things grow like weeds, they like our weather.

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  25. Wow! I love hearing stories like this! Congrats on your success.
    If you leave them to touch the ground, they will probably root where it touches. As fast they grow there, I would go ahead and start pruning it to the shape that you desire. Even if it does interfere with some of the fruit, it sounds like it will not take long to recover.
    Another option is to only do half at a time. It may look a little funny, but you will at least get some fruit.
    When it comes to the tomato cage, you may want to root some of those cuttings, put in a very sturdy support system and then use those cuttings. I think the one in the tomato cage will eventually just crumble it.

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    1. I wish I could send you pics of my plant. I really just want a trunk with the "arms" cascading from the top. All the other gardeners have these wild looking monsters that seem to be taking over their gardens and I don't want that. I have 4 cuttings in pots right now so I will have plenty by next spring to put in the garden. There is no way I can take the tomato cage off right now without wrecking the current plant so I will wait until t stops producing and then butcher it back to what I want and am able to take the cage off. Thanks for all the good advice which is really helpful. Obviously I do not want to cut the plant back where I will not have any fruit next summer.

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  26. It's getting warm again and the dragon fruit has been sleeping all winter. Now it is starting to grow again, the arms are getting longer, those that poke through the chicken wire fence I just cut off so they won't hurt anyone passing by. This thing is getting huge. I will have to keep pruning it just so it take over the whole garden. Some of the arms have sprouted arms of their own that I bend in the direction I want them to grow before they get too big and won't bend but break. If the monster is as prolific as my grapes are promising to be this year I will have to open a fruit stand (lol!) and I won't even mind if someone steals some as they did last summer.

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  27. Can I take a arm off my dragon fruit it's first summer growing got two arms. And if grow will it pollen ate with the other guess be while before fruit anyways. Like no how to pollenate

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  28. I would not cut anything off yet. The plant has to weigh at least 10 lbs before it will flower and if you cut off either arm it will weigh less. Although I got one fruit the very first year when the plant was still in a pot and growing all over the place you may not be that lucky and I did not get any the second year. Last year I got 10 fruit and I have at least that many buds already, 4 of them have been growing for about 2 weeks, the others just made an appearance yesterday. The weather has been quirky. If the arms are coming from a really low point on the plant I would still wait until fall before cutting anything, you might be lucky and get a fruit on either arm. Let the moths or bats pollinate the flower, when I had just the one flower something did the job for me.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Ok sounds great thanks for advice

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    3. I live in Missouri will pollenate them there

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  29. Do Dragon Fruit Cactus have an invasive root system?

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    1. I don't know of any cactus that has a big root system. Mine grows in the ground in a corner of the garden with all kinds of things growing either at its base or in close proximity and I have not noticed any difference since I planted it from a pot 3 years ago. There were not many roots on it then.

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  30. I am new to growing dragon fruit. I have 4 foot long cuttings, 2 natural mystic and 2 giant white. Both the natural mystic have developed an orange rusty looking scale condition. Any advice would be appreciated. I am unsure how to post a picture.

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    1. Hello Anne, Can you send me a picture via my e-mail?
      TheCitrusGuy@netzero.com

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  31. My dragon fruit is taking over a big part of the corner, growing all over the fence, it had at least 30 fruit on it over a period of 4 months. I am going to grow it in a big pot and dig it up from the ground. I will take a 3 to 4 foot cutting or maybe three and tie them to a 5 foot tall post with a square trellis on top for the branches to drape over and then like an umbrella hanging down like they grow them in Thailand. I saw a really neat one being made on utube which can be made from a lodge pole using just a saw, a drill and some big nails. Even this 73 year old lady can do that. I'll send you pics via email.

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  32. HI DARREN. I HAVE A SMALL DRAGON FRUIT FARM. I STARTED GROWING MY FIRST DF 2 YEARS AGO AND NOW I HAVE 24 POLES OF DF. I WAS WONDERING IF YOU COULD TELL ME WHY 30% OF THE DF HAVE WRINKLED UP AND SOME HAVE ALSO CURLED.

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    1. Hello James,
      When you say some have wrinkled up and some have curled, do you mean the plant or the fruit?
      Is it possible to send some pictures?
      TheCitrusGuy@netzero.com
      I am assuming you are keeping up with the watering, fertilizing, etc?
      If it is just the fruit, do you have enough pollination going on?

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    2. HI DARREN,SORRY I DID'NT MENTION THAT THE PROBLEM WITH CURLING AND WRINKLING IS ON THE PLANT, NOT ON THE FRUIT. AS FOR THE WATERING, DUE TO A VERY WET SPRING I DID LEAVE THE PLANT TO DRY A FEW WEEKS.BUT I AM WATERING THE DF AND FERTILIZING SINCE THEN.AND AT THE MOMMENT WE ARE IN AHEAT WAVE .TEMP IS AT 40-45DEGRES CELCIUS AND IT'S BEEN LIKE THIS 3 DAY SO FAR .GOD BLESS. THANK YOU .

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    3. It very well could be root rot, due to too much water, now the heat is affecting it, due to not enough roots. If you can, send me a picture.

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  33. I could not dig up the stump and although I had cut it back to almost nothing it is now starting to sprout new arms. The ones I grew in pots have mostly grown arms and I will see how that is going to go on. I'll send you pics.

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    1. Sounds good, looking forward to it.

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    2. sent some pics today to your email about the potted-up dragon fruit which had fruit last year and will have a few this year but late because of peculiar California weather.

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  34. Hello Darren, I hope you're still responding to this thread. I'm glad to see you're in Charleston as I am in Savannah! I received a dragon fruit cutting last year but had no idea how to care for it so it did not last long unfortunately. Today, my hubby bought dragon fruit from the store and I wanted to take a shot at propagating some of the seeds, I gently cleaned them and placed them within a 1/4" top of a small cup of soil with baggie over it with it outside in relatively direct sunlight. Any suggestions? I have a large, maybe 25 gallon, pot I'm going to put them in when it's time. What would you suggest as how many in a pot, what type of support structure, should I build a box and just directly sow them? I'm so excited Hubbs gave me the opportunity to try my hand at these again, just not real sure where to go with it!

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  35. There are all kinds of pictures of structures available on the internet. I have never grown them from seed, just stuck a cutting into the soil in a pot, watered and waited. Once it started growing a little nub which would turn into an arm I knew it had taken. The dragon fruit plant will grow into a huge plant so a 25 gallon pot will be small enough in a few years for the plant to turn it over. You might want to put some really heavy rocks in the bottom to keep it upright. The plant is a cactus and does not have a big root system.

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  36. Hello! I have planted 4 cuttings of dragon fruit that someone gave me about 4 month ago. There is a new growth now, however there white and rusty areas at the base of 3 cuttings. I wouldn't call it spots, because it's all around the base of the plant. These areas are spreading slowly. I tried Neem oil on it 2 times, but I didn't see any significant effect - rust is still spreading, as well as whiteness. I think there is still a high chance to save the plant, but I need to know what to use to treat this strange rust and whiteness. The plant has full sun until 4 PM every day and I water it with about a 1.5 cup of water weekly for each cutting. I would really appreciate your advice if you know what that rust is. Thank you

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  37. Hello, Sasha.
    I would need to see pictures if at all possible.
    It sounds more like the three cuttings are rotting and have fungus.
    You can send pictures to TheCitrusGuy@netzero.com

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  38. hello what can I use to tie the plant to a frame or post

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    1. It would depend on how heavy they are, twine would work for smaller branches.
      Rope threaded through some garden hose pieces would be ideal of medium to large branches. That does not cut the flesh as easily.
      You can also use twist ties, but becareful that it does not cut into the plant.

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