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lnewport_gw

New to Dragon Fruit

lnewport
13 years ago

Hi everyone,

I see there are some very knowledgeable people here about Dragon Fruit (yea!) so maybe someone can help me out.

I have two types of Dragon Fruits start which I had purchased off of Ebay.

My house is newly built so no nice shade trees right now so I have my plants where they get direct East Sun until the sun moves to far south in the afternoon they do not receive any sun.

I am thinking about placing them on the North Side of my house instead where it's usually always bright but never any direct sun.

Any opinions on if this would be ok?

Comments (28)

  • mango_kush
    13 years ago

    only been growing it for a year but from observation i have my own opinions on this fruit.

    Jose from Pine Island is from central America and is very familiar with it, we were talking when i purchased mine and he gave me the advice to keep it in a container so the above ground portion will grow more.

    i stated in another thread how i knew a nursery that let its dragonfruit grow 30 foot up a telephone pole. it bears little fruit but grows pretty fast. he also has the same variety pruned on a chainlink fence. this specimen is alot more prolific.

    so my theory would be to prevent the dragonfruit from using its energy over rooting in the ground by keeping it in a container and from growing too vertical by pruning it and burying or sharing the cuttings. this is my strategy to push my dragonfruit to bloom.

  • Eggo
    13 years ago

    newport, my opinion I think you would want an area that gets 3-4 hrs of direct sunlight a day but not the very intense afternoon heat this will usually damage the stems and yellowing. With that said, this is for fruit production.

    In terms of just vegetative growth, a shadier spot will do I think. However, if its too shady you will notice very thin growths and no blooms.

    I have heard from others along with the seasonal change in daylight hours, that the hanging effect of the vines helps with fruit production. And others have sworned that pruning the tips of dragonfruits during the right season will encourage blooms(I have yet to really try this but have noticed that some prune stems tend to do always bloom).

  • simon_grow
    13 years ago

    Considering you are from Austin Texas, it may be a good idea to keep it out of direct sunlight, especially in the summertime. Some of my DF gets burned really easily even though they are only in partial sun because the sun they do get is directly overhead. The sun tracks East to West and is slightly Southerly in the wintertime and slightly Northerly in the Summer.

    What if you plant a few cuttings at each location as an experiment?

  • lnewport
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    @ mango_kush: I'm planning on keeping it in the container, just thinking about moving it (and the container) to the north side of my house. Here in Austin it might be too cold during the winter for it.

    @ eggo: Yes I want it for fruit production, if that's the case the front of my house is good. I just worry that someone may take it since it's in front of my house and in a pot. Silly I know. The neighborhood I am in is pretty safe but I came from one that isn't so I worry about things like that.

    @Simon Grows: Thanks for the info. Since I don't have but four of these I don't want to experiment LOL. If I had more then I would for sure

  • racor_2006
    13 years ago

    Newport, Eggo is right. You need 3-4 hours direct sun. Mine Dragon fruits get full morning sun and afternoon partial shade. These are doing great and fruiting when in season.

    I have some in Full afternoon Southern California sun that was burning them so I installed a 30% shade cloth overhead and solved the problem. Like Eggo says, too much shade will give you thin branches and no flowering.

    Check Out Edgar Valdivia's site. He is the most Knowledgeable Dragon fruit grower I know. Check out his videos.

    http://edvaldivia.com/

  • lnewport
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    @racor_2006: Thank You Racor. I moved mine to the back patio where they get more direct light but hopefully because they are under cover it's not too much.

    I probably need to find a way to measure the amount of light each area receives, maybe then I'll post and get some opinions.

    They have been on the back patio they don't seem to be getting burned. Other plants I have which are sensitive to light show burning around the first day of too much exposure.

    Thank You for all your information btw. :)

  • nullzero
    13 years ago

    Where can I find the named varieties of Dragon Fruit? I checked out Pine Island Nursery but the costs were to high to ship to SoCal ($65 just for the certificate then additional amount for shipping and the cost of the plants)

    I would love to obtain a high brix tasty named variety of dragon fruit instead of the mix bag white flesh, red flesh, or purple.

  • jacob13
    13 years ago

    Hello,

    You can get some named varieties at Stokes Tropicals and Matt's Landscapes. Between those 2 places, you should be able to find plenty, and the prices are pretty reasonalbe.

    Jacob

  • tagtail
    13 years ago

    Nullzero, if you are near Los Angeles and can wait, you can check out the CRFG's festival of fruits web site:

    http://www.festivaloffruit.org

    Theme of this year is Dragon fruit. They should have some good dragon fruit plants available. Vendors of the meeting usually have many other rare fruit trees for sell.

  • nullzero
    13 years ago

    Tagtail,

    Thank you so much for that link. I will make sure I can make it to this years event. I have been to cal poly pomona many times before. Sounds like fun, I am sure I will come back with a car load of plants... lol

  • tydiggy0628
    13 years ago

    I am new to Dragon Fruit too. I recently purchased a home with a lil backyard to plant my trees. Funny thing was, while living in a condo, my mom planted the tree in a pot and when we moved, i told her NOT to take it with us. Good thing she insisted on bringing it to our new house. the tree had 2 fruits last year. I dont think i will get any as my mom clipped it so plant some on the ground. The pic below is whats leftover in the pot. The plant does grow fast ... there was only a few new branches in mid jan as of today, it has grown so much.

    {{gwi:1314740}}

    Uploaded with ImageShack.us

    I plan to keep this in the pot and let it grow! i dont know how long i have to wait for it to set fruits.

    In the meantime, one of my friends gave me a dragon fruit tree in a pot 2 months ago. when i got it, there was no new growth. as of today, here is what the plant looks like

    {{gwi:1314741}}

    Uploaded with ImageShack.us

  • ashleysf
    13 years ago

    tydiggy, I am new to dragon fruit too. But, I can see that you and your mom are doing something right by looking at your pictures and that you have some really happy plants! Please let us know what potting mix you use and what fertilizer you are using. Maybe you will get fruit this year afterall considering how much growth the plant has put out. I bought mine a month back and it has not grown at all. And it stayed the same in the nursery for weeks before that (I went to look at it for a few weeks before buying!). I am hoping that the improved weather and fertilizing will make it grow before the winter sets in.
    Good luck.

  • tydiggy0628
    13 years ago

    Ashley,
    All credits go to my mom. She planted it i dk how long ago and got it to fruit last 2 yrs. We dont use any special potting mix just your basic manure and egg cells. As you can see in the first pic, we just started throwing more egg shells in there after I read something online stating that eggs shells provide good minerals for plants. egg shells take long to decompose though. Anyways, i am throwing as many egg shells as i can come across =)
    gl on ur DF. keep us updated!!!

  • euqruob
    13 years ago

    OK, I'm in Phoenix, and its 116 degrees today. I have 3 dragon fruit I bought from Lowes, they appear to all be different variations, all in 5 gallon pots, south facing, in between hibiscus (could not do well with seed). I have them in a succulent potting soil and I feed them every 3 weeks with "cactus juice" cactus food. One plant is amazing, 2-3 new shoots every week, growing 4 inches a week, I have it going up and across a trellis. Other plant is smaller, fatter and greener, but its putting out at about 30% speed of the first one, healthy and a bit slow. Third one was distressed when I bought it, very dried up and thin. It has put out 2 two ft long arms, but thin and it stresses in the heat. We have about 3-4 more weeks of dry heat here, then the monsoons and humidity. I keep the whole area watered every day.

    Hoping for fruit in a few months, the growth rate on these guys is intense! Can't wait for the luxury of pruning and growing new plants and giving plants away, all the neighbors want to try this. I buy DF from the grocer all the time, but they never have pink or red, hopefully I'll have some soon.

  • bluepalm
    13 years ago

    I had my first dragonfruit today, an American Beauty. The fruit was absolutely beautiful, with the inside being a brilliant purple. However, it had almost NO taste. Not bad, not good...just nothing. I picked it off of the plant and it appeared to be ripe (the leaves starting to turn brown, the fruit having a slight give, etc.).

    We squeezed a Key Lime on it which made it much better, but it was the Key Lime which I was enjoying most.

  • dghays
    13 years ago

    Very odd, my American Beauty produced excellent tasting fruit, a home run. I had a different pitaya which produced a mild tasting fruit, but it was somewhat good also. Hopefully next year it'll taste like it should for you.

    Gary

  • nullzero
    13 years ago

    Sounds like maybe the growing conditions could contribute to tasteless fruit? Maybe to much or to little of certain macro and micro nutrients?

  • jsvand5
    13 years ago

    I had a couple at Harry's house. I thought they were pretty good. Not mango good, but nice. Not a ton of taste but still worth eating for sure. What was kind of strange is that the larger fruit was much sweeter even though it came from the same plant. I think it was physical graffiti but I may be remembering wrong.

  • hmhausman
    13 years ago

    No, John......it was American Beauty that you had at my house. The size of the fruit definetly made a difference with this year's fruit. I hear that that is typical. Also, BluePalm, could you have eaten the fruit when it was over ripe? On the American Beauty fruit that I have been eating, the fruit was perfect even though the "leaves" were very much still green.

    Harry

  • dghays
    13 years ago

    I would harvest mine when the 'scales' were slightly wilted. Around 35 days from flower. Note from conversation earlier, dragonfruit can get burned in direct sun if you have low humidity and high heat. Mine are in total full sun in FL, and have no problem whatsoever, and produced up to two crops in a year.

    I have restarted my dragonfruit areas with around a dozen plants (freeze nailed them), looking forward to some production again. So far they have already put out some new growth, watering around twice a week.

    Gary

  • jsvand5
    13 years ago

    Gary, How cold did yours get? Mine made it through the winter here in Ocala. I moved the pot next to my house but that was the only protection I gave them. They did not look great for a while, but they are looking really good now.

  • dghays
    13 years ago

    Mine were down to about 28F. Ones I had in a pot near my house weren't bothered either.

  • tydiggy0628
    13 years ago

    Hurray...first bud of the season. My mom took a clipping of the dragon fruit in the pot and planted in the ground a few months back. the clipping showed no signs of life/growth. amazingly, while walking around my backyard, i noticed a bud!!! who would have ever thought? haha...here is a pic of the bud...will keep everyone posted.
    anyone else with pics to share?

    {{gwi:1314742}}

  • LittleVietGarden
    11 years ago

    Hi Tydiggy0628, to keep the dragon plant healthy & looking at it best. Is 1st, put it in a larger pot with a pole in the center, tie the flat side to the pole. the bigger the pot the better, as the root will grow out of control.
    2nd trim all the little stem leave only 1 biggest one that's growing from the main stem. keep trim like that untill it reach to top and start to hang over.
    give the plants cow compost at the end of winter.
    in mid spring bud should start

  • mistyreiny
    10 years ago

    Anybody know what the humidity and temperatures need to be for dragon and star fruit?

  • tamtrible
    10 years ago

    A tip for the person worried about the pot being stolen:

    Next time you re-pot it (or now if you're willing to mess with it), bury a brick or something, with a rope tied to it. Run the rope up into the pot, and then tie it to a sturdy stick, another brick, or whatever. Now, it will become very hard for your pot to be moved...

  • mistyreiny
    10 years ago

    Or rather than a rope, get a chain. With a rope it took a kitchen knife. Now it takes a hacksaw

  • mistyreiny
    10 years ago

    Or rather than a rope, get a chain. With a rope it took a kitchen knife. Now it takes a hacksaw

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