How to Grow Dragon Fruit
It’s a Cactus.
The Tropical Grower is featuring How to Grow Dragon Fruit this week. Throughout the Summer, on occasion, when Tropical Plants are at their finest, we thought The Tropical Grower should keep with its namesake and feature How to Grow some Tropical Plants. And what better way to start than with Dragon Fruit.
Dragon Fruit is one of the most spectacular plants in Our Garden. The Giant White Flowers climb into the sky and fill the fence lines most of the Rainy Season. It’s a joy to wake-up to the delicate translucent petals, the size of my head, glowing in the first morning rays. It’s a night bloomer. So, that’s the only time to see them in the light.
They also make noise. How can that Bee? I’m unclear exactly what goes on in those big flowers, but I’m pretty sure the pollen causes some kind of Bee Frenzy. They climb all up in the hairy, pollen soaked, tentacles, and buzz. It always makes me laugh in the morning. Must be some good stuff.
Dragon Fruit Cactus
Dragon Fruit is a Cactus. Yeah, it’s pokey. It has tiny clusters of thorns about an inch apart all the way up all sides of the cactus. I use Rose Gloves when handling them, or I am very sorry the next day. I’ve had my gloves for several years, and my only complaint is they are hot. Unfortunately, to work, they can’t be well ventilated.
Helpful Hint Use a salt scrub with no oil or lotion, pour salt and water in your hand and scrub, for the next few days to remove the tiny thorns and dry up the punctures.
Again, use puncture resistant gloves, like Rose Gloves and skip the salt and no lotion. I hate no lotion.
Acts Like a Vine
The Cactus grows in long 3-sided cylinder sections more like a vine than a traditional cactus. They’re meaty and heavy. One section grows out of the ground, and every spot where a cluster of thorns exist, is a place for a potential new section to grow from. And they do, randomly from any section, in all directions. That goes for the roots too. They will seek out any nutrients in any bed no matter how far. It definitely has a mind of its own, and in Our Garden the mind says grow.
Dragon Fruit Cactus needs to be planted with their crazy growth in mind. One of our original plants grew roots along a fence line to plant itself in the compost pile, just the roots. It was a good 15 feet of just long roots. The Cactus sections were trying to follow. How did it even know it was there? Its crazy growth is the major reason we do not consider this an easy grow. A hearty grower, absolutely, but that comes with heavy maintenance.
Supports
Because they grow like vines, Dragon Fruit Cactus need a strong support to hold onto. Big heavy supports or a support system whether it’s a dead tree, fence post, or other firmly planted girthy object. These are heavy, and we have 8 to 10 foot sections, easy. In fact, a new section will not produce a flower until it’s about 10 pounds. So, if you are not planning for them to get big and heavy, you’ll never have any flowers or fruit.
Commercial growers like the wheel on a stick support. The wheel is on top with the stick in the ground. They grow the main plant up the stick, and cut it when it pops out of the top of the wheel. New sections grow out from the center section, supported by the wheel and can trail all the way back to the ground. At the end of the season, they remove all the sections from the main stalk and start again. It’s an excellent set up for growing fruit as it makes it easy to trim, pollinate and harvest, and it confines the vine like growth to a specific area. A super sturdy umbrella stand would also work with this same concept.
Our Garden
We have a similar, wheel, set up with the old giant satellite dish we repurposed to a kind of gazebo. Only there are many main sections instead of one. I started doing a hard cut of all the old growth last year. It got pretty overgrown when My Mom got sick. I’ve also been working on the final fence line and the dead tree it’s growing up.
My Mom cleared one fence line completely a couple of years ago to expand the orchid fence. Yup, there used to be another. This is much more work than it sounds. Anything, any little tiny piece of plant, stem, or root will grow a new plant. No kidding. Don’t put it into compost. It will take over your piles. Since we only have 2 dedicated County Yard Waste Cans, it has to be done in sections, less than 100 pounds a cut. You would think this wouldn’t be a problem. Not so. It took me 3 weeks, 6 full cans, when I trimmed the fence that fell over in Hurricane Ian. That’s a lot of cactus.
Subtropical or Tropical?
Unclear. Most likely Subtropical. There are so many conflicting sources there’s no confirming it. Masterclass even has it as a Sub-Tropical for Zones 10 and 11. Uh, 10 and 11 are Tropical Zones. You see what I mean. Many sources have it listed as both, and they include Zone 9. So what does that mean? Con-fu-sing.
Dragon Fruit Cactus don’t tolerate prolonged frost. It ‘Can’ kill them, but they recover well from a light frost. ‘Does’ and ‘Can’ are big distinctions here because you absolutely have to cover the ‘Does’, Tropicals, for our couple of 32 degree nights a year. However, our very mature well established Dragon Fruit Cactus areas don’t care about those cold nights at all. No damage, which would indicate Subtropical.
All that being said, My Grandmother pulled our original plant sections out of her garden in East Texas, Zone 8a. So, it absolutely can be done, but she was a Master Grower. Even if it wouldn’t grow in her area, she’d figure out a way. In East Texas, I would imagine she covered them for snow storms. They tolerate the cold up to freezing just fine.
Full Sun
Plants have to be a certain breed or heartiness to tolerate an actual full day of our Tropical Summer sun. It’s beating and extreme. Dragon Fruit Cactus has zero problems, loves it. The ‘areas’ of them will even grow just as hearty sections into shady spots and the fully shaded ones on the bottom will continue to live. However, new sections will grow small and spindly from the hearty old growth in the shade. So, each Cactus section needs Full Sun, it just doesn’t matter at what point in the long section or directly attached section it gets it. And once it’s established and not growing length anymore, its need for sun goes way down.
If you are not growing in an area that has high humidity, give these guys a little shade in the afternoon. We know nothing about growing in low humidity, but the combination of heavy sun and dry doesn’t work well for this particular variety of cactus. I only know this because My Grandmother laughed about it not being a problem where they were going as she was throwing them in the car.
Aerial Roots
Yes, aerial roots are part of the package and necessary for healthy plants. These tickly things stretch down like spider webs in the Cage Match tunnels. I have to weave them back up or over into the trained mix. It gives me the willies on my neck and back when I’m working up in there. Yeah, I just admitted that to the world.
As a general rule, don’t cut the Aerial roots. They’re a necessary part of the feeding system, taking in water and nutrients from the air. However, these things can eventually stretch to the ground and become actual roots. They will also root into any dead plant, tree limb, or dead leaf bunch they can reach, even up in the air. We trim rooted aerials all the way back up to the Cactus section leaving only a couple of inches. Otherwise, we leave these alone.
Soil & Nutrient
Sandy soil is ideal for Dragon Fruit Cactus. They want something that drains. Soils that hold water will cause the fruit to rot on the sections and fall off before they mature. We have a huge problem with over watering during the Summer even in our extremely well draining soil. LOL! Can’t stop the summer rains. This is also another indicator to me that it’s a Subtropical. Tropicals thrive in daily rains and have zero problems with our average 53 inches a year. The fruit and only the fruit have issues.
Mix straight Compost or a manure base like Black Cow directly into sandy soil at planting. We usually add Compost every couple of years to the beds for a supplement. Dragon Fruit Cactus likes some nutrients, but an overabundance is not necessary. It prefers a low neutral fertilizer mix in the 6-8% range to start, meaning the % numbers on all commercial fertilizers, like 10-10-10 or 8-4-6 are about the same and in the 6-8 range. Gradually increase to a 10-15% by year 4 and after.
In Our Garden, the Dragon Fruit was planted in Yard Sand mixed with Compost. Every year, we add a 10-15% neutral fertilizer across the entire garden in Spring for health. We use Osmocote Smart-Release Plant Food at 15-9-12. It’s specifically formulated not to burn which is really important for us. For more on boosting your beds see, How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring.
Generally, mature plants require fertilizers and/or compost twice a year, but we have a natural composting system set up under the Cage Match that provides steady nutrients naturally, all the time. The fence on the other side only gets the yearly dose. When the beds start looking a little dry, we throw some compost into the beds and mix – easy. Don’t forget the shallow roots.
Water & Dormancy
Dragon Fruit Cactus requires a period of dormancy. This is a non-growth time. In most areas, plants go dormant in the Winter. That includes Tropicals, but it isn’t the cold. It’s the water.
Many Tropicals go through a slow or dormant period when we are in our Drought season. Remember, we only really have 2 Seasons, Rainy and Drought. But any tiny bit of water signals a growth spurt, we do get some rain all year. Usually, a little more than this year in the Winter/Spring. It was so hot and dry. ‘Crispy Critters’ kept coming out of my mouth.
Since it likes water, much more than your run of the mill cactus, it will need periodic watering if you aren’t getting regular rains in order to produce flowers. It likes the water, but it doesn’t like its roots to sit wet. Be careful you are not adding too much. We get a massive number of flowers with daily rainstorms, but it’s too much for fruit. Most of our fruit rots before it ripens throughout the summer. If your fruit is not reaching maturity, pull back on the water.
Flowers
We actually grow our Dragon Fruit Cactus for the night blooming flowers. For a single night, they are spectacular. We love the giant white flowers with their delicate petals and yellow centers. The fruit is merely a bonus. It took a while before we got the lovelies because the plants need a certain amount of girth before they will start producing. It’s about 10 pounds. That’s the rule of thumb anyway. Each new growth section will need about that much weight before it signals the plant it’s ready for fruit.
If that wasn’t a big enough hoop to jump through, the flowers only form on new growth. So, you need new growth and that much girth. That means the main section needs to be big, the bigger the better. The old stuff hanging around will no longer produce, but it does send out new sections that will.
Once you have new big growth, you just have to wait for a heavy rain. That’s the signal for the Cactus to start producing pods or buds. I tend to call them pods because they remind me of the ‘The Pod People’ pods, and can be cooked and eaten as a vegetable. The pods come in spurts, usually together, and the result is quite a show the next morning.
Pollination
If you want fruit, your flowers will need to be pollinated. Because of their size and pollen production, these are a breeze to pollinate yourself. Now, you can try the natural method. Whatever you might read, I’m telling you, if there are Bees near, they will find these. I actually refer to these in my head as ‘Bee Crack’ in the morning when the whole Cage Match is making a buzzing noise. Our normally nice Bees are pretty aggressive if you get too close, but it only lasts until the sun starts to really come up.
The problem with the natural method is the Stigma, the part that the pollen needs to get on, is super long and sticks out of the flower away from the pollen. See the pic. It’s straight out of a Sci-Fi movie. Insects don’t often land on it after their pollen shower. Left on their own, we get a very small number of pollinated flowers.
Just Use Your Fingers
You don’t have to get all fancy about it. I take my index finger and its longer neighbor, 2 fingers, swirl them through the hairs, the Stamen, and rub the center of the Stigma, the long alien looking thing sticking out of the center of the flower. I do them one after the other, every one I can reach, in a big line, before the Bees wake up, mixing the different pollens.
Touching the soft hairy tentacles should leave a yellow powder on your fingers. A cue-tip is too small, but you could use a few cotton balls. I don’t find it necessary, there’s so much pollen. If there isn’t, you’ve waited too late after sunrise or you’ve started too early after dark. The pollen will only be active for the single night bloom. If you miss it, you’ll have to start again with new flowers.
Fruit
Our fruit is pink skinned and generally shaped like a very large egg, the layered skin gives the impression of a Dragon Egg, or what I imagine it would look like. Apparently, I’m not the only one, hence the name.
You peel the skin and eat the fruit inside, like kiwi, only the skin is thicker. With the little seeds throughout, it reminds me a great deal of a white, ours are white, kiwi. The taste is sort of like a slightly sweet cucumber, or maybe a cucumber and kiwi mixed. It’s light and a little sweet. They also come in yellow skinned and pink fruit. Currently, they are cultivating new varieties in the East. So, there are probably lots more. You know us crazy growers. We only grow the pink skin, white fruit.
During the summer, all our fruit hits the ground rotten from too much water. We only get a fruit crop in early Spring before the rains start or after they end. Since there is no stopping the rains, we just know that’s the way the chips, or rotten fruit, falls. It’s really the flowers we’re after.
Use snippers or other sharp cutters to take the fruit from the sections. Cut close to the fruit. Ripping it damages the skin which is fine if you’re munching it immediately, but it opens it up to mold for storage. These will not ripen further once off the Cactus, so let it bake until done. The skin will be brightly colored and the little wrap edges will start to dry out. Watch for ants. They will take the fruit from the inside. It will keep for a few days outside the fridge, but much longer in it. Weeks.
Propagating, Making Babies
Technically, you can grow the cactus from seed. Those seeds inside the fruit can be harvested and planted. I’d soak them overnight and stick them in a pot, but it would take somewhere around 7 years before the cactus would be big enough to produce. So, if your garden is new and you’re planning the long haul, not a terrible plan. However, these things grow from cuttings amazingly well, and in fact, there isn’t a part of it that won’t produce a new cactus, like a succulent.
My Grandmother literally hacked a couple of sections and threw them in my car for the drive from East Texas to South Southwest Florida. I did kind of forget about them, but they survived, no problem. We just slipped the end of the sections down into the sandy dirt. If they have aerial roots you can plant, even better. We’ve never had a problem with these things rooting, but you can use a root hormone to up your chances if you’re worried.
Now, that being said, I understand others have had problems with fungus and disease. For this reason, they generally recommend allowing any cut part of a section you are planting to dry up and be treated with a fungicide before they are dropped in the ground. We don’t have issues with either, or bugs, besides the ants trying eat the fruit. Even if there was damage, it would have to be severe before it would show up in the large areas we have. Usually, the yearly trim takes care of any issues.
Trim & Cut
Trim or cut back Dragon Fruit during the dormant season. The sections have to be trimmed at their starting point, where they were once a thorn cluster for the trim to count. It will also signal the other thorn clusters from that same area that a new section needs to be produced or you could get a flower. We hope, brows up, eyes wide, for the 2nd. If you are lazy and cut in the middle of a Cactus section, it will grow new sections starting from the cut, and you will not have one section in that spot, but several. Worse than if you never trimmed at all.
If you think you are going to just let trimming slide, it will be a mistake. Old growth, last year’s growth, needs to be trimmed to make way for the new or you won’t get flowers and fruit. Even worse, your supports will eventually fall over, and/or your top layers will choke your old, killing the roots. Trim for the health of the plants and to keep it in place.
Dragon Fruit Cactus sections can grow over an inch a day. You should plan for these in feet, not inches. You should also know before you plant them, trimming these big heavy pokey things is a must. Even in the Cage Match where everything competes, it needs to be shaped and trimmed yearly.
Other Maintenance
Make sure to clear out a wide planting area, leaving a large space, 10-15 feet. Not only can the Main sections, the ones planted in the ground, be damaged from lawn care, including shallow roots, they migrate. Climb. They act just like vines, grabbing on to anything near, including no-nos like power lines and the house. Those aerial roots will dig into any neighbors it can land on, causing damage. So, pay attention to it.
Because of its heavy growth, Dragon Fruit Cactus is constantly in need of training. Up posts, over fences, out of walkways. Out. Of. Walkways. A spider web to my wet face sucks, but a cactus section is so much worse, and it likes to grow straight out. Its big heavy sections allow it a sturdy stretch, right to the face. You’d think it’d fall down, but no. It’s waiting for my face.
How to Grow Dragon Fruit
I’m not going to lie, Dragon Fruit Cactus is work. Much less if you set up a specific support and keep the trimming up. Even if this didn’t come from My Grandmother’s yard, I wouldn’t give it up. It’s the flowers. Nothing like ‘em.
