anyone grow dragon fruits? (aka pitaya)

[pinkrose]

i can find dragon fruits fairly easy so i was going to grow them from seed. apparently, it's not that hard and i've watched different methods of germinating the seeds and they all had nearly 100% germination rate. so it seems beginner friendly, aka me
but i can't seem to find a lot of info on them. i saw it takes maybe around 2 years but that was from a wiki page. does anyone have experience with this? thanks in advance

p.s. i live in a tropical climate (southern Japan) and we get a lot of rain here. it's always humid and the winters are cold but not too cold.

 

[IcyBC]

I don't personally grow dragon fruit because of where I live, we only have three short months of warm weather, but my sister, who lives in California, has a dragon fruit plant that she kept outside year round. She has some fruits from it last year, and it is doing well. Maybe you will find this link helpful: http://www.selfsufficientme.com/fruit-vegetables/dragon-fruit-pitaya-how-to-guide-for-growing

 

[Beverly]

Thank you for the link @IcyBC! I read it with interest and while i will probably not add a plant to my already over stuffed garden, i will start eating it. Twice or 3 times a year people walk through our neighborhoods carrying baskets of the fruit, yelling "Pitaya". Now i know what they are talking about and so will start buying them from the roaming vendors.

 

[headfullofbees]

https://www.strictlymedicinalseeds.com/product.asp?specific=1608

http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/view_seed_item/1970

Or, better still, get your own seed:

http://www.succulent-plant.com/dragon.html

 

[IcyBC]

Thank you for the link @IcyBC! I read it with interest and while i will probably not add a plant to my already over stuffed garden, i will start eating it. Twice or 3 times a year people walk through our neighborhoods carrying baskets of the fruit, yelling "Pitaya". Now i know what they are talking about and so will start buying them from the roaming vendors.

I like dragon fruit very much! The texture, taste, and look are similar to kiwi, which I like also. The problem is it is very expensive here, even in the summer. Once in a while though, I do indulge in buying one small one for my mother.

 

[Beverly]

Hi @IcyBC...There must be some way for you to grow Dragon Fruit in a container so you can bring it inside during the winter? There are a few varieties and perhaps some are more hardy than others. Have you explored these possibilities? It is a cactus, correct? There must be a way. According to Horizon Herbs they are hardy to 30 degrees F. They also have seeds and plants for sale online. They are in Oregon and i have used them occasionally and can recommend reliability.
www.horizonherbs.com
Search the site for Dragon Fruit.

 

[IcyBC]

Hi @IcyBC...There must be some way for you to grow Dragon Fruit in a container so you can bring it inside during the winter? There are a few varieties and perhaps some are more hardy than others. Have you explored these possibilities? It is a cactus, correct? There must be a way. According to Horizon Herbs they are hardy to 30 degrees F. They also have seeds and plants for sale online. They are in Oregon and i have used them occasionally and can recommend reliability.
www.horizonherbs.com
Search the site for Dragon Fruit.

I will check this out, and thank you! The dragon fruit plant my sister has in her backyard looks very much like cactus. It seems to need deeper ground to grow the root. She did have it in a pot before, but it didn't produce the fruit, so now she planted straight into the ground, and voila, fruits.

I am in Michigan, so my weather is very temperamental, but from what you said, sounds intriguing and my curious mind wants to know

 

[Beverly]

Good luck @IcyBC! If the people at Horizon Herb have plants and seeds then i am sure they are growing them and not getting them from an outside source. You can contact them and ask questions, the owners are friendly and helpful. If you can grow dragon fruit in Michigan, they will be able to tell you how. Just remember this is a really busy time for them with lots of pressures to get orders out etc, so i would plan my questions well so as not to take up too much of their time. First i would look up dragon fruit (pitaya) on their website because there will be some information and then contact them with additional questions.

 

[pinkrose]

Guys, I found someone local that was selling their dragon fruit plants and I was able to get 3 for 5 dollars.

 

[Beverly]

Wowser! that's great pinkrose! Congratulations, do we get to see photos of the little ones?

 

[pinkrose]

There it is!

 

[Beverly]

It is adorable, and very healthy looking. How exciting

 

[Corzhens]

We have the purple variety of dragon fruit for 10 years now. It gives us a good harvest during the months of September to November. Yes, it starts to bear fruits after 18 months of planting. However, I didn't know that you can grow it from seeds. Ours was from a cutting that we bought in the nursery for $5. After its first fruiting, we chose good stems that we cut for planting materials that we placed in plastic pots. We gave it away to friends as Christmas gifts. Now many of our friends have dragon fruit.

By the way, the dragon fruit needs a trellis or something it can climb. Ours is planted by the concrete fence and an iron bower for crawling.

 

[pinkrose]

We have the purple variety of dragon fruit for 10 years now. It gives us a good harvest during the months of September to November. Yes, it starts to bear fruits after 18 months of planting. However, I didn't know that you can grow it from seeds. Ours was from a cutting that we bought in the nursery for $5. After its first fruiting, we chose good stems that we cut for planting materials that we placed in plastic pots. We gave it away to friends as Christmas gifts. Now many of our friends have dragon fruit.

By the way, the dragon fruit needs a trellis or something it can climb. Ours is planted by the concrete fence and an iron bower for crawling.

I bought dragon fruit plants from someone local and I used rubber bands to bind them to chopsticks to help them stand up since the person who sold it to me just let it fall over. Is that okay? They're still small and probably won't be bearing fruits anytime soon. Forgot to ask the person how old the plants are.

 

[Corzhens]

I bought dragon fruit plants from someone local and I used rubber bands to bind them to chopsticks to help them stand up since the person who sold it to me just let it fall over. Is that okay? They're still small and probably won't be bearing fruits anytime soon. Forgot to ask the person how old the plants are.

I don't think the dragon fruit can thrive in chopsticks because that's very small. What it needs is a trellis of a different kind or you can plant it beside a concrete wall, can be a fence or a wall of your house. The dragon fruit plant is like a cactus with quite heavy stems and the trellis should be quite sturdy. Here is our dragon fruit in the backyard which we have experimented using a pole and an old motorcycle tire for the crown. You can see the dragon fruit climbing by itself and trying to look for some other support.

In the background is our grape vine which is climbing a makeshift trellis also.