Soil for heavy waterers?

[CrazyConure]

I keep having this problem with my dragon fruits. I’m using a regular potting mix, but I keep getting the stems to rot after a few months. I’ll admit, I am a bit of a heavy waterer, but I also feel like my soil doesn’t have good drainage for the delicate prone-rot stem of a dragon fruit.

I heard you can use a cactus mix, but I also heard that dragon fruits don’t do well in it. I heard they do best in a sandy mix. What is the best soil (from a garden shop) for dragon fruits, and how can I make the soil have very good drainage? There really isn’t that much information online for dragon fruits.

 

[Tjohn]

Have you tried watering from the bottom instead of the top?

 

[headfullofbees]

Watering from the bottom or the top will cause problems if you water too much.
There are two ways that help avoid root-rot on melons, squashes etc.
One is to mound up the soil prior to planting, and water from above at a fair distance from the stem, so that drainage is improved.
The other is to sink a four inch pot into the soil such that there is just a little lip above soil level, at a distance of two feet from the stem, and water through that, so that some surface roots remain dryish.