How to Care for Dragon Fruit in Winter So It Survives the Cold Safely

Dragon fruit is a tropical and subtropical fruit. It likes light and tolerates shade, tolerates heat and drought, and likes fertilizer while tolerating poor soil. It grows quickly in a warm, humid environment with sufficient light. So, how does dragon fruit overwinter?

1. Mounding soil

After fertilizing, use pond mud, burnt soil or other mixed soil fertilizer, or other new soil and fertilizer mud to mound around the soil at the base of the dragon fruit plant, 15-20 kg per plant, about 8-10 cm thick, to thicken the topsoil layer, enrich the soil, cover the exposed root mass, stabilize and raise the soil temperature, and protect the underground roots from low-temperature damage in winter.

2. Fertilizing

Apply overwintering fertilizer 15-20 days before winter arrives, mainly high-quality organic fertilizer and high-efficiency phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. For trees more than two years old, use decomposed and rotted human, poultry and livestock manure, superphosphate and potassium chloride. At a distance of 50-60 cm from the dragon fruit plant, dig a ring trench 25-30 cm deep and 25-30 cm wide around the dragon fruit plant, fully stir and mix all the fertilizers evenly, then spread them in the ring trench and cover with soil.

3. Watering

After fertilizing and mounding soil, pour 15-20 kg of clean water, biogas slurry or decomposed and rotted human and livestock manure water on each plant. Using the comprehensive-nutrient Shougen Lizhuang water-soluble fertilizer or Jinshibao is more beneficial for root growth and absorption and for improving the soil environment. Pour it evenly into the soil around the base of the dragon fruit plant, preferably so that the water fully infiltrates into the soil without running off. This promotes root absorption and utilization, improves the fertilizing effect, and promotes the recovery and strengthening of the tree's vigor.

4. Covering with grass

In winter, use rice straw or other weeds to cover the soil around the base of the dragon fruit plant, with a grass thickness of 5-6 cm, to reduce water evaporation, prevent water loss, keep the soil moist, ensure water supply, and prevent the plant from losing water. This can noticeably enhance the plant's ability to resist cold and overwinter.

5. Pest and disease control

In winter, drench the roots once with a mixture of 1000-fold 0.5% veratrine, 1000-fold 4.5% cypermethrin and 800-fold 50% thiophanate-methyl, 3-5 kg per plant, poured evenly into the soil around the base of the dragon fruit plant, preferably so that the water fully infiltrates into the soil without running off, to kill all kinds of underground pests and diseases lurking in the soil and protect the roots.

Because the dragon fruit tree is a plant that cannot tolerate cold and dryness, winter protection work must be done well.