What soil is suitable for dragon fruit? Neutral or slightly acidic soil is preferable
AbstractFor planting dragon fruit, neutral soil and slightly acidic soil rich in humus and good at retaining water and fertilizer are preferable. Dragon fruit is mainly propagated by cuttings and grafting, and can be planted on flat land, paddy fields, hillsides or dry land.
Dragon fruit does not have high soil requirements. It can be planted on ordinary flat land, paddy fields, hillsides or dry land, but it grows better in fertile, well-drained neutral or slightly acidic soil. Dragon fruit has strong rooting ability and very vigorous vitality.
Dragon fruit planting conditions
Dragon fruit is a tropical and subtropical fruit, and its cultivation technique is not complicated. It likes warm and humid places, tolerates shade and poor soil, and the suitable growing temperature is around 30°C. It can also be grown in the open at 5°C.
Propagation methods
Dragon fruit is mainly propagated by cuttings and grafting. The planting row spacing is generally about 6-7 m, the plant spacing is about 3-4 m, and about 38 planting holes are generally made per mu. During the growing process, an appropriate amount of organic fertilizer should be applied. In hot summer weather, irrigation should be carried out, while in rainy days attention should be paid to drainage, and water must not be allowed to accumulate in the planting area, otherwise it is very easy to become infected with fungi and bacteria.
Disease control
Dragon fruit generally has no major diseases, and the probability of pests and diseases occurring during normal planting is also low. Even if diseases occur, they are generally easily controlled with some high-efficiency, low-toxicity pesticides. The flowering and fruiting period of dragon fruit is between May and November each year, and when the fruit turns purple-red it can generally be harvested.
Current market situation
The cultivation history of dragon fruit in China is relatively short, and the current cultivation area is not large. Dragon fruit can adapt to most soils, but neutral soil and slightly acidic soil that retain water and fertilizer are the best. If you want the plants to grow more vigorously later, you can apply more human and livestock poultry manure and organic fertilizer. At the seedling stage, calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer and compound fertilizer, etc., can be applied, and the amount should be determined according to the size of the plant.
Compared with most fruit trees, dragon fruit is one of the very easy ones to grow. It can grow rapidly in warm, humid places with sufficient sunlight. When grown in the open in spring and summer, water it more so the root system can grow vigorously, and drain it promptly in cloudy and rainy weather to avoid infection by pathogens.
Dragon fruit tolerates low temperatures of 0°C and high temperatures of 40°C, but to ensure year-round growth and multiple fruiting, it should be cultivated at temperatures of 20—30°C as much as possible. If dragon fruit is grown in the north, a greenhouse must be built, and the nighttime temperature in winter must not be lower than 8°C. In summer, the plastic film does not need to be removed, but ventilation must be ensured. A dragon fruit orchard does not need frequent plowing; it is enough to remove the weeds in time. Dragon fruit generally has no other pests or diseases, and occasionally there may be nematodes in the roots, which only need to be controlled promptly once discovered.