How to Grow Dragon Fruit? An Introduction to the Latest Cultivation Techniques and Methods
Dragon fruit is a very common and very popular fruit in our daily lives. Dragon fruit has high nutritional value and tastes good, and it has a very large market demand. Now the market demand for dragon fruit is also continuously rising, so the planting area and yield urgently need to be increased. So how should dragon fruit be grown? Below, the editor brings you the cultivation techniques for dragon fruit. Let's take a look!
1. Seedling Stage Management
To grow dragon fruit, we first need to choose a good seedling bed. The location of the seedling bed must ensure good ventilation, sufficient sunlight, fertile soil and normal drainage and irrigation. Then finely prepare the soil and make beds, and apply sufficient farmyard manure as base fertilizer, with the application rate per mu kept at about 1800kg. Mix it thoroughly and evenly with the soil, then apply an appropriate amount of calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer and work it into the surface soil layer. Then control the plant and row spacing well, plant the small seedlings into the seedling bed, and water and spray them. After about half a month, apply about 6kg of compound fertilizer. After the small seedlings grow their first section of stem flesh, they can be taken out of the nursery and planted in the field.
2. Scientific Fertilization
The fruit harvest period of dragon fruit is relatively long, and basically organic fertilizer is applied once every year, balancing the proportion of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. After entering the flowering stage of dragon fruit, attention should be paid to appropriately increasing the proportion of potassium and magnesium fertilizers, increasing the accumulation of sugar in the fruit and improving fruit quality. Fertilization during the young tree stage should focus mainly on nitrogen fertilizer, following the principle of applying more frequently but in small amounts, to promote the growth of dragon fruit. For mature trees over 3 years old, fertilization should focus mainly on phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, and nitrogen fertilizer should not be over-applied to avoid excessive vegetative growth. The annual fertilization time should be when new shoots sprout and the fruit expands, providing sufficient growth nutrients for dragon fruit.
3. Reasonable Watering
Dragon fruit likes to grow in a warm and humid environment, and sufficient sunlight must be ensured. During the seedling stage of dragon fruit, attention should be paid to keeping the soil moist to provide sufficient water for seedling growth. In spring and summer, attention should be paid to watering more to ensure the growth state of the roots. Then during the fruit expansion period, the soil should also be kept moist to promote fruit growth. When watering, be careful not to let it be flooded for a long time, otherwise it is easy to cause root hypoxia, and timely drainage should be carried out on rainy days.
4. Field Management
When the branches of dragon fruit reach about 130 cm, pinching should be carried out to promote branching. When planting dragon fruit, it is best to interplant some white-fleshed dragon fruit varieties so that the two varieties can pollinate each other, which can significantly increase the fruit-setting rate. If encountering rainy weather, artificial pollination should be done well to improve the success rate of pollination. Then after fruit harvest every year, attention should be paid to pruning, cutting off some excessive branches to promote the sprouting of new branches and ensure the yield of the following year.
The above is a brief introduction to dragon fruit cultivation techniques. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and we hope it can be helpful to everyone.