What Does the Latest Dragon Fruit Tree Look Like? A Detailed Guide to Its Morphological Characteristics
Dragon fruit is also known as red dragon fruit, dragon pearl fruit, fairy honey fruit, etc. It gets its name because its exterior looks like an angry red fireball. The flesh inside is like sweet cream, yet it is filled with small black seeds. It has a mild texture, a fresh fragrance, and is rich in nutrients, containing plant albumin and anthocyanins that are rarely found in ordinary plants. Let's take a look below at what the dragon fruit tree looks like!
What does the dragon fruit tree look like?
Dragon fruit is a perennial climbing succulent plant. The plant has no main root; lateral roots are distributed in large numbers in the shallow topsoil, and there are also many aerial roots that allow it to grow by climbing. The stems are dark green, thick and sturdy, and can reach up to 7 m long and 10-12 cm thick, with 3 ribs. The ribs are flat with wavy edges. Climbing roots grow at the nodes of the stems and can attach to other plants to grow. There are mostly 3 ribs, and small spines are present in the recessed areas of each stem node. The leaves have degenerated, and the function of photosynthesis is carried out by the stems. The flowers are white, with a huge inferior ovary, and the fruit is oblong or ovate.
When does dragon fruit ripen?
The ripening period of dragon fruit is from May to November each year. Dragon fruit is a fruit with a very high yield. It begins to flower and bear fruit 12-14 months after planting, and can flower 12-15 times per year. The fruit-bearing period is from April to November, and the fruit ripens 30-40 days after the flowers fade. It can be harvested when the fruit gradually turns from green to purplish red. A single fruit weighs 500-1000 grams. In the second year after planting, each pillar produces more than 20 fruits, and by the third year it enters the full fruiting period.
What conditions are needed to grow dragon fruit?
1. Temperature: Dragon fruit is not afraid of high temperatures but is afraid of low temperatures. It requires an annual average temperature of no less than 18°C, an average January temperature of no less than 8°C, and an extreme low temperature of -3°C with a duration of no more than 6 hours. The optimum growth temperature is 25-35°C, and growth stops when the temperature is below 10°C or above 38°C.
2. Soil: Dragon fruit has extremely broad adaptability to soil and can grow well in mountain land, dry land, semi-dry land, stony mountain land, wasteland, and waterlogged low-lying land. This is especially true for dragon fruit grafted onto local night-blooming cereus, which has even broader adaptability.
3. Water: Dragon fruit is a drought-tolerant plant, but its growth requires relatively abundant water. If the dragon fruit planting site lacks water for a long time, it will cause the growth of dragon fruit to stagnate, and even the original thick fleshy stems will slowly wither.
4. Light: Dragon fruit is a typical sun plant and likes warm, direct sunlight. If the light duration is long and the sunlight is sufficient, photosynthesis will be especially vigorous, the fleshy stems will be thick and deep green, and there will be many flowers and large, high-yielding fruit. Conversely, the fruit yield will decrease significantly.
5. Fertilizer: Dragon fruit grows quickly, and the fertilizer needed throughout its entire growth cycle must be sufficient. In the early stage of growth, enough nitrogen fertilizer should be supplied to help the plant grow tall and strong quickly. In the middle and late stages of plant growth, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers should be applied in a more balanced way to increase the plant's photosynthesis.