When Is the Best Time to Plant Dragon Fruit? A Full Analysis of the Optimal Planting Time
Dragon fruit is a tropical and subtropical fruit. Under natural conditions, the fruit ripens in summer and autumn. It is sweet, juicy, nutritious and unique in its properties. It contains plant albumin, anthocyanins, and rich vitamins and water-soluble dietary fiber, which are rarely found in ordinary plants, giving it extremely high cultivation value. Let us take a look below at when dragon fruit is planted!
When Is Dragon Fruit Planted?
Dragon fruit can be planted all year round, but it must not be planted deeply; planting it about 3 cm deep is enough, and the soil should be kept moist in the early stage. It begins to flower and bear fruit 12-14 months after planting, and can flower 12-15 times a year. The fruiting period is from April to November, and the fruit ripens 30-40 days after the flowers fade. A single fruit weighs 500-1000 grams. In the second year after planting, each column produces more than 20 fruits, and in the third year it enters the full fruiting period. With a relatively high level of management, the yield can reach 2500 kg per mu.
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 optimal growth temperature is 25-35°C. Growth stops below 10°C and above 38°C.
2. Soil: Dragon fruit has extremely wide adaptability to soil and can grow well in mountainous 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 fairly abundant water. If the planting site lacks water for a long time, the growth of dragon fruit will stagnate, and even the original thick fleshy stems will gradually wither.
4. Light: Dragon fruit is a typical sun-loving plant and likes warm, direct sunlight. If the light duration is long and the sunlight is sufficient, photosynthesis is especially vigorous, the fleshy stems are thick and deep green, and there are many flowers and large, high-yielding fruits. Conversely, the amount of fruit set decreases noticeably.
5. Fertilizer: Dragon fruit grows quickly, and the fertilizer needed throughout its entire growth cycle must be sufficient. In the early growth stage, enough nitrogen fertilizer should be supplied to help the plant grow tall and strong quickly. In the middle and late growth stages, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers should be applied in a more balanced way to increase the plant's photosynthesis.
Dragon Fruit Planting and Management Techniques
1. Planting method: There are many ways to plant dragon fruit. It can be grown climbing on walls or grown under a trellis, but column-type cultivation is the most common. Its advantages are low production cost and high land utilization.
2. Planting spacing: For dragon fruit using double-season columns, the plant and row spacing is 1.5×2 m. Calculating 4 seedlings planted around each column, 750 plants can be planted per mu. Note, however, that it must not be planted deeply; planting it about 3 cm deep is enough, and the soil should be kept moist in the early stage.
3. Apply thin fertilizer frequently: Dragon fruit has a long harvest period. Organic fertilizer must be applied heavily every year, and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compound fertilizers must be applied in a balanced way over the long term. During flowering and fruiting, potassium and magnesium fertilizers should be added. During the fruiting period, keep the soil moist, and cover the tree basin with grass or spent mushroom substrate.
4. Pinching and pruning: When the branches of dragon fruit grow to 1.3-1.4 m long, pinch off the growing tips to promote branching and let the branches droop naturally. After harvesting the fruit each year, cut off the branches that have already borne fruit so they send out new branches again, ensuring the yield for the coming year.
5. Reasonable interplanting: Red-fleshed dragon fruit has poor self-compatibility, a low fruit set rate from self-pollination, small fruit and poor market quality. It needs pollination from white-fleshed dragon fruit. Interplanting about 10% white-fleshed dragon fruit can noticeably increase the fruit set rate.
6. Hand pollination: When planting dragon fruit, hand pollination should be carried out in rainy weather. Pollination can be done in the evening when the flowers open or in the early morning before the flowers close, using a writing brush to apply pollen directly to the stigma of the female flower.
7. Pest and disease control: Dragon fruit has relatively few pests and diseases. During the seedling stage it is easily harmed by snails and ants, which can be controlled with insecticides. In hot and humid seasons it is prone to diseases, with partial necrosis of branches and mold spots, which can be controlled with triadimefon, strong copper oxide, and similar products.