A clever new trick for growing dragon fruit - a practical method worth learning from

Dragon fruit is a perennial climbing succulent of the genus Hylocereus in the cactus family (Cactaceae). It is a tropical and subtropical fruit that likes light but tolerates shade, tolerates heat and drought, and likes fertilizer but tolerates poor soil. It grows rapidly in warm, humid environments with plenty of light, can withstand low temperatures of 0°C and high temperatures of 40°C, and can adapt to a variety of soils. Now let us take a look at what the growing conditions for dragon fruit are!

Temperature

Temperature is almost the decisive factor for dragon fruit. Its place of origin is the tropical region, which makes dragon fruit a typical tropical and subtropical fruit. It is not afraid of high temperatures but is very afraid of low temperatures. The growing area requires an average annual 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 growing temperature range is 25-35°C. Below 10°C and above 38°C, growth stops, and the plant resists stress through the brief dormancy unique to plants.

Soil

Dragon fruit is a plant with very strong vitality and extremely broad adaptability to soil. It can grow well in mountainous land, dry land, semi-dry land, rocky mountain land, wasteland, and waterlogged low-lying land. This is especially true of dragon fruit grafted onto local Hylocereus undatus, which has even broader adaptability. Although dragon fruit has wide adaptability, it still has the soil pH environment most suitable for its growth. Generally speaking, dragon fruit grows best in neutral or slightly alkaline soil, that is, at a pH between 7.0 and 7.8. Therefore, for planting in soil that has been fertilized with chemical fertilizers many times, it is recommended to use plant ash, lime, or river mussel shell powder to make the soil slightly alkaline.

Water

Dragon fruit is a drought-tolerant plant, but its growth requires fairly abundant water. If the dragon fruit planting site lacks water for a long time, the growth of dragon fruit will stagnate, and even the original thick fleshy stems will slowly wither. From May to November each year, dragon fruit is in its flowering and fruiting period. At this time, the dragon fruit plant needs a large amount of water, especially during the fruit expansion period, when the water requirement is greatest. It is best to keep the soil water-holding capacity at 50-80%. Likewise, if there is too much water in the soil, especially if oxygen is lacking, the roots will easily rot, and if the plant is submerged for more than half a day, it will die.

Light

Dragon fruit is a typical sun plant and likes warm, direct sunlight. If there is a long period of sunlight and sufficient sunshine, photosynthesis will be especially vigorous, the fleshy stems will be thick and deep green, and there will be many flowers, large fruit, and a high yield; otherwise, the amount of fruit produced will decrease noticeably. Therefore, it should be planted in open wasteland, especially on sunny slopes. The optimal light intensity is above 8,000 lux, and light conditions below 2,500 lux have an obvious impact on nutrient accumulation. For relatively old mature branch segments, concentrated high-intensity direct sunlight, if it lasts too long, will cause the accumulated heat to be unable to dissipate, leading to sunscald on some dragon fruit branches.

Fertilizer

Compared with many traditional fruits, dragon fruit uses less fertilizer in the early planting stage, but this does not mean that dragon fruit does not need various nutrients. On the contrary, because dragon fruit grows quickly and has a high yield per mu, the fertilizer needed throughout the entire growth cycle must be sufficient. In the early growth stage, sufficient nitrogen fertilizer should be supplied to help the plant grow taller and stronger quickly and produce more branches. 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, promote early flowering, and increase the protein and vitamin content in the fruit.