What is the purpose of growing dragon fruit with trellises?
As a tropical fruit, dragon fruit (pitaya) is quite popular among many people in our country. There are still quite a lot of people growing dragon fruit now. When growing dragon fruit, you will find that there is basically a trellis around each dragon fruit plant. And trellis planting is an indispensable task when growing dragon fruit. So what exactly is the purpose of trellises for dragon fruit cultivation? Below, the editor will give you a brief introduction. Let's take a look together!
1. Support function
Dragon fruit is a vine-type food plant, and its stems and vines are a bit different from other fruits. They are mainly triangular-columnar in shape, with no main trunk, but the branches are very long. At their longest they can reach 10 m, and they are basically not lignified. Therefore, the branches cannot grow on their own and can only rely on the climbing roots on the stem nodes to attach and grow upward. A trellis can provide the support conditions for the dragon fruit stem nodes to grow upward, meeting the requirements of the dragon fruit's climbing growth.
2. Promote the growth of aerial roots
When growing dragon fruit, a trellis allows the stem nodes of the dragon fruit to climb upward along the support, or to let them grow drooping. This effectively increases the three-dimensional space area for the dragon fruit, thereby prompting the stem nodes of the dragon fruit to produce aerial roots. It provides a large amount of oxygen for the growth of the dragon fruit plant, improves the photosynthesis of the dragon fruit, promotes its growth, and can significantly increase the fruit-setting rate and single-fruit weight of the dragon fruit.
3. Guide branches to grow drooping
The length of dragon fruit branches will affect the fruiting position of the dragon fruit. The length of fruiting branches generally needs to be controlled at more than 1.5 m. In this way, the branches in the middle and upper parts of the plant, the tips, and the drooping branches have the highest fruiting rate. Therefore, properly controlling the length, number, and spatial configuration of branches is the key to ensuring high yield of dragon fruit. By using a trellis, the branches can be effectively guided to grow drooping, the length of the branches can be extended, and the yield can be increased.
4. Facilitate shaping and pruning
Dragon fruit can grow all year round, especially in spring and autumn, which are the vigorous growth periods of dragon fruit. And the sprouting ability of dragon fruit areoles is very strong. If not managed, all kinds of chaotic branches are extremely likely to appear, seriously affecting the overall growth of the plant. Therefore, a reasonable trellis builds an orderly space that facilitates pruning work and balances tree vigor. It can reasonably distribute the fruiting branches and vegetative branches of the plant, thereby stabilizing the relationship between vegetative growth and reproductive growth.
5. Convenient for daily management
If dragon fruit is grown with a trellis, it can improve the spatial structure of the planting area and allow for reasonable layout. It lets the stem nodes of the dragon fruit plant grow in an orderly manner, which can both ensure the growth of the population and allow the normal development of individuals. It can also control density well, and it provides great convenience for daily management work such as fertilizing and watering, spraying and pollination, and harvesting.
The above is a brief introduction to the role of trellises for dragon fruit. That's all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!