dragon fruit cactus - Orchid Board

kindrag23 · #1 08-21-2016, 11:37 AM

So I have several pots of Dragon fruit cactus. I think my largest should produce fruit next year.

But it's growing so fast I can't keep it upright! A tomato cage is not heavy enough to keep it up right either. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

No-Pro-mwa · #2 08-21-2016, 12:17 PM

I don't know what it is but I will tell you that the tomato cages you buy from the store won't hold up my tomatoes. My dear hubby makes them out of either woven sire or concrete wire. The concrete ones are the best. Hope that helps.

kindrag23 · #3 08-21-2016, 12:19 PM

That does help. These grow really big and tall and between the birds landing on the cage and cactus as roots and the weight of the cactus they keep falling over.

estación seca · #4 08-21-2016, 02:18 PM

They get very heavy, and they are vines. You would have to be very strong or have some kind of lift to move around a mature plant in a container with a trellis. Also you need to hand-pollinate most varieties, so the flowers need to be within reach.

For fruit production people build an umbrella-shaped trellis. The central column is an upright, 5 foot to 6 foot tall / 150 cm to 180cm, 4" x 4" / 10cm x 10cm piece of wood. On top they make a horizontal T with pieces of 2" x 4" board extending 4 feet / 120cm from the column.

Plant the plant at the base of the column. Train and tie the main stem up the column, pruning out side shoots (root the cuttings to sell), until it grows over the top of the trellis. Now let it flop over and make side shoots, and train them along the horizontal cross pieces.

In time the side shoots will lean on the older side shoots. You wind up with an umbrella made of dragon fruit cactus. They can dangle almost to the ground.

You can also train them on a trellis on a wall, but it needs to be extremely sturdy. We're talking iron rods screwed into a masonry wall, or a frame made of 2" x 4" boards. If you build it against a stucco wall, you're going to need to send screws into the upright framing boards behind the stucco.

If you get just a little frost, you can train them on a house wall, and in the winter cover the plant with frost cloth with an extension cord to an incandescent light bulb under the cloth.

kindrag23 · #5 08-21-2016, 02:37 PM

Awesome thanks! Estacion Seca! Mine is not that big yet and I have maybe another year before my biggest one is as tall as me and I am 5'6.

We get snow in the winter at least once I January/February usually. So I will have to figure something other with it then. I have like 4 small broken peices that are re-rooting and taking off. Do you know if these are prone to infection or disease? My 2nd largest plant is looking rather funny. It's starting to slowly turn a whitish color up the main stalk. But the biggest new branches are clear of it...

estación seca · #6 08-21-2016, 02:55 PM

This is one of the hardest to kill and easiest to bloom of all cacti, unless you let it freeze. It would be in the collection of everybody who likes cacti even a little bit - except it gets really big.

It's best to take cuttings from a natural constriction in the stem, but mid-stem cuttings will also root.

The surest way to root them is to stand the cuttings upright, right-side-up, on top of some soil in a pot. Don't bury them at all. Water when dry. They will root from the central vascular ring at the cut, and then you can plant them somewhere else, just an inch deeper.

You will probably need something to hold them upright while rooting. I often put an inch or two / 2-5cm of soil in the bottom of a 1-gallon / 3.78 liter nursery pot, and stand the cutting upright inside, letting it lean against the side of the pot for support.

The green skin eventually turns to whitish or light brown bark on older parts of the plant. That's normal, and happens with a lot of cacti.

kindrag23 · #7 08-21-2016, 02:56 PM

THANKS! The cactus around my house don't do this so I was wondering.

estación seca · #8 08-21-2016, 03:29 PM

If you look at the bases of the prickly pears you will see the oldest parts turning a corky brown.

kindrag23 · #9 08-21-2016, 03:54 PM

Who knew? I don't get to close to the one outside by my house. It was the size of a extra large bush. I called it my cactus condominium. It housed many spiders and birds and other creatures.

Leafmite · #10 08-21-2016, 07:32 PM

Logees, up in Connecticut grow these in their greenhouse. You could always see if they wrote an article or made a video on how they grow it. Just check their website. I have a small one, rescued from Lowe's. It was the bottom of a novelty grafting. I also have seedlings but they will be given away.