How to Grow and Care Dragon Fruit

Do you love having dragon fruit? Want to grow dragon fruit in your home garden? If yes is your answer, read our guide that will help you to grow dragon fruit from cuttings that too without scratching your heads.

Dragon Fruits, the cool cactus fruits that immediately remind you of the cute little dragon into your hands. That’s what its name indicates too. Very delicious and loaded with essential nutrients.

Many farmers and people want to cultivate the dragon fruit on their land with seeds which is a long cultivation process. 

But here, we provide a sure-shot guide on how to grow dragon fruits from cuttings in your home garden.

This is the easiest and fastest method to cultivate the dragon fruit. But before that, a little information about dragon fruit that will help you to grow it. 

All About Dragon Fruit

Selenicereus undatus

Dragon fruit belongs to the cactus family, slightly larger in shape. It grows into succulent-like branches and has thick stems. Later it produces vivid red and yellow colored fruits.

The name is also known as the dragon fruit or pitaya. The fruit has a dense, juicy flavor. It can be consumed raw and blended to form smoothies.

This is one of the largest fruits in the world and often produces the largest flowers named night-bloom cereus. This blossoms into gorgeous white flowers for one night and spreads a tropical scent everywhere.

grow dragon fruit from cuttings

Generally, the plant is cultivated in Southeast Asian countries, Mexico, Australia, the Caribbean, and many more. However, China and Indonesia are where dragon fruit grows the most.

The dragon fruits grow well in warm and sunny places. But it cannot tolerate too many hot conditions. They can also survive on a cool breeze but not in extremely cold regions.

We have a few more guides if you love to grow fruits in your home garden. Read them:

  1. How to Grow Pineapple from Top Cuttings & Seeds
  2. How to Grow a Rambutan Tree
  3. A Complete Guide to Grow Strawberries in Planters
  4. A Complete Guide on Plant and Grow Pomegranate Tree
  5. A Step-by-step Guide to Grow Passion Fruit from Seeds
  6. How to Plant a Mango Seed

How to Grow Dragon Fruit

Dragon fruit can be cultivated with the cuttings collected from mature plants. Here is the stepwise guide that you need to follow to grow dragon fruit from cuttings.

This guide will take a deep dive to know about the method in detail. So, without any further adieu, follow the guide to growing this delicious fruit easily and quickly.

1. Prepare The Soil Bed

Dragon fruits can grow in sunny areas. So, you need to choose the soil where it gets sunlight. The soil must be fertile and loamy soil would be great as it holds water for longer.

Start by preparing the soil bed and make sure it is rich in inadequate nutrients.

Maintain good drainage and do not waterlog the soil. Make sure to test the pH of the soil and maintain it between 6.0 to 6.8. The plant doesn’t grow in acidic soil.

prepare soil bed

So, these are all the soil requirements that will help you to grow dragon fruit from cuttings. The next section will help you to cut dragon fruit to grow in the soil bed we just prepared. 

Want to start planting in pots? Check out the guide on how to prepare the soil for planting in pots.

2. Cut Up Cuttings from Mature Plants

Now, use the garden shears to cut at least twelve inches long branches of the mature plant. However, you need to be careful not to cut harshly as it may damage the plant’s growth.

Now, cut these cuttings into three to five small pieces.

The pieces that you make will grow into a whole new dragon fruit plant. Do ensure to track the direction of cutting. It should be upright as it helps to grow the plant properly.

If you notice any fungus on the plant or cutting, cut it down and avoid growing that cutting. You can also put the cuttings for about a week in a shade.

Also, use some rooting powder and apply it at the bottom of the cuttings to ensure maximum growth. 

3. Plant The Cuttings

Plant the selected cuttings by placing them in the soil. Dig out the soil and make little space. Now, place the dragon fruit cutting into the soil and cover it.

Ensure that the cut part is upright and its direction is in the same way as its mother plant has.

Also, keep the end closer to the base of the mother dragon fruit plant and end up planted into the soil. The tip should be picking upward out of the soil.

Cover the base with the soil to stay firmly on the ground and don’t get tilted. 

Put Dragon Fruit Cuttings in Soil

All these important tips will help you to ensure that the dragon fruit grows healthy without any leggings. 

YOu know you can grow dragon fruit from cuttings too. Click on the link to know more.

4. Water the Cuttings

Keep the soil moist so that plants can grow well. Start watering the plant as soon as you observe new growth and start developing the roots.

It takes three to four weeks to develop the root system. In between, you need to maintain the water supply so that the soil doesn’t get dried.

5. Transplant

If you are growing your dragon fruit plant cuts in your indoor spaces, transplant them into the bigger pots when they grow roots.

Place them under the sun for at least six hours to grow in an appropriate environment. Later you can transfer it into the garden soil.

We can directly put the cuttings in the garden soil but this process ensures a healthy plant to grow dragon fruit from cuttings. 

Dragon Fruit Cuttings in Garden Soil

6. Put some Support to Grow

Once the dragon fruit plant reaches twelve inches, the need for a support system to grow optimally is required.

The reason is the dragon fruit plant is a climbing cactus, and you can set up the wood stakes to support the plant

This will ensure the proper growth of the dragon fruit plants. 

7. Have Patience

To grow dragon fruit from cuttings is a test of patience. Although, growing through cuttings is a much quicker way in comparison to growing dragon fruit from seeds.

But, still, it takes a lot of time to have the fruit in your plant. However, it depends on where you live and the climate conditions.

Make sure to water your plant as we have mentioned above. And you can put nutrients from time to time that will help you to grow dragon fruit from cuttings easily.

However, do ensure to focus on fertilizers and adding water. In addition to this, timely check the growth of plants and apply pesticides if necessary to protect them from the pest attack.

In some places, you can get fruit in the first year itself.

How to Grow Dragon Fruit

Growing dragon fruit plants needs a lot of patience. It may seem to be an easy task but consumes a lot of time.

So, this is all about how to grow dragon fruit from cuttings. You can follow the guide to grow dragon fruit plants optimally with the least effort.

So, what do you think? Do you have that much patience to grow dragon fruit from cuttings? Having fruit from your garden is bliss, right?

If you liked our guide on how to grow dragon fruit from cuttings, do let us know in the comments section below. It will encourage us to write more useful guides in the future.


FAQ

  1. What is Dragon Fruit?

    Dragon fruit belongs to the cactus family, slightly larger in shape. It grows into succulent-like branches and has thick stems. Later it produces vivid red and yellow colored fruits.

  2. How to Grow Dragon Fruit?

    To grow dragon fruit from cuttings is a test of patience. Although, growing through cuttings is a much quicker way in comparison to growing dragon fruit from seeds. But, still, it takes a lot of time to have the fruit in your plant. However, it depends on where you live and the climate conditions. 

  3. How to Cut Dragon Fruit?

    Use the garden shears to cut at least twelve inches long branches of the mature plant. However, you need to be careful not to cut harshly as it may damage the plant’s growth. Now, cut these cuttings into three to five small pieces.

  4. Where do Dragon Fruit Grow?

    Dragon Fruit can be cultivated with the cuttings collected from mature plants. Here is the stepwise guide that you need to follow to grow dragon fruit from cuttings.

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