jadamtallman
Newly Registered
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2017 11:22 am

Need help with new Dragonfruit.

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Hi, everybody! First time poster and glad to be here! So, I'm growing dragonfruit in pots indoors. I have 3 clippings I planted and they took off great. They are about 4 months old now. I've included two pictures of their progress. I have a few questions...
1. Yesterday the the top growth on the one on the right folded over and it cracked the new vine a bit but still appears to be growing. Also where the two vines meet it is turning white and climbing up that vine. It bent where the white stuff ended.
Because these are indoor plants should I let the tops flop over the sides or should I tie them up or put chicken wire up?
2. Is that white stuff normal? Is it scar tissue from the stress of trying to stay straight? Could it be a fungus, it looks like part of the plant?
3. Should the new top vines be getting thicker after 4 months or am I about on par with the normal?
4. Also there are a number of little white vines that grew rather quickly out of the bottom of the top new growth, but have since not done anything but turn brown. Do these eventually grow or should I cut them off?

Sorry if that's a little long winded, I've not been able to find any info on this stage of my growth. Thanks for the help in advance!

thanrose
Greener Thumb
Posts: 716
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:01 am
Location: Jacksonville, FLZone 9A

Taking them in reverse order, because that's how I roll, the "little white vines" are rootlets. Inconsequential. You can trim them off, or cut off the entire cladode that has them and pot them up. I suspect you don't want to do that, which is fine. If they were growing outdoors in sun and fairly dry air, you wouldn't see much of them but they don't harm anything.

The cladodes, which are a kind of stem that is like a leaf, may be long and pencil like or flattened, or sometimes more sculpted in cross section. I think you are expecting them all to be like that, but what you have is normal, especially indoors. Generally, the pencil like cladodes will stay just like that, but will sprout new and probably flattened cladodes along the sides and end come spring.

The white stuff you refer to is normal, too. It's not fungal, but I'm not enough of a cactus person to know what to call it. Older pieces will develop it and I think of it as tree bark. That is not accurate, but it is tougher than the green parts. Another comparison might be to a callus. You can't remove it, although some cacti can let some of it sort of flake off. Don't try to help it along or you'll damage the living tissue.

The break occurred at the point that it did because of the callus. Below that point, the stem resisted bending. It will mend if you don't keep flexing it. You can use a thin piece of cane and florist tape to splint it if you wish. Since you plan on keeping them indoors apparently, you might want something a bit more attractive than chicken wire. A length of wood with bark, a couple of slender canes, or anything else you could tie it to would work. Since these aren't all that big, repair and support is a good idea, but if they were bearing fruit and outdoors, I'd say you could just trim that piece off, maybe replant it.



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