hey I'm in central florida and was gifted some dragon fruit cuttings
I let them callous for a little under 2 weeks and planted them today.
soil has good drainage
what do you guys think? how long until roots shoot out? am I supposed to water it? or will it grow roots quicker w/ only the moisture from the soil *its a tiny bit moist, not enough to notice on the finger though*
I bought a dragonfruit plant about 2 months ago, and it's still in a pot. It was next to a fence, but started going yellow and developing 'rust' spots. We thought it may not be getting the full sun it needed and moved it to a more prominent position.
Since then it grew a whole new "arm" ? which is getting nice and big, but the yellowing problem has returned. Any ideas?
Durt Under Nail - if your soil has good, fast drainage, you should be watering quite a bit more than you are. Dragonfruit are cacti, but they're rainforest cacti and as such they like more water than other members of that family.
Tropical Fruit - if you're in a part of Australia that has no winters to speak of (ie it never frosts or freezes) you'd be best off to put your cactus up a tree in a wodge of coir or similar fibre - it's how they grow in nature. That way it won't be having soil nutrient issues, like it seems to be now. At any rate, get it out of the pot!
After getting the dragonfruit, I initially planted it in the ground next to the fence, but it didn't seem to be too happy there. Which is why I re-potted it (not fun when dealing with cacti). But I didn't think that dragonfruit needed quite so much care and attention. A lot of people up here in the tropics just let it grow wild, like you suggested, on trees and stuff.
Unfortunately I have no big trees in my garden - yet. The garden's just being established (since June), and will probably have decent sized trees over the next 3-5 years. I'll keep persevering however and plant it somewhere else in full sun and pay more attention to what soil type it needs. Any ideas on what NPK it needs?
I moved the dragonfruit to another spot where it is in full sun, but under shelter! It is now healthily green again.
It's still in its pot. Although, the 'rust' stains are still there. It seems like some sort of leaf miner has gotten into it. The green succulent bits have developed a greyish scale in some parts.
