Growing Dragons
With extra time on our hands and the amazing early Autumn weather to enjoy, David has been busy in the garden taking cuttings from our amazing Dragon Fruit (Pitaya) plant.
We are taking advantage of the subtropical climate we have in beautiful Yamba to strike some cuttings and clone our red-fleshed Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus Costarecensis). We love the colour of the fruit’s flesh in a fruit salad or scooped out the skin. It has a pretty neutral flavour, and the texture of a kiwi fruit.
The fruit grows on a cactus plant that loves sandy soils (tick – our garden is basically a sand dune), humidity (yep, got that covered) and very little water (happy to NOT water something anytime).
This cactus is a climber, and likes a warm sunny spot, so it should also do well in a pot in a bright warm corner of the garden OR inside as long as it has something for support.
The plant we are taking cuttings from is doing it’s best to stick to the walls of the cafe, attaching aerial roots to the walls and fascia overhangs.
David whipped out the secateurs and lopped off half a dozen or so pieces of this beauty and got it ready to pot up.
Here’s a hint – this is SUPER EASY!
Choose a pot, fill it with soil and add your Dragon Fruit plant cutting – he left some of them whole, and snipped off smaller bits as an experiment – and add a stake. David broke up and split some bamboo with our big chopper, and gave the pots a good water to get them going.
We’ve moved the pots to a warm and sheltered spot in our garden and we’ll keep an eye on them for the next six months to see how they go
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When the plants have been established for a year or two the flowers of this thing are spectacular and about the diameter of a dinner plate.
They only flower at night, and the flower closes up after one night, so keep an eye on the flower buds, and make a note to head out to have a look in the dark, or just as the sun comes up.
Just a couple of months later, a prehistoric-looking dragon egg of a fruit will be ready to snip off and enjoy.
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Wow, thanks for sharing. I think I have some cuttings of Dragon fruit. I removed the pieces from mum’s house before it sold, only a couple of months earlier their was the most beautiful flower on the ‘spike’ and this then turned into a deep pink fruit, but I didn’t realise what it potentially is, I thought it was ‘just a moon flower’. I have been totally neglecting the branches, you have inspired me to get out into the back yard and start potting them. BTW, how are the cut pieces going? Regards, Lorraine