Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

--+My Order+-- Put my order in June 15th, plant arrived at my door on June 20th, with most of that time being spent in "preparing to ship" status. Once it did ship, it got here very quickly. Good sized chunk of cactus too. Overall it was probably around 15 inches long, potted in good sandy soil that was still moist, good and green. I immediately transplanted it into a container (I live too far North to plant it in the ground), and was impressed with how well rooted it was. This was not a fresh cutting that had just barely gotten started, it had a fairly massive rootball, which was quite excellent. They obviously gave this thing some TLC before shipping (that or I ordered so late in the season it had rooted exceptionally well waiting for somebody to buy it). Either way, I was quite happy with it. --+Overview, What is Dragonfruit?+-- Dragonfruit (DF), also known as Pitaya or Pitahaya, is a tropical cactus most commonly grown in Vietnam and Asia as a commercial fruit. There are many different cultivars (that is, kinds) of DF falling into three broad catagories. First are the whites, which is what you'll get from this purchase. They have pink rinds with white flesh inside. Second are the reds, which look like the whites on the outside, but have red/purple flesh. Third are the yelllows, which have a yellow rind with white flesh. You will also see pinks, which are a hybrid of the white and red varieties. Different cultivars of each type will have different characteristics (different ease of growing, differing taste, etc). Unfortunately, this listing does not specificy exactly which kind we're getting, so its next to impossible to tell until you get the fruit (and even then you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless you've personally tried them all). Flavor wise, DF tends to be mild and sweet, with the larger fruits having a stronger flavor (as opposed to some tomatoes that tend to water down the bigger they get). The red varieties are generally sweeter than the whites, but are not as visually striking in my opinion. The mild flavor means they they will be overpowered easily by other flavors (I wouldn't say they're bland, but don't expect a flavor explosion like an orange or strawberry would give). Texture wise, DF are very similar to watermelon. Only the insides of the fruit are edible. The pink rind is similar to that of a watermelon in that you cut through it to get to the flesh inside. The small black seeds are edible, giving a nice crunchy contrast to the otherwise soft flesh. Most commonly a DF is cut in half lengthwise or cut into slices like an apple. While DF will *NOT* keep in a refridgerator for extended periods, many people prefer to chill fresh fruit before eating. The red varieties are also good for juicing. --+Growing your Dragonfruit+-- DF may come from a cactus, but it has very different soil requirements from a normal cactus. As a tropical, it requires rich organic soil, and slightly more frequent watering. Don't bother with standard cactus mix, as it typically doesn't have the nutrients or the drainage requirements to really help your DF take off. Instead, try for a standard potting soil mixed with equal parts perlite. DF are more easily suceptible to root rot than normal, so you don't want to keep the soil wet. It will require regular watering, but when in doubt, underwatering is better than overwatering. Try to let the soil dry out between waterings, only watering once or twice a week. Once your DF grows new limbs, they will be thinner and you can gently bend one to know when to water it. If it flexes easily, its time to water. If its stiff, leave it be. DF are climbers. Like grapes or other vines, you will need to supply it something to grow up, the cactus is not capable of supporting itself once it gets bigger otherwise. In plantations, the most common method is to wrap a pole in burlap for it to grow up, but any untreated wooden trellise should suffice. Your pole/trellise should be at least 5 feet tall. DF produce fruit mainly on hanging sections, not whats growing up your pole, so at the top put a crossbar or two for it to climg out over and hang down from. This will make your DF look like a small palm tree. You could also build a box frame like structure for it to grow in, or even grow along a fence. How you end up doing it will depend greatly on where you live. When your DF gets big enough to need support, you will see it start to grow tendrils (actually air roots) that it uses to latch on to whatever is nearby. These air roots are fully functional, sometimes becoming more important to the plant's health than the underground roots. Occassionaly water these air roots with a mister with some balanced fertilizer (10-10-10) mixed in to help it along. An occassional feeding with the same balanced fertilizer to the roots help promote growth as well. DF tolerate temperatures up to ~105°F, down to roughly freezing. It can stand a light frost, but any prolonged periods of below freezing temperatures will kill it. This means it can only be planted outdoors (permanently) in regions like Florida, Southern California, south Texas, etc. Farther north, you'll need to keep it in a container to keep it alive long enough to produce fruit. Luckily, DF can grow in suprisingly small containers, about what you'd need for a large houseplant. If you are in a high humidity area, your DF will do just fine in full sun. In drier areas, partial shade is better as harsh noon-day sunlight may be too strong for it. --+Getting Fruit+-- Dragonfruit will only flower and produce fruit when the overall mass of the plant reaches roughly 10 pounds. Depending on growing conditions and the size of your initial cutting this could take as little as 6 months, or up to two years. When it does get big enough, large white flowers will begin to bud. These flower buds can reach 7-8" in length before opening, and will only open at night. To add additional insult, most varieties will only flower for a single night, so be prepared. Luckily, they tend to flower during a full moon, so thats when you should watch the closest. Some strains are self pollinating, some are not, and this listing does not specify which type we are getting. Normally pollinated by bats and large moths, you may have to hand pollinate. Make sure you take the pollen from one flower and apply it to a different one, as not all breeds are self fertile (but are fertile between flowers on the same plant). If you're lucky enough to get fruit to set, it will take about a month for it to be ready to harvest. Let the fruit ripen on the stalk until the scaley "leaves" covering it start to shrivel. Harvesting too early means a blander fruit. --+Harvesting Seeds+-- Dragonfruit are considered heirloom plants, as they can be grown from seed. To produce the best seeds, you'll need to sacrifice one of the fruits by letting it over-rippen. Leave it on the stalk as long as possible, then let it sit for a while longer on the shelf until its almost started going bad. Then slice open and use a very fine strainer to extract the seeds from the fleshy pulp. Make sure you get all of the flesh off the seeds before drying, as rotting pulp can infect the seed with various diseases. Dry normaly (place on newspaper or paper towel and place in window sill for a week or two), and store in a small paper envelope. Just be careful, as the seeds are exceedingly small, so watch out that you don't sneeze while preparing them. =) --+Making Cuttings+-- Dragonfruit grows exceptionally easily from cuttings. Even easier than tomatoes. Make a cutting at least 8-9" long with a sterilized knife, preferrably at one of the natural branches (where one stalk ends and a new offshoot starts growing from it's end). If that isn't an option, cuttings can still easily be made from the middle of the stalk, just let it sit out in the air (and out of the sun) for a few days for the cut end to scab over. After that, its just a matter of sticking the base end of the cutting several inches into the soil. DF cuttings have even been known to start rooting themselves while laying on tables with no water or soil at all, so it really is quite difficult to go wrong with one. Please note that the cutting will not have any visible above ground growth until it has rooted itself sufficiently. As long as your cutting is not wilting and shriveling up, its doing fine, just let it be. And if you end up forgetting which end of your cutting is the base and which end is the top (easy to do if you end up with one stalk cut into 3, that middle piece won't have an obvious top or bottom), just remember that the spines always point up. Odds are that you'll be making cuttings for everyone you know, as DF can grow pretty wild looking and require pruning to keep it from taking over, and all those pruned branches are easily rootable into new plants. If nothing else, every time you prune it back, chop it into foot long segments and put them on ebay for $5 each. ;)