Easy peasy (and cheap) pitaya trellis

[Mark in Texas]

Pitaya trellis is in place. Easy peasy - 1" PVC, old cattle panel laying around, wire loom on the perimeter to protect the tender tissue.  5' high X 2' W X 6' long.

Santa Barbara red, Physical Graffiti, Sugar, and the bare spot on the left will host a Frankie's red now in a pot in a bottomless, raised bed of RootBuilder.  Food is exclusively Osmocote Indoor/Outdoor.

Top, ready for the 6 legs.







As an aside, checked the pH of my rainwater. 5.32!  Don't have a clue why.

[luak]

Mark, my rainwater reading are always around 5.6, my believe rainwater is always acidic.

[Mark in Texas]

Mark, my rainwater reading are always around 5.6, my believe rainwater is always acidic.

Decaying organic matter in the tank, naturally occurring carbonic acid and nitrates will do it.

[Mark in Texas]

Mark, my rainwater reading are always around 5.6, my believe rainwater is always acidic.

BTW, did your cherimoya sticks we went in on work out last year?  Mine didn't.  BUT, the ones I grafted from Behl (Pierce, Sabor and Behl) and another friend (Campas) this spring are on steroids.  Hope to have fruit next year.

[Jct]

Mark,
Nice looking setup.  Will the PVC stand up to the weight of the pitaya?  They can get pretty massive when given time.

[Samu]

Yeah, most internet photos I see used 1 wooden pole in the middle instead, Mark?
(I am just starting to grow this DF -my wife likes them- so I am paying more attention on this new to me crave now...) 

[luak]

Mark, I got two growing, but one is still alive but not doing anything to my liking. What are you going to do next spring. How is your outlook for the future, what is going to be big with your acrage?
Mark, I you want Mr Minh sionwood I can send you all you want, otherwise they are going on the burn pile.

[Mikey]

Mark PVC will break on u.  It cannot hold the weight.  Even 4x4 will redwood will eventually break on u.  If u want long term solution i highly recommend a aluminum pole with cement or a 4x4 rebar cement post.  You don’t needs all the top part.  One strait post will be fine and eventually your dragon fruit will form the shap u want with pruning.  My uncle does this on his plantation. 

Mark,
Nice looking setup.  Will the PVC stand up to the weight of the pitaya?  They can get pretty massive when given time.

[ricshaw]

Others who like Mark's idea can substitute chain link fence top rail pipe for the PVC pipe and use chain link top rail canopy fittings.

http://tarps.com/fittings2.htm

[Jct]

Mark PVC will break on u.  It cannot hold the weight.  Even 4x4 will redwood will eventually break on u. 

Oh don't say that, it's what I'm using!  I guess I'm going to have to look at changing my setup sometime in the future.

[Mark in Texas]

Mark, I got two growing, but one is still alive but not doing anything to my liking. What are you going to do next spring. How is your outlook for the future, what is going to be big with your acrage?
Mark, I you want Mr Minh sionwood I can send you all you want, otherwise they are going on the burn pile.

Howdy, thanks for the kind offer but my greenhouse space is filling up fast thanks to rampant growth and 81 grafts.  Best of luck!

Sold my Xmas tree equipment and the remaining trees to a big peach op.  Will mentor him and watch.   Field is going to hay.

[Mark in Texas]

Mark PVC will break on u.  It cannot hold the weight.  Even 4x4 will redwood will eventually break on u.  If u want long term solution i highly recommend a aluminum pole with cement or a 4x4 rebar cement post.  You don’t needs all the top part.  One strait post will be fine and eventually your dragon fruit will form the shap u want with pruning.  My uncle does this on his plantation. 

Mark,
Nice looking setup.  Will the PVC stand up to the weight of the pitaya?  They can get pretty massive when given time.

Thanks for the heads up.  If worse comes to worse I can tie the top to rafters using cables.

[spaugh]

Mark, you could probably just throw some rebar inside the PVC before the DF vines get larger and be good to go.  They do get heavy and will probably break the pipes within a year or 2 otherwise.  Each plant could be 50+ pounds.

You might want to attach the backside to the frame of the GH also cause its going to want to tip over with all the growth hanging over towards you.  You will need to train the vines to come up and over towards the inside of the GH.  Easy to do with a little selective pruning. 

[spaugh]

Mark PVC will break on u.  It cannot hold the weight.  Even 4x4 will redwood will eventually break on u. 

Oh don't say that, it's what I'm using!  I guess I'm going to have to look at changing my setup sometime in the future.

Everything has a finite lifetime.  Redwood will probably still last long enough.  I had someone poopoo my posts too but they never posted pics of their own setup so take everything with a grain of salt.

[Mark in Texas]

Mark, you could probably just throw some rebar inside the PVC before the DF vines get larger and be good to go.  They do get heavy and will probably break the pipes within a year or 2 otherwise.  Each plant could be 50+ pounds.

You might want to attach the backside to the frame of the GH also cause its going to want to tip over with all the growth hanging over towards you.  You will need to train the vines to come up and over towards the inside of the GH.  Easy to do with a little selective pruning.

Thanks for the good advice, it's always welcome.  I have a rafter right above and dead center of the 2' X 6' top.  Think I'll climb up a ladder and run two wires down to the trellis and tie off to the cattle panel about 2' apart.  2" X 2" rafter is pretty stout, hopefully the weight won't damage it or I'm screwed. 

I will attach the backside to a purlin. It's inches away.

It's sitting under a clear Lexan polycarb roof.