Author Topic: Some Support Plant Ideas for Dragon Fruits in the Tropics  (Read 668 times)

agroventuresperu

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Some Support Plant Ideas for Dragon Fruits in the Tropics
« on: August 13, 2022, 10:01:29 PM »
Here's a nice little farm near where I live, where someone is cultivating yellow dragon fruit on a support of the species of Erythrina normally used here as a living fence, and to provide fodder for livestock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLd4HXJSNFg&t=5s

Also I went ahead and uploaded a video from a couple years ago showing dragon fruit growing on African oil palm.
https://youtu.be/iogSKYw2RPs
 


pineislander

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Re: Some Support Plant Ideas for Dragon Fruits in the Tropics
« Reply #1 on: August 14, 2022, 08:41:51 AM »
There will be competition and maybe shading. There is also a temptation to let the plant grow too high in a large tree making harvest impossible and wasting energy. It is hard to climb up past a mass of dragonfruit stems.
However, cuttings are plentiful and my property came with several already on some ornamental trees. They actually do make fruit and the species of trees are ones which are seasonally deciduous, Yellow Tabebuia and Royal Poinciana (Delonix Regia). I doubt they would perform well on dense non deciduous trees due to shading.

agroventuresperu

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Re: Some Support Plant Ideas for Dragon Fruits in the Tropics
« Reply #2 on: August 14, 2022, 11:12:39 AM »
Yeah interesting that they do better in full sun, even though it looks like their ecological adaptation is to be semi-epiphytic. If you place them in full sun, I'm sure you need to pamper them a lot more.

The example of the oil palm got me thinking, "why not?!" I mean how many years until an oil palm starts flowering anyway? Until then you're not producing anything. Plus the old leaf petiole "pockets" provide a place to stick handfuls of fertile soil so you can separate dragon fruit fertilization from the palm fertilization.

digigarden

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Re: Some Support Plant Ideas for Dragon Fruits in the Tropics
« Reply #3 on: August 14, 2022, 11:37:32 AM »
i think it's good idea so you can have your dragon fruits with a medicinal type short tree that you only need like 1 or 2 fruits or maybe just a few leaves.

Finca La Isla

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Re: Some Support Plant Ideas for Dragon Fruits in the Tropics
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2022, 05:55:08 PM »
The living fence post tree can be a good idea. It’s easy to keep low and manage light shade. We do that as well as growing on concrete fence posts. Both have their advantages. I’m not interested in a larger tree as I want the dragon fruit to reach about 2m and then hang off the post and produce flowers and fruits within reach.
Peter

Galatians522

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Re: Some Support Plant Ideas for Dragon Fruits in the Tropics
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2022, 10:59:28 PM »
Those are some neat ideas, I have seen some palms work well. The trouble seems to be keeping the dragonfruit from climbing out of reach. They seem to keep climbing until they get to the top of whatever they are growing on (and thus into full sun for fruiting). I think the ideal solution for Dragonfruit support is to graft it as a crown on a columnar cactus. I got it to take on a Peruvian Apple Cactus, but the freeze we had back in February killed the dragonfruit and I have not re-grafted.