Nutritional Value

Dragon Fruit can be grown organically, without any pesticide & chemical fertilizer. It is rich in vitamins and helpful to our body especially in digestion, preventing colon cancer and diabetes. The fruits also help to neutralize heavy metal toxic and reduce cholesterol level and high blood pressure. Consume regularly, it can fight against asthma and cough.

(extract wikipedia)Dragonfruit is also rich in phytoalbumins which are highly valued for their antioxidant properties. Antioxidants prevent the formation of cancer-causing free radicals. In Taiwan, diabetics use the fruit as a food substitute for rice and as a source of dietary fiber.

This is a general table of the nutritional values in Dragon Fruit. Each species of either the Hylocereus or S. Megalanthus have slightly different values.

• Water (Moisture) - 83g
• Protein - 0.229g
• Fat - 0.61g
• Fiber - 0.9g
• Carotene - 0.012mg
• Calcium - 8.8mg
• Phosphorus - 36.1mg
• Iron - 0.65mg
• Vitamin A (Retinol) - 25mg
  
• Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) - 0.043mg
• Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) - 0.045mg
• Vitamin B3 (Niacin) - 0.43mg
• Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) - 25mg

Fertilizers

After the cutting has been planted, wait about a month before apply the fertilizers. The roots would have taken place by then and the stem would have started to grow.

Application of fertilizers varies from place to place. In Malaysia we apply about 100g - 400g of fertilizers in the initial stages when the plant is growing. Compost is made from waste such as vegetable cuttings, palm oil, wood, soy bean etc to cover the area about 2ft - 3ft in diameter.

Fertilizers should not be applied too close to the plants as the acidity of the fertilizers could have an impact on the growth of the cutting itself.

This has been recommended by some Malaysian growers:

For Flowering -

Increase "K" and "P" and lower the "N"

For Fruiting -

Increase "K" fertilizer + "other". Lower the "N"

It is vital that the Nitrogen level of the fertilizers are lowered as the plants starts to grow.

What is NPK (extract from bareroot)

Ok, so your confused. On some nutrients the NPK seems low, like 2-1-3. And on others it can be high, 14-24-16. Whats the deal here?

Nutrient values (N-P-K)are expressed as total percentage of weight as packaged. Organic nutrients typically tend to have lower npk values than chemical nutrients. Don't let this fool you, you can easily burn plants if you overfertilize!

Powder nutrients tend to have higher NPK values than liquid nutrients because they are not already partially diluted with water. Do not let low N-P-K values fool you, what really matters is how strong these nutrients are when diluted to recommended levels ie: thier tds/ppm/ms/eC/cf. For example SuperVeg will give you a tds of around 1000 ppm when used according to directions, while Aquafeed "V" Powder will have a tds of around 600 ppm if used as recommended.

What does N-P-K stand for?

N = Nitrogen 7-9-5
Nitrogen is the first major element responsible for the vegetative growth of plants above ground. With a good supply, plants grow sturdily and mature rapidly, with rich, dark green foliage.

P = Phosphorus 7-9-5
The second major element in plant nutrition, phosphorus is essential for healthy growth, strong roots, fruit and flower development, and greater resistance to disease.

K = Potassium (Potash) 7-9-5
The third major plant nutrient, potassium oxide is essential for the development of strong plants. It helps plants to resist diseases, protects them from the cold and protects

Making Compost in 3 weeks

Pollination

The flowers of the Dragon Fruit are big about 30cm across and beautiful. They also only bloom at night which is a main problem as the general pollinators like the bees and birds are missing. The flowers do sometimes open till around 8am in the morning but it will depend on the weather. Many of the varieties are not self-compatible; therefore, the flowers need to be cross pollinated with pollen from a different clone or species in order to set fruit.

On the safe side new plantings should use 2 or 3 different genetic types (not from the same clone). Cross pollination between the different genetic types in the plant will assure better fruit set and size. Moths and bats are good pollinators since flowers open at night when there is no bee activity.

Flower about to close with bees as pollinators

Hand pollination is one method to ensure that the flowers set fruit but this adds a considerable amount to the labor cost of growing these fruit. Hand pollination is carried out easily by physically removing anthers from one flower and touching them to the stigma of another or collecting the pollen and using a brush to pollinate multiple flowers. Pollen is most viable at the time of flower opening, but hand pollination was found to be successful well into the evening of the following day (Weiss et al., 1994).

Many of the varieties from Asia (predominantly H. undatus) are self-compatible, and some of these are autogamous and will set fruit without the involvement of a pollen vector. It has been previously reported (Weiss et al., 1994) that Selenicereus megalanthus, the yellow pitaya, is autogamous. The anthers and stigma are at the same height in these flowers and touch as the flower closes.

Anthers and Stigma are of same height

They also found that in their clones of Hylocereus species the anthers and stigma were separated by at least 2 cm. This may be the reason why their self-compatible Hylocereus undatus clone was not autogamous.

Anthers and Stigma of different height


Hand pollinating using a brush

Training and Pruning

As the Dragon fruit cutting starts to grow it will be very fast and a good cuting can reach the top of the trellis in a very short period of time. It is therefore important the the growing stem are tied to the pole as to allow the roots to take a grip on the pole, If no tying is done the stem may topple down and cause injuries to the plant. Tying should preferably be done with a bio-degradable string or even strips of cloth. This is to prevent injuries to the stem branch. All lateral branches are removed as the stem continue to grow up towards the trellis.


Once the top of trellis is reached, it is recommended that the stems do not have too many free branching. 2 branch per stem is preferred and tying is needed to keep the stems within the allotted space. Cutting the tip of the main stem above the trellis induces lateral branching. It is preferably if the number of stems from the top is between 8 -12 per plant which will comes about 32 - 48 branches per pole. It is recommended to use a fungicide where the cuts are made.

The stem branch from a plant that is being pruned.



The plant without any pruning done

Trellises

As the Dragon Fruit has strong branching stems and their aerial roots, they will cling on to any support available as the start to grow. That is why the trellises used has to be strong to support the plants. Wood and concretes poles are the more popular ones. The normal practice is to use a 4in x 4in x 5ft 6in concrete pole with a top cover of either concrete, wood, steel bars or rubber tyres to support the plants. Anyway it is up to the individual to use the types of trellises that suits him that is the most cost effective.

Types of trellises used:-

Soil, Moisture and Humidity

Dragon Fruit grows best in dry, tropical or subtropical climates where annual rainfall ranges from 60-100" per year. In wet, tropical zones, plants may grow well but sometimes have problems setting fruit reliably. The plant can tolerate temperatures to 104F, and short periods of frost, but prolonged cold will have severe consequences as it will damage and kill the plant.

The plant flourish in tropical climate.

Dragon Fruit can grow on any soil type, but because of their epiphytic nature, it is recommended to grow them in soil that is supplemented with high amounts of organic material. The plant has been grown successfully in sandy and black soils. The most important thing is that the soil be loose. The flowers are big and beautiful. They bloom only at night, and usually last just one night where pollination is necessary to set fruit. In a tropical climate, the Dragon Fruit plants can fruit all year round.


Beautiful blooming flowers.

Propagation - Seeds or Cuttings

There are 2 methods to plant this fast growing cacti which is an epiphytes and has climbing vines. One is by seed and another by the cuttings of the branched stems. Planting by seed is not really recommended as it will take a longer time to grow whereas planting from the stem cutting is highly recommended.

The cuttings used are preferably from a mature plant that has bear fruit which would be approximately from 10 months - 15 months.

Cuttings waiting to be planted

The cuttings should be around the length of 12in - 18in and about 2 in in diameter. Of course any other size can be used, the mentioned size has been proven successful.

There are 2 ways to plant the cuttings. The first is to put the cutting on a shady area for a bout 7 days for it to dry before planting directly to the field or pots. The second method is to plant the cutting in the nursery bag and let the roots take place before transplanting to the field. Although it is not necessary, by dipping the ends in a suitable rooting hormone will accelerate rooting. Both methods can be used.

1st photo - Roots appearing only after about 5 days
2nd photo - Roots after 10 days

Once the roots take place the cuttings will start to grow and the rate is very fast +- 3cm per day, and many can produce fruit within 6 to 9 months. There is no difference between short or long cutting. However, since some cutting are longer than other, it can reached the top of the pole (5.5 feets) faster than the short one. A good cutting can bear fruit within 6 months. While most of them can bear fruit within 9 months - 12 months.

KARISMA Dragon Fruit @ Pitaya @ Mata Naga

Mata Naga in Bahasa Malaysia or better known as Dragon Fruit are also called by the name Pitaya or Pitahaya which is referring to the fruit which originated from Tropical America, Southern Mexico, Pacific side of Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Brazil and Uruguay. Today the main exporters are from Tropical and sub-tropical America, South Florida, Caribbean, Hawaii, Australia, Israel and Asia comprising of Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Usually, the branches have 3 angled ribs,(some are known to have 4 - 5 ribs) running vertical with the stem, and developing aerial roots. Dragon Fruit grow at their best in a warm, frost-free climate. If they are grown in a greenhouse, try to provide plenty of space. Always provide a host for them to climb up. Also, the soil mixture should be open, and well drained.

The Dragon Fruit are from the cacti family and so far the ones I know are the Hylocereus Undatus, Hylocereus Polyrhizus and Selenicereus Megalanthus.

Dragon Fruit Species - Color Skin - Pulp

Hylocereus Undatus - Red - White

Hylocereus Polyrhizus - Red - Red

Selenicereus Megalanthus - Yellow - White

Red Skin - White Pulp

Red Skin - Red Pulp

Yellow Skin - White Pulp

All information and photos are either sourced from the internet or from our own sources. A lot of information has been contributed from the Yahoo Group! Pitaya Fruit and through our own observation on the farms we have visited.