Growth rate of the new stems - Part 1

The following photos are the cuttings that I planted in October 2007 and how much thay have grown over this one month.

Stem 1 - This is a sequence of photos taken from the stem growth from Oct 23 07 - Nov 24 07 . As you can see in less than 1 month it has shown considerable growth.
Oct 23 07'Nov 01 07'
Nov 11 07'Nov 24 07'


Stem 2 - Photos taken from Nov 1 - Nov 24 2007
Nov 01 07'Nov 11 07'Nov 24 07'



Overall a total of 9 new stems have sprouted from the cuttings that I've planted in Oct 2007. I'll post more photos as time goes by.

New stem on a cutting without roots

All this while I've always assume that all plant needs to have roots before actual growth. I'm not sure if that is always the case, anyway a friend of mine showed me his Dragon fruit cutting that has sprouted new stems and mind you there are two of them growing healthily from the cutting. The cutting itself has no roots whatsoever.
Is this really common or what.

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.