Grow Guide for Dragon Fruit

                                     When you fail to grow plants, it means you are learning gardening. Every time you fail, you learn what not to do in your garden. Mistakes are proof that you are trying to learn something. So keep trying new things and learn new ideas every day. If you are bored of growing the routine plants like rose, jasmine, lemon, strawberry. Innovate and go for planting a new type of plant. Introduce some rare plants into your garden that no one has. Such kind of rare plant, easily adaptable to every climate, can be grown in a container, and, easy to care is the dragon fruit plant. Yes, we are talking about the dragon fruits plant, which is very rare in all gardens and the costliest fruit to bye from the store. If such a plant becomes handy to you, its fun and great utility for you. 

Growing dragon fruit at your home needs no special skills. For growing fruitful plants, you need to know about plant nature. It means what the dragon wants to grow well. Type of climate, kind of soil, and how much amount of water it needs. Here you will get detailed information on dragon fruit cultivation.

Dragon fruit is known for its hardiness, can thrive in any hard climatic conditions with very less amount of water.

 Health benefits:

• Dragon fruit have numerous health benefits like,

1. Reduces blood sugar level,
2. Reduces the chance of heart attack,
3. Fights against cancer.
4. Dragon fruit is naturally fat-free and high in fiber. It makes for a good snack because it can help keep you full for longer between meals.
5. The dragon can strengthen your immune system. Dragon fruit is high in vitamin C and other antioxidants, which are good for your immune system.
6. This wonder fruit can boost your iron levels. Iron is important for moving oxygen through your body and giving you energy, and dragon fruit has iron. And vitamin C in dragon fruit helps your body take in and use the iron.

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 Growing method:

•  Ways to propagate: 

     Seeds: But seedlings are not reliable and show very slow Seedlings takes years for bearing flowers & fruits. Therefore always prefer stem cuttings of for planting.

     Stem cuttings:

• Cuttings have to be 6-15'' long
• Give a slant cut for obtaining cuttings ( Pruning scissor)
• Keep cuttings under shade for 5-6 days for drying and healing process before planting

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• Suitable pots: dragon fruit requires a cylindrical pot of 18''. But it prefers well-drained soil with a good amount of organic matter. Before planting in a container put some pebbles/ rocks at the bottom of the container to increase the drainage level. (Organic matter &red soil, pots )

• Planting: plant cuttings directly in soil or bigger pot at a depth of 1.5-2’’. Provide stake support for new plants. Example wooden/ concrete posts, a wall, or a fence. 

• Support structure: as a dragon is a semi vine plant. Need to give support for growing plants, to induce flowering & fruiting. Support structures can be old tires, coconut trees, wooden/bamboo sticks or concrete poles. Use trellis for your pots.  (Trellis plant support)
• Manures:initially while planting, mix equal proportion of (1:1:1) garden soil+compost+sand, and put in your container where you decided to plant dragon. As the dragon plant is hardy needs no extra fertilizers for its growth. Over application of chemical fertilizers may harm the plant's growth. But you need to add one more tome compost at the time flowering to increase the number of flowers.

• Light requirement: Dragon loves the sunny area. With at least 6 hours of direct sunlight for best growth and fruit production.

• Water requirement: dragon plant belongs to the Cactaceae family. So it needs a very less amount of water for its growth. Check soil wetness before the application of water. If soil is wet do not have to water. If soil is dry then only supply water to your plants. But during fruit development plant needs a little more amount of water than usual for bigger sized fruits. But remember not to overwater, as it may cause fruit splitting due to excess absorption of water by the plant. Maintain good drainage level in the pots. Use a drip irrigation method for the limited application of water. ( Drip irrigation kit)

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• Pruning: pruning refers to the cutting of straight branches of plants. Helps in the initiation of flowering and fruit set. Without pruning dragon plant takes more time (a few months) for flowering and fruit sets. Therefore it is very important to prune your plant 1-3 times a year based on its growth.

•  Harvesting: fruits have to be harvested, when skin color turns from green to reddish yellow, depending on the species.

•  Common pests of dragon fruit: Keep an eye out for sap-sucking bugs such as leaf-footed Leptoglossus. Spray neem oil frequently to overcome the problems of sucking pests.

Considering all the mentioned points before planting a dragon at your home, makes your success in the growing of this wonder plant with less care.