garnetmoth you can mail it to my US adress , ejem when does the weather warm up

On this pic, it looks like it branched out at the top. I wish it was closer pic.



Here's a great link on growing pitaya (dragon fruit). I read somewhere on here that the plant must weigh 30 lbs before it will prodice fruits.

I think I posted this link here (somewhere) before, but it has a lot of info & worth posting again. William Chow is who I ordered my first pitaya (red Jaima) & a very nice, helpful man. That is his baby in first pic with a D. fruit.

http://www.geocities.com/wenjin92014/foto2001/dragon.htm

I will still take pics of mine & post soon -- they are interesting in how they're growing.
Besides my wrist/arm healing, I twisted my knee big time & threw my back out, while still getting over flu. Can hardly walk, hurts to cough, but, nothing that a little warm air & sunshine can't fix (I hope - SOON)
William also suggested very little water & a mild 5-15-5 fert for winter.

The red DF here is staked from it's 'trunk' & has 5 branches growing from it. I'll do thumbnails (click on to enlarge) for slow dial up pple like ME.




That long one on top is still growing. Someone told me to tie them up to keep them from breaking off. I really don't know what to do with them.

This one is turned around...yellow DF is at left. One branch is growing real long & skinny. There are about 7-8 smaller branches growing from base of same plant. Last June/July, it was 2 inches high .






Below, small branches growing on yellow DF at right


The tallest Red is 4 ft. & tallest yellow is 32 inches. Gotta add more pvc soon.
One more


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When I look at those pictures of the dragon fruit in tropical regions, it seems like they let the suckers at the bottom grow so they all support each other when growing. Patty those look good are you planning to keep them growing like that or are you going to try (once they are established) to make them look more like the other photos.

Hi Valenciaguy, I don't know what to do. Got any advice? I'm thinking of just keepig them staked up & then let them hang over, & hopefully they won't break off.
Here they are taken around last Sept. I may have to put them in separate containers now. Look how much they've grown - esp the Yellow at right...now up to horizontal pvc pipe.


Here they are last Apr/May. The yellow (right) is in 3 inch pot.

I'll take any suggestions...repot (to what?) How to stake? etc

Hi Patty, just my 2 cents but I would transplant them into a much much larger container...like 15-20 gal. You could then add a support post in the middle of the container, wrap in burlap, and even add cross supports to the top when needed. I just think you are going to have issues later on with the PVC. The supports in a larger container would be larger and a lot stronger. Wouldn't have to worry about anything falling over. If you wait much longer to do something like this, the plants will be too large and you run the risk of snapping them in places you'd rather not.

A buddy from another forum grows tons of these in large containers with supports up the center with great success.

As far as letting them branch at the bottom? Most pics I've seen show only a single trunk going up to multiple branching at the top. However, if you go to Edgar Valdivia's website, some of his plants look like they are growing like bushes.

Patty I think that once the plant is old enough, the main trunk gets large enough to support the branches. So right now you are doing the right thing but I would what Ohiojay said to make bigger supports for it.

Jay, I am greatly interested in your friend who grows DF in containers with a support in the center. I am particularly interested in his post/container design. It looks to me as if the weight of the top of the plant would destabilize a setup as simple as a post stuck into the container media...it seems as if it would be top-heavy and topple over.

Can you provide a link? Thanks.

Stress...it's our buddy Eggo on the Tropical Fruit forum. He's been growing these in big containers for years now with awesome success. He's posted pics over there as well. In fact...I believe some of the links in the above messages have a pic of his dragon fruit in containers.

I was looking at one of his web pages and he showed a picture of something interesting. One of the pictures showed a commonly sold cactus with a yellow ball on the top. He said that the yellow part was a graft and that it was grafted to pitaya. Does this mean that if one were to remove the grafted part of the cactus, one would have the DF rootstock to grow?
Andi

I better chime in now before I get more confused. I think for now my setup with the lightweight pvc is doing fine, but will need some stronger support soon ---something that WON"T TOPPLE over would be nice.
Sb & Jay, I've been on Edgar's site & have posted a question there & it never got answered. It's a tough forum to get around. Saw lots of pics posted there. Could you send alink to what you are referring to?

Andi, I also saw posts there of grafting DF. Dragon Fruit is the same as Pitaya...they PREFER calling it Pitaya (as far as whatI learned)
Dragon Fruit & Pitaya are same. Looks like someone has successfully grafted diff. variety of D.F. to D.F. How cool is that?
I think before my my D.F. get much bigger, I will transplant to bigger container with a solid but preferably lightweight stake in middle to keep it from toppeling over. Hopefully Jay will send a pic of what he mentioned.
This is not a plant to keep transplanting every yr or so, or it can cause a lot of damage. My next transplant will have to be fairly permanent, so lots of thought will go into it.
This is a tough plant to grow indoors up here in winter!
SB, did you lop off the top of yours yet & hopefully got it rooted?

I think I am going to purchase one of these ornamental cacti with the bright colored ball on the top and degraft it so I have the rootstock only. Hopefully the rootstock will be a DF.
Andi

actually, I got lucky with a grafted cactus

I bought a grafted cactus that i liked at the BigBox hardware- it put a lil nubbin off the side- and that nubbin started getting arial roots-

Ill lop off the nubbin and try to root it soon, im running out of room for everything.

I bought some cuttings of red-flesh DF from e-bay, and traded for white flesh and yellow fruited with Patty- Not sure who will need pollenated, but ive got 2-3 different kinds.

Patty...here is a pic of the container dragon fruit. Notice all of the supports in the blue containers. Another photo shows container fruit in Thailand using a central support. http://wchow.home.znet.com/container.htm I can't get to any other pics. Edgar's site doesn't work very well at all.

Again...my two cents...I would figure out your support system and transplant them as soon as you can. I transplanted mine only once when they weren't that big and it was a pain! Sounds like it's time for a greenhouse!!!

Thanks Jay, am thinking of how to repot. Do you have a pic of how yours is potted & staked? I'd love to see it. Looks like they really don't need big pots or need lots of soil.
No greenhouse for me, I built a 16X18ft sunroom with almost 13 ft ceiling.
Garnet, I think it's the white fleshed you bought on ebay. I sent you a small yellow cutting & a bigger red fleshed (Jaima) cutting.