Planting techniques of dragon fruit

Pitaya is a perennial vine plant belonging to Triangulum of Cactus Family, native to Brazil, Mexico and other Central American tropical rain forest areas in the Western Hemisphere. It is a typical tropical plant. Later, it was introduced into Vietnam, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries as well as Taiwan Province of China by French and Dutch, and then improved and introduced into Hainan, Guangxi, Guangdong and other provinces for cultivation. It is a new fruit with good health effect.

biological characteristics

Pitaya belongs to tropical and subtropical fruits, drought tolerance, high temperature resistance, light preference, lax soil requirements, flat land, hillside, sand land can be planted, the most suitable soil pH value is 6-7.5, it is best to choose rich organic matter and good drainage land for planting. Pitaya is not resistant to frost, and simple greenhouses are used in areas where the winter temperature is lower than 0℃.

planting methods

Pitaya planting methods are various, can climb the wall planting, can also build a shed planting, but column cultivation is the most common, its advantages are low production cost, high land utilization rate. The so-called column cultivation is to erect a concrete column or wooden column, plant 3-4 pitaya seedlings around the column, and let the pitaya plants grow upward along the column.

Planting specifications

The row spacing of double seasonal columns was 1.5m× 2m, and 750 seedlings could be planted per 667m2 if 4 seedlings were planted around each column. Pitaya can be planted all year round, pay attention not to deep planting, planting about 3cm deep can be, the initial stage should keep the soil moist.

field management

Pitaya flowers and bears 12-14 months after planting. It can flower 12-15 times a year. April to November is the fruiting period. The fruit matures 30-40 days after flowering. The weight of single fruit is 500-1000g. In the second year after planting, more than 20 fruits are produced per column. In the third year, it enters the peak fruiting period. The yield of higher management level can reach 2500kg/667m2. The key points of high yield cultivation are as follows:

1. Apply thin fertilizer frequently. Due to the long harvest period of fruits, organic fertilizer should be applied every year, and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compound fertilizers should be applied in a balanced manner for a long time. Potassium and magnesium fertilizer should be supplemented during flowering and fruiting period to promote sugar accumulation and improve fruit quality. Keep soil moist during fruiting and cover tree trays with grass or mushroom residue. When the weather is dry, irrigate water once every 3-4 days.

2. Remove the heart. When the branches grow to 1.3-1.4m long, pick the core, promote branching, and let the branches droop naturally.

3. Interplanting and artificial pollination. When planting pitaya, about 10% white meat type pitaya should be planted. Pollinating each other among varieties can obviously improve seed setting rate. In case of rainy weather, artificial pollination should be carried out. Pollination can be done in the evening or early morning before the flowers close, with a brush directly to the female flower pollen on the stigma.

4. Cut the branches. Every year after picking fruit, cut off the branches that have borne fruit, and let them re-issue new branches to ensure the yield of the next year.

5, pest control. Pitaya has few diseases and insect pests, and is easily damaged by snails and ants in seedling stage, so it can be controlled by pesticides; it is easy to infect diseases in high temperature and humidity season, and partial necrosis and mildew spots of branches can be controlled by triadimefon and strong copper oxide, with good effect.