Potted planting method of dragon fruit

Pitaya is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Central America. It is a cactus plant that can watch flowers and harvest fruit settled in Chinese mainland in recent years. It can be cultivated not only in the earth or in greenhouse, but also in balconies and roofs.

Growth habits of dragon fruit

The dragon fruit has strong adaptability and can be planted in the environment where the temperature is not lower than 8 ℃ for a long time, and it can be put indoors in places with low winter temperature in the north. A small amount of cultivated dragon fruit can buy seedlings or ask friends for some pruned branches (10-15 cm long), which can generally survive when inserted in plain sand. If well managed, flowers will be seen more than 70 days after planting seedlings.

The dragon fruit can blossom continuously from April to November every year. The mature fruit weighs more than 500g, and the big one can reach 1500 grams. The skin is bright red and dazzling, with golden scales. There are two kinds of red and white pulp, the fruit is sweet but not greasy, light and fragrant, better than cantaloupe, excellent taste.

Preparation of pots and cultivated soil

Pitaya is a shallow root plant, the cultivation process does not need to change pots, can be used 25-35 cm in diameter of mud pots, wooden boxes and other better permeable containers. It is best not to use plastic pots, porcelain pots and other containers with poor air permeability. The pots must be disinfected before planting, and the new mud pots can not be disinfected. However, it must be soaked in clean water for several hours to discharge the dirty gas from the stomata on the basin wall, otherwise it will affect the normal growth of the root system.

The requirements of dragon fruit on the culture soil are not strict, but the soil must be loose and breathable, good drainage, neutral or slightly acidic soil, do not like alkaline soil. Family potted plants can be prepared with self-cultivated soil. 6 parts of rotten leaf soil, 2 parts of manure soil and 2 parts of coarse river sand were mixed evenly. Store for more than half a month.

Upper pot and seedling stage management

Potted dragon fruit had better choose cuttage seedlings, as long as the seedlings have roots and send out new branches, they can be transferred to the pot. First of all, put two pieces of mud tiles staggered on top of the hole at the bottom of the basin, and then put a layer of pebbles or large grains of coarse sand 3-5 cm thick at the bottom of the basin as a drainage layer. Then put into the prepared cultivation soil basin, in the center of the basin soil, pile up two steamed bread-shaped mounds side by side, put the two seedlings on the soil pile, the plant distance is not more than 5 cm, and make the seedling roots scattered around the soil pile. Then insert a stick between the two seedlings and tie the seedling and the stick together. At this time, it is necessary to adjust the direction of the seedling, with the sunny side facing south (the triangular stem of dragon fruit is divided into yin and yang, the two widest, largest angle and lighter side of the three nuclei are the shady side, and the opposite angled side is the sunny side). Then cultivate the soil to 3 cm along the mouth of the flowerpot, gently press the soil around the plant with your hand, and pour water again. After slowing down the seedling for 1 week, move to the balcony for normal management, and pay attention to the sunny side to the south when placed.

The dragon fruit is a drought-tolerant plant, which would rather be dry than wet than dry rather than watered. Pour nitrogen-based organic fertilizer once a week, not too thick. Although the dragon fruit is a sunny plant. But at noon when the sun is too strong in summer, it should also be properly shaded. It is also necessary to remove the new lateral buds on the stem branches at any time, leaving only the terminal buds and promoting the growth of height. When the plant is about 1 meter tall, cut off the stem tip about 3 cm long at the top, causing lateral branches to be sent out at the top. When the apical lateral branch grows to about 50 cm. Then insert 4 bamboo poles of more than 1 meter around the edge of the basin, tie the crossbeam at the top of the bamboo pole, and tie the side branches to the crossbeam to make it flat or droop naturally. When the lateral branch is more than 80 cm, the stem tip should be cut off about 3 cm to reduce nutrition consumption, promote flower bud differentiation, and blossom and bear fruit earlier. If well managed, it can blossom in 7-8 months.

Florescence Management of Dragon Fruit

The dragon fruit has a long flowering period, many large flowers and a high demand for nutrition. Therefore, in addition to strengthening fertilizer and water management at seedling stage, organic liquid fertilizer containing phosphorus and potassium fertilizer should be applied once in half a month before flowering, and once every 5-7 days. Balcony, roof potted dragon fruit, due to the small amount of potted soil, nutrition supply restrictions, so the side branches can not stay too long, each branch can not exceed 3 flowers, and finally pick two to eat, leaving only one fruit.

Pitaya can be self-pollinated and bear fruit, but cross-pollination has a higher seed-setting rate, and the fruit is big and delicious, so it should be pollinated manually under certain conditions. When the flowers are in full bloom in the evening, use a new brush to dip pollen from the stamen anther of one flower and bounce it on the pistil stigma of another flower.

Management after fruit harvest and winter

After November every year, the fruit is basically harvested. At this time, it is necessary to apply a basic fertilizer, the method is to dig up the soil around the edge of the basin about 10 cm deep with a small hand shovel, pile the soil at the root of the plant temporarily, then apply the organic fertilizer mixed with stable fertilizer and chicken manure, and then reduce the soil and water it once to prepare for the winter.

In most places in the north, you need to keep out the cold, as long as you move it indoors. It is best to put it on the sunny windowsill. It should be noted that fertilizer cannot be applied during the winter. Properly control watering. Do not leave the room too early after the beginning of spring. You are generally sure to leave the room after the middle of May. After coming out of the room, the lateral branches that received the fruit in the first year will be cut off from the near root, in order to promote the issuance of new lateral branches and lay the foundation for early flowering and fruiting in the same year, otherwise the original lateral branches will no longer blossom and bear fruit.