How to propagate a Dragon Fruit from a cutting

1. Things You Will Need

• Knife https://amzn.to/3numnwH

• Potting soil https://amzn.to/2HTERaF

• Wettable powder fungicide or fungicide solution (optional) https://amzn.to/38RcKnU

• IBA rooting hormone powder (optional) https://amzn.to/35BlGLL

• Sharpie (optional)

The best time to propagate your Dragon Fruit cuttings is in the warm summer months, this will help the cutting to root and fight off potential fungicidal infections that are more likely to happen in the wet winter months.

To begin, take a knife, the sharper the better.  Dragon Fruit grows in segments you want to take your cutting from the narrow “woody” part of the segment, this reduces surface area from the mother plant leaving a smaller area for a wound, when taking cuttings never take more then 1/5th of the parent plant, if you take more you can put undue stress on the plant which may jeopardize its health.  Don’t take cuttings from diseased or stressed plants as this can affect the quality of the cutting.

Cuttings taken from the newer portions of the plant will root better, but cuttings from older portions have better resistance to pests.

You want your cuttings to be at least 6” in length up to 15”.  You can create multiple cuttings from one segment. Just make sure you plant them the right side up, as silly as it sounds when you take a cutting and mix it up it is quite possible to plant these upside down, an easy hack is to take a sharpie and draw an arrow showing which way is up.

Make your first cut in the tender part of the cutting, this does two things, it cuts off the woody end of the plant that doesn't sprout well and it creates a greater surface area that roots will eventually grow out of.  You can cut it straight across or cut it into a V shape.

At this point it's optional to treat your cutting with a fungicide, this will help deter infections.  Place the cuttings somewhere dry and allow the wounds 3-4 days to callus over, you can tell they are done when the cut end turns white and are a little hard, it’s basically a scab for the plant.

Dragon fruit is a species of cactus that is epiphytic, that means they can pull nutrients and moisture from the air, though they still need to be planted in the soil.

To plant your cuttings you will use a traditional potting soil and I would recommend at least a 1gal size container.  At this point it's optional to apply a rooting agent, I recommend it but it is not necessary.  Dig a hole about 2-3” deep place your cutting and backfill the soil and tamp it down hard enough the kppe the cutting from falling over.

Though most cactus prefer a cactus mix which tends to be a more sandy, dragon fruit can be potted in regular potting soil.

Place the cuttings in partial shade and keep the soil moist, when you see new growth coming out of the cutting it’s time to move them into full sun, this can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

At this point you can plant it in the ground.  Use a fertilizer sparingly for the first year and after a year you should see multiple shoots growing from the original cutting. You should see fruit anywhere from 12-24 months.  Just remember Dragon Fruit can get quite tall and needs good support to grow on, so take time to figure out where you want them before you plant them, they don’t like temperatures below 40 degrees.