Growing Dragon Fruit Plant

What I Know About Dragon Fruit

Dragon fruit also known as pitaya is a fruit from a cactus. Also, as I have later known, there are a lot more cactus that bears fruits. Also cactus can be eaten - some of them, I assume.

I have found an interest in growing this plant. I have seen a neighbor who is planning on planting dragon fruit cactus on their farm. It made me think that I should also get me some. I am shy to ask for a cutting as they have purchased the cuttings so I didn't thought more about this.

Finally an opportunity has come my way, when a good client shared the fruits of their farm. And this is the very dragon fruit I have up in this picture. I fired up youtube and look into growing cactus from seed. And not to disappoint, I found a lot of vlogs about the topic for growing a plant from seeds. One of the good vlogs you can find below.

Day 14: Dragon Fruit Seedlings

What do you know, after a fortnight I am happy to share that the seedlings have sprouted. It's not what I expect, it's very tiny and looks very fragile. I have watered the seedling box once a week. You can look at the tiny seedlings for yourself below. Also, you can check how many seeds I've placed into the seedling box - there are more than a hundred, I think. Hoping for the best, there sprouted some 8 or 10 seedlings. Maybe the other seedlings are late bloomers?

One sad incident is that the seedling bed might have some fungi in it. I noticed some signs of mushrooms? Not sure, but you can see the image below. To combat this, I sprinkled some cinnamon powder over the bedding. At the least, it would prevent molds from developing. Youtube knowledge.

I've read that mushroom is actually a good sign that the soil is healthy. Just don't let pets or kids ingest these especially if you don't know if this mushroom is edible or not.