Growing Dragon Fruit Plant from Your Backyard or Rooftop

Since dragon fruit is from the cactus family, it requires less water and enough sunlight to grow. So it's suitable to grow them in the Philippines, probably right in your backyard or on your rooftop if it's the only available space you have. Or perhaps your garage if you don't own a car yet.

You can start growing them from seeds but make sure you have the luxury to wait 3 to 5 years. Can't wait that long? Then start from cuttings which take only 9 to 12 months before they start bearing fruits. So the smart thing is to start with cuttings. Cut from the base of a stem, at the point where the stem connects with the tree so you have the whole stem intact. Choose stems about 8 to 10 inches long.

Planting

Place the cuttings in a dry place away from direct sunlight for 2 to 3 days. Then plant the stem in a pot big enough for the plant--about 10 inches tall and 20 inches wide. Make the base of small pebbles for good drainage, then put in a balanced mix of organic compost, sand and garden soil. Then plant the cutting into the soil, with the base of the stem embedded about 2 to 3 inches deep. Make sure it's firmly supported by the soil. Then put just enough water.

After 60 to 65 days, transfer your cutting to a bigger pot, about the size of a regular bucket, or about 18 to 25 inches in diameter and 15 to 20 inches in height. The pot should have enough holes at the bottom to prevent flooding when watering. Bear in mind that this plant is from the cactus family. Then put enough spoil mixture again of compost, sand and garden soil.

Then transfer the plant from the initial pot to the bigger pot. Careful not to damage the roots, but make sure the roots are also free from hardened soil. It should be like cactus in desert soil. Planted firm enough but not too much. You may plant two cuttings per pot. Then put enough water.

In the Bigger Pot

The first two days after the transplant is crucial. So make sure the plants are comfortable in the pots with just enough water and gentle sunlight, away from a hot sun. After 4 days, start providing climbing support for the plant to crawl on. These can be simple long sticks erected firmly beside the pot, or simply embedded right in the pots.

Climb support for the dragon fruit plant.

Then tie the sticks together from the bottom up with an abaca rope to form a fence around the plants. In 9 to 12 months the plant will mature. Replenish the plants with fresh amounts of compost from time to time, probably every 2 to 3 weeks, while the plants are maturing. In about 12 months or so, the dragon fruit plants should start flowering.

Some backyard gardeners simply place the pots near a rough hollow block wall or fence and allow them to crawl there. Some provide mesh wire or square wires for the plants to lean and climb on. The support ensures that the plant trunk is well reinforced and does not easily break from its own weight. Or when accidentally bumped. 

Remember that though dragon fruit plants are like cactus, they they shouldn't be put in places under direct sunlight, especially during a hot summer noon or early afternoon. But they need enough gentle sunlight. They may be placed in shaded areas reached by enough sunlight. So choose carefully where to put them on rooftops. 

The dragon fruit itself is rich in antioxidants (like betacyanin, flavonoids, phenolic acid and others) due to its various bright colors and contains vitamins A and C, calcium, magnesium and iron plus plenty of dietary fibers. This is according to WebMD. Besides, you enjoy its rich, fruity and juicy flavor, especially when refrigerated. It blends well in mixed fruit salads or used as toppings on ice cream or yogurt. 

But of course, nothing beats eating it fresh as soon as you pick it from the tree, with all the nutrients intact. And the best thing is, you don't have to buy it from the market or grocery store where it's probably been sitting for weeks or months and largely losing its freshness and nutrients, but right from your backyard or rooftop.

Rooftop Garden

Rooftops are usually where you put extra or unused furnishings to make more room for your living or bedroom spaces. But they are actually ideal for gardens--because they're open areas that get more sunlight, air, and dew. 

And you may even make use of the extra or unused furnishings for your gardens. Old sofas are often made of wood you can re-use to build earthen pot platforms of pedestals. 

This rooftop garden on the left made use of old window grills and mesh wire fences to enclose spaces and provide structures for vines to crawl on. 

This vegetable plant on the left is upo (some say the English term for it is "sitting vegetable. Amusing.). The upo fruit is rich in fiber and vitamins and minerals. 

Another ideal vegetable crop to grow on the rooftop is okra because it needs enough sunlight. Youcan simply use large empty tin or plastic cans filled with good soil to plant them in. My friend used discarded  water buckets to plant okras, cabbages and tomatoes.

He added that he even planted a moringa tree in a larger water bucket, and it seems to be working. He also plants smaller vegetables like onion spring in smaller plastic containers derived from cut plastic bottles.

The important thing is to make sure the containers hold enough soil and that the soil is replaced every month with new soil revitalized through composting, which he also does on his rooftop.

Rooftop gardens make gardening possible even in crowded places in the city. In fact, it gives a challenging twist to gardening because you have to make your imagination really work.

Start Your Rooftop Organic Vegetable Garden

Junior's organic tomato on his
rooftop garden.

My bible disciple, Junior, started his rooftop organic vegetable garden about two years ago. Living in a densely populated part of the Bicutan suburbs, he dreamed of having his own vegetable garden someday, even an entire farm. Then he attended our company's organic farming seminar (when I was still connected with the company) and heard some tips from me on home organic vegetable gardening.

Healthy looking white squash
or upo grown from his rooftop.

He started his organic garden and today he regularly harvests home grown organic vegetables. It produces so much that he sells and sometimes even gives them away. How did he start? Having no vacant area in his property to get soil from, he gathered vegetable peels and rejects and made a compost of them in a container. Soon, it rot and turned into something like soil. He placed it in containers and planted vegetables in them.

He also grew worms from the rotting vegetables and raised them. Their feces or stools became powerful fertilizers which he used to grow the vegetables. Everything was healthy organic. And the beauty of it all was that everything was easy to do. Just produce the "veggie soil," containers, and veggie seeds. Plant and then water them daily, plus the "veggie worm" fertilizer. Presto! You have a productive home rooftop organic vegetable garden!

Reddish organic Okra grown from
his rooftop.

If you don't have a rooftop, then place it in your garage or a small corner in your yard where there is enough sunlight. Construct stair-shelves where you can place the containers on and save space. If you use your garage, make sure enough sunlight reaches there. If not, then start a morning and afternoon ritual--put the plants (in containers) where there is sunlight and then return them to the garage after--early mornings (6 or 7 am) and late afternoons (4 or 5 pm).

Just look at the reddish organic okra on the right. My guess is that it's probably rich in the antioxidant anthocyanin, which produces the bright colors in plants. Scientists say brightly colored fruits and veggies have anthocyanin.

Junior noticed something interesting--no pests to harm the plants, leaves or fruit. A farming expert I know once said that organic plants released plant chemicals that insects hated. So, let's all go back to organic farming.