What is a Dragon Fruit?
What is a Dragon fruit plant? Dragon fruit is quite a wonderful food that grows on a climbing cactus called hylocereus, which you'll find in tropical regions all over the world. The plant’s name comes from the Greek word "hyle," which implies "woody," and also the Latin word "cereus," which implies "waxen."
What does a Dragon fruit look like? On the surface, the fruit has the looks of a hot pink or yellow bulb with spike-like green leaves popping up like flames around it. Cut it open, and you will find fleshy white stuff inside dotted with black seeds that are fine to eat.
This fruit comes in red- and yellow-skinned varieties. This type of cactus was originally grew in the southern area of Mexico and in Central America. The French brought it to Southeast Asia within the early 19th century.
What is another name for Dragon fruit? Central Americans call the fruit "pitaya." In Asia, the fruit is called "strawberry pear." Today, you will be able to buy dragon fruit throughout the United States.
What does a Dragon fruit taste like? Dragon fruit is very juicy with a relatively sweet taste that some people describe as a crossbreed between a kiwi, a watermelon, and a pear. The seeds have a somewhat nutty flavor.
Nutrition
In one 170g of fruit you will get:
You will also get these minerals and vitamins in the fruit:
- Vitamin A: 100 international units (IU)
- Vitamin C: 4 milligrams
- Calcium: 31 milligrams
- Iron: 1 gram
- Magnesium: 68 milligrams
Dragon fruit Health Benefits
Dragon fruit has many possible health benefits, which may include the following:
- It is very abundant in antioxidants such as betacyanin, phenolic acid, and flavonoids. These natural elements defend your cells from damage by free radicals -- molecules that may lead to diseases like premature aging and cancer.
- It is naturally high in fiber and fat-free. It makes for a great snack because it can help keep you full for long periods of time.
- It may also help lower your blood sugar levels. Researchers say this might be somewhat because it substitutes damaged cells in your pancreas that make insulin, the hormone that helps your body break down sugars. However, the studies were done on rats, not people. It is uncertain just how much dragon fruit you would have to eat to get these benefits.
- It includes prebiotics, which are foods that feed the healthy bacteria called probiotics in your stomach. Having more prebiotics in this organ system can improve the balance of good to bad bacteria in your intestines. In Particular, dragon fruit promotes the growth of the probiotics lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. In your stomach, other helpful bacteria can kill disease-causing bacteria and viruses. They also can help digest food.
- It can improve your immune system. Dragon fruit is high in vitamin C and other antioxidants, which are excellent for your immune system.
- It can enhance your iron levels. Iron is very important for moving oxygen through the body and giving you energy, which dragon fruit has plenty of. Also, the vitamin C in dragon fruit facilitates your body take in and use the iron.
Dragon fruit and pregnancy. The benefits of eating dragon fruit that can be used by pregnant women are galore. Dragon fruit offers a healthy amount of nutrients for pregnant women as well as provides the necessary nutritional elements for the child’s growth. Thus, if you are still questioning if pregnant women can eat dragon fruit, the answer is a definite yes! There are several benefits that you can gain from it for your child and yourself. Choosing one of the sweet dragon fruits is a wonderful way to get started and get acclimated to its taste and flavor.
Dragon fruit and diabetes. In traditional and alternate medicine treatments, dragon fruit has been used to heal hypertension, and the seeds has been demonstrated to help control blood glucose levels, making dragon fruit possibly useful specifically for type 2 diabetes management and prevention. Dragon fruit is especially high in vitamin C, protein, fiber, and B vitamins. In some cases, Dragon fruit has even taken on the daring title of a “superfood.”
Dragon fruit benefits for skin. Helps calm sunburnt skin. Dragon fruit is filled with vitamin B3 that allows it to calm sunburnt skin and give instant relief from inflammation, itchiness and redness caused by the harsh ultra-violet rays. Furthermore,, it protects the skin from the harmful sunrays.
Helps Decrease Acne. When used topically, dragon fruit can help decrease acne, thanks to the occurrence of vitamin C substances. This antioxidant stops your skin from breaking out and helps keep it healthy and flattering.
How to use Dragon fruit for skin. Remove all the pulp from an entire dragon fruit, and mash it into a smooth paste using a fork. Next, apply the pulp on the disturbed area with the help of a cotton ball. Make sure you use different cotton balls per affected area, as it may help prevent more breakouts.
Dragon fruit benefits for weight loss. Many people report benefits in trying to lose weight with Dragon fruit. This is because dragon fruits are plentiful in fiber which not only helps with feeling full, but this fiber also helps to calm blood sugar levels which stop cravings and may prevent extra insulin production which promotes weight gain. Dragon fruit great, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, because one entire fruit contains only 60 calories and eight grams of sugar.
How to grow Dragon fruit.
The Best Climate for Growing Dragon Fruit.
Even though dragon fruit is in the cactus family, it is not like the regular cacti you typically see in a desert. Actually, dragon fruit is a subtropical cactus that originally came from South America and Central America, meaning that it prospers in humid, mild atmospheres. For successfully growing dragon fruit, you will need to make sure the Dragon fruit plant stays in temperatures between 0°C (32°F) and 32°C (90°F). However, for a good health plant I would say a temperature around 21°C (70°F).
If your climate is too warm or too cold outside for the dragon fruit, you can also successfully grow a dragon fruit plant inside in a big pot if possible. However, the amount of sunlight is also an important factor.
A Dragon fruit plant likes sunlight, but it is easily burned by the sun. So, if the area has a lot of sunlight, you could put some green shade netting over it. However, do not put too much over it, so that the plant does not get enough sunlight.
Now there are two way to grow a Dragon fruit plant. You can grow it from either a seed or from a cutting. I will be discussing both of these, but since we sell Dragon fruit cuttings I will be discussing that one first.
How to grow a Dragon fruit plant from a cutting.
To grow a dragon fruit from a cutting you must:
- Make the soil bed. Dragon fruit needs lots of sunlight—choose a nice sunny area in your garden or at a nice sunny spot in your house that gets at least six hours of sunlight per day—and you need good drainage for the plant. Dragon fruit can be grown in many different types of soils however, sandy soils that have good irrigation is best. Remember this is still a cactus, so it does not want a lot of water.
- To Plant the cutting. To plant the cutting, place the bottom a few inches beneath the soil and then press the soil around it to keep it upright and secure.
- Watering. Mist or water the soil regularly, keeping it evenly moist. The you will start to see new growth and a developing root system in three to four weeks.
- Transfer. If you are growing your cutting indoors, you must transfer them to a bigger pot or to a garden with the proper climate as they grow. Once they are big and strong you only need to water them once a week or so.
- Support. Once your dragon fruit plant reaches a certain height about 30 cm (12inch), it will need a support system to continue growing—after all, dragon fruits are climbing cacti. Set up a wood stake or trellis that your plant can grow up upon.
How to grow a Dragon fruit plant from seeds.
Another way of growing your own dragon fruit plant is by buying one of our dragon fruits from our website and planting the seeds. However, growing a dragon fruit plant from seeds, may take several years before it begins to bear fruit. So, it will be easier to just buy some of our cuttings! However, this is the way you can grow your Dragon fruit seeds.
- Make the soil bed. Dragon fruit needs lots of sunlight so, choose a nice sunny area in your garden or at a nice sunny spot in your house that gets at least six hours of sunlight per day. For the soil bed, choose potting soil that is well-draining like sand for example (dragon fruits are sensitive to consistently wet roots) and soil that is rich in organic matter. Do not use cactus soil—because they are tropical plants. Dragon fruit like more water than other cacti do and want something that retains moisture slightly better than cactus soil.
- Preparing the seeds. Cut your dragon fruit in half and take out the black seeds. Wash off all of the fruit pulp from the seeds and then lay out all of the black seeds on a moist paper towel for about twelve hours.
- Planting the seeds. Scatter the dragon fruit seeds across the soil and cover them with a thin layer of soil. It is okay if it just about covers the seeds—they don’t need to be planted very deep.
- Watering. Water or mist the soil consistently, keeping it equally moist. If your soil have a tendency to dry out quickly, cover the soil with a plastic wrap to trap the moisture in until the seeds germinate.
- Thinning and transfer. As your dragon fruit seedlings continue growing, thin them to give each new plant room to grow. If you are growing them indoors, transfer them to larger pots. A matured dragon fruit will eventually need at least a 75 liter (twenty-gallon) pot, that’s about 50cm(20inch) wide for best health.
- Support. Once your dragon fruit plant reaches a certain height about 30 cm (12inch), it will need a support system to continue growing—after all, dragon fruits are climbing cacti. Set up a wood stake or trellis that your plant can grow up upon.
How to take care of a Dragon fruit plant.
Once planted, dragon fruit do not need much special care in order prosper:
· Watering. Dragon fruit need moist soil to mirror their subtropical environments, so try to keep the soil equally moist and do not let it dry out entirely. You can water them maybe once a week, but look at what your plant wants. However, at the same time avoid overwatering them, which will make the plant turn yellow and soft.
· Support. Dragon fruit are climbing cactus so, it needs some type of support to grow up upon. You can plant it beside a fence, under a trellis, or with a climbing pole or a wooden stake for good results. We use wooden stakes for our plants.
· Pruning. To keep your plant growing health and disease-free, prune back any dying, dead, diseased/affected, or overcrowded branches.
· Fertilizing. Throughout the growing seasons, fertilize your dragon fruit plants about once a month to give them the nutrients they need. You can also pour one table spoon of English salt over the soil during rainy seasons.
· Pollinating. Dragon fruit plants depend on the job of nocturnal pollinators like bats and moths to help them produce their fruit. If you are growing your plants inside your house, you will need to hand-pollinate when it blooms: twirl a clean cotton swap(earbud) in the middle of the flower to gather the pollen, then scrape the pollen onto the flower’s stigma, a tall dividing part in the middle of the flower. Some varieties of dragon fruit plants self-pollinate while others require a different plant for cross-pollination—see what variety you have and if you need more than one plant to produce the fruit.
· Keeping the temperature right. Dragon fruit plants are not very resistant in hot or cold weather, so make sure you can keep your plant in the temperatures between 0°C (32°F) and 32°C (90°F). However, for a good health plant I would say a temperature around 21°C (70°F). If the area is warm during the summer months, but too cold during the winter months, you can bring your plant inside to keep it warm.
How to harvest your Dragon fruit.
Once your dragon fruit plant has started to give fruit, harvesting is very easy. Look for well-colored fruits whose “wings” or “scales” (the flaps of skin on the outside of the fruit) have started to wilt. Twist the fruit gently, if it comes off easily then it is ripe. Do not wait for the fruit to fall from the stem on its own; it will be overripe. Unpeeled dragon fruit can last for weeks in the fridge and several days on the countertop.
Dragon fruit Diseases and Treatments.
How to sterilize garden tools.
You can use Isopropyl Alcohol to sterilize garden tools such as pruners. Sterilize pruning shears between cuts with rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol usually contains 70% isopropyl alcohol. It is cheap to use a 70-100% isopropyl alcohol to sterilize pruning tools. No soaking, mixing or rinsing is necessary with alcohol. The tools can simply be sprayed, wiped or dipped in isopropyl alcohol for instant effectiveness against most pathogens. You can also use ethanol without any dilution.
Orange/Red Spots (Botryosphaeria Dothidea).
Orange spots on a Dragon fruit plant is usually caused by overwatering or high humidity during rainy seasons. The extra moisture attracts a fungus called Botryosphaeria Dothidea. This fungi can attract insects such as beetles to the plant. However, this is a treatable disease and could also be preventable.
Treatments:
· Copper based fungicide or Sulfur powder. To get rid of the spots very fast you can use these. However, they are chemical based so maybe not the best things to use. If you want to use these then you can put them on the spots as soon as you see them come up.
· Neem oil. You can spray the neem oil around your plants. If you can spray it before the rainy seasons, come that might also help for prevention. However, the Neem oil smells really bad.
· Pruning. If the spots get really bad, then you can cut off the infected parts with sterile tools. You might want to avoid pruning in low-light or wet conditions to prevent more rots.
· Less watering. Remember that Dragon fruit plants are cacti, so they do not like a lot of water. Make sure that you have good drainage soil for the plant. Also, the Dragon fruit plants have tiny finger like roots that capture nutrients from the air and moisture (see picture on the right).
· Do nothing. This is not a deadly disease so many people just leave it alone. Some people say that nature does this for a reason, so they leave it alone.
· Nano bubble water. We spray Nano bubble water on our plants. Because there is lots of oxygen in it, it kills the fungi but does not hurt the plants. For more on that go check out Fine Bubble Technologies.
Dragon fruit sunburn treatment.
If your Dragon fruit plant is turning yellow it might just be sunburn. There are other reasons for yellowness which will be discussed later on. If your plant is yellow, try to squeeze a branch and feel if it is soft or hard. If it is hard there might still be some water in the branch. If it is soft then it needs water. Just give the plant some water. If your plant is getting a lot of direct sunlight then you should put some green shade netting over the area. If the plant is inside then maybe just move it for some time. Over time the branch will improve, but worse case maybe prune that branch if it is too damaged.
Dragon fruit yellow plant disease (Enterobacteria).
Enterobacteria stem soft rot usually distresses the tips of Dragon fruit branches. Symptoms appear on the tips of the plant yellow, soften, and begin to rot. Plants that are lacking in nitrogen and calcium are most vulnerable to severe infections.
Treatment: The best thing to do is to prune the affeted area and to make sure your plant has good soil and does not get sunburn. Also, you must control the watering of the plant.
Recipes with dragon fruit.