Blue BlaZe Serenade

Hello Everyone!!! New to this and i look forward to learning and sharing knowledge about all the amazing plants we Grow and share.

On a side note I like to use "air pruning" type pots for different plants i have, so i decided to try one Dark Star Dragon fruit cutting in a smart pot.
Flash forward its doing well and now has a runner at the edge of the pot!? I've never had dragon fruit do this before so i was wondering if this has happened to any one else? whether common or odd any info would be appreciated Thank you.

Abnshrek

That's pretty cool.. :^)

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Blue BlaZe Serenade

Thanks, i've never had a runner with any dragon fruit till this point so im caught a little off guard on this one.

Abnshrek

Even if its rare (who knows?) I'd say you must be doing something right. :^)

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caliboy1994

Wow, awesome! I'm growing Physical Graffiti, Paul Thompson, American Beauty, Hylocereus ocamponis, and Hylocereus Megalanthus.

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~ Masanobu Fukuoka

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Blue BlaZe Serenade

Nice! Im growing cereus peruvianus,halley's comet,Dark Star and Hylocereus Megalanthus at the moment i did notice tho that Hylocereus Megalanthus grows slower than other dragon fruit but i really like its appearance.

caliboy1994

H. Megalanthus is a tropical species and is not as well suited to the subtropics. It can take up to nine months to ripen where I live. The others don't take nearly as long.

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"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."
~ Masanobu Fukuoka

Find me on linktree here as Solarpunk Farmer:
https://linktr.ee/solarpunkfarmer

harveyc

I've never seen that before. Do you remember about how deep you planted the original segment?

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Blue BlaZe Serenade

I planted it about 2 inches in cactus mix i threw in some earth worm castings, sand and peat , but i tend to mist it with a bit of sea weed extract and super thrive very lightly about once a week . Im going to more or less redo everything with another cutting in a geopot and see if i can get it to send a runner too.

The runner in qustion is 3 and a half inches away from the base of cutting i did scrape a little of the sand/soil aside to see if theres in fact a arm or long root didnt see anything im unsure how deep the root or arm really is. next spring im planting this little guy in ground till then im curious to see how this little runner develops, the other thought on my mind is it considered a juvenile like a seedling or will it fruit right away once it has the right amount of mass like a mature cutting would once its grown?

2woodensticks

its new growth i.e. side shoot that just grew under ground before merging..when i start a new cutting off of mine i use one at least a foot long,i put the cutting in a pot,fill with soil,just leave 1/2 inch tip poking out...depends on type but i have had {runners}coming up the sides of the pot with in 7 months,3 or 4 are common have had 6 once but two withered and died,why???no say.. but the rest of it is still going well..hope this helps

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got to love em..{neotropical rattlesnake..cascabell}

Blue BlaZe Serenade

Thanks that answers my questions. In that case ill just resume growing them normally it never ceases to amaze me how easy these things are to grow i just wish the flower lived longer at least 4 more hours into the morning and let the bees do there thing ya know?

caliboy1994

You really shouldn't plant them in cactus mix. Remember, unlike other cacti, dragon fruit are from the forest, so they need soil with lots of organic matter. Cactus mix just won't cut it in that department. Add some compost.

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"The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings."
~ Masanobu Fukuoka

Find me on linktree here as Solarpunk Farmer:
https://linktr.ee/solarpunkfarmer

harveyc

There is no need to put a cutting very deep into the soil. Most commercial growers barely put them into the soil and support them with a stake or post. The flesh of the segment will just rot by having it planted in the soil. This has been written about quite a bit by growers in the U.S., Asia, etc. in the pitaya discussion group at PitayaFruit : Pitaya And Other Dessert-Fruiting Cacti

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Blue BlaZe Serenade

Very true but i really just use it as a base for drainage and throw in worm castings, peat, rock dust, leaf mold and some goodies from my composter. thanks for the info tho its good to see every one helping each other, OH yea by the way sea weed does wonders! My gojis really seem to respond to it more tho

sunfish

Organic matter only improves the soil has nothing to do with what will or will not grow

2woodensticks

well if i ever get one to rot i will let you know...rot = to much water,weather its under soil or not...i might start some deep but i dont water i only use a spray bottle until i see{runners}i guess its just my own method...

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got to love em..{neotropical rattlesnake..cascabell}

Blue BlaZe Serenade

When it comes to growing every one has there own method and because of it we all get interesting results plus you gotta admit enjoying the beauty of our effort and fruits of our labor always bring on a Smile/Grin and a sense of fulfillment that cant be beat! Gotta love nature , if you can get such a long buried cutting to take with no rot congrats! I have yet to try them that deep myself tho, my cuttings regardless of cultivar are always 2-3 inches in the soil.
Have you found that starting them that way grow faster/slower?

Oh i almost forgot from what i found so far a long cutting almost completely covered that gets runners would just be lateral branches(arms) growing from the cutting itself but my cutting is only about two inches down and has a runner after getting curious enough i dug around it deep enough and found its from a large root that was damaged during trasplant ill update more on this later wit pics,

cincinnana

Welcome to the forums BBS , where lots of people know lots of stuff!!
Happy Gardening!!

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harveyc

The traditional way of "planting" them in Nicaragua (a native growing area) is to toss a cutting onto a pile of rocks. Not much organic matter there and certainly not planted to deep!

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momoese

Eventually it does. Plants grown in pure inert sand or rock will die.The same plants grown in pure plant or animal compost will live.