Dragon fruit question
 

Hello everyone,

I have moved into my home in Leesburg, Florida. I have some Dragonfruit cuttings which I have started in small pots, and are ready for transplant. I am going to build a trellis support for it. Can I use pressure treated lumber for the support, or will that damage the plant, or worse, cause the fruit to absorb toxic chemicals?

Thanks in advance,

Tom

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Great question. Ask the manufacturer of the pressure treated wood and let us know!!!

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

I would seriously doubt that any chemicals from the wood could leach into or be absorbed by the fruit or vine. Pressure treated wood or plastic decking type material would be perfect. I have stained wood and have had no problems with chemicals contamination in my plants.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Anyways, pretty much all soil is contaminated by something these days...

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

...that you know of. Do not use the green pressure treated lumber.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Pressure treated lumber has been infused with copper compounds. This is exactly what is needed to protect Hylocereus species from bacterial spot disease.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

And arsenic too...

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Depends when and where it was manufactured. In the US, EPA regulations and some state regulations regarding pressure treated lumber have changed substantially in the last decade.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Still, I don't trust the product, the companies or the governments in this case. I wouldn't use it to support plants. I'd rather use bamboo.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Dragon fruit are tree climbing cacti with long and heavy vine-like pods. Bamboo would fail to support dragon fruit plants unless you made a very large and sturdy lattice.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Trust me, it would be sturdy! And it will as I have a few DG of my own... I'll try to post pics when I make it.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

In Asia, the use of concrete posts is fairly popular.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

The poster of this question is growing outdoors, and I assume that in Quebec you are growing indoors. The nature of the plant in the two environments is quite different.

Here is a picture of one plant growing outdoors in a 15-gallon pot. The pods you see are 3-4 inches across, over a foot long, and the buds are 4-6 inches across. As you can see, the redwood lattice support is buckling under the weight.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Wouldn't you agree that bamboo is sturdier than redwood? I do agree that it is a heavy plant, even if grown inside. I wasn't talking about the little bamboo sticks but the larger ones and these are pretty tough and weather resistant. By the way, nice pics. Are they yours?

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

Being specific is very helpful to readers here. :)

Yes, originally posted here in 2010.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

When I was in SE Asia last month, I saw a number of dragon fruit trellises made out of bamboo. If I had to guess, I'd say the vertical pillars were in the 2-4 inch range. The typical set up was four posts and then a lattice (also of bamboo) on top with the plant sprawled across.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

When I was at Lowe's last week, I examined many packages of bamboo stakes from 0.375 inch to 1.5 inch diameters. All had been heavily treated with copper hydroxide as evident in both the surface coloring (green) and the manufacturer's online MSDS.

I think we can all agree that dragon fruit (Hylocereus species and hybrids) need sturdy supports when grown with a serious approach for fruit production. Certainly 0.25 inch bamboo stakes will not do this. I think we'd also all agree we'd like support materials that won't impact the health of those eating the fruit. How you choose to meet the latter requirement is going to depend a lot on local availability of materials.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

In Nicaragua and many areas of Central America, they are grown using living support plants which are frequently pruned. I took a private tour of a farm in Nicaragua in July 2013. Our guide did not know the species name of the plant used for the trellis, but it worked very well.

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

No worries there, Arsenic is gone from PT lumber, the new stuff is not as good.

The Tropical Fruit Forum has a number of threads on trellis making for dragonfruit

Re: Dragon fruit question
 

When I was living in Mauritius, another type, similar to df but fruitless, was used as a fence. It leaned on a metal wire treillis supported by metal posts. It was effective.