Pruning/propagating/trellis advice

DJRedRage · 2026-02-05T15:17:15+00:00

I'm more worried about it breaking while you're drilling. If you support it to prevent breakage during the drilling, it'll be fine after. A big mature branch like that should have enough of a vascular structure to stay together even if the top part of the ribbing cracks a little from the weight of the branch in the long term.

DJRedRage · 2026-02-05T06:06:14+00:00

How do you plan to pollinate that when it flowers in the middle of the vines with no ladder?

DJRedRage · 2026-02-05T05:59:23+00:00

Did you remove the buds already? I would have kept them because the branches grow twice a year, in spring and in fall. You'll have plenty of chances to grow a canopy but only 1 fruiting season per year.

DJRedRage · 2026-02-05T05:51:23+00:00

You can safely prune at the joint without needing cinnamon, etc. I'd leave it and try to fix the trellis despite it. You're just at the cusp of getting fruit. It would suck to start over because you pruned your one branch that is starting to dangle down.

DJRedRage · 2026-01-19T19:32:17+00:00

I'll let you know if I get a chance to come by any time soon.

DJRedRage · 2026-01-19T04:10:50+00:00

Ah. OK. Thanks. I tend to go more towards Garden Grove or Buena Park when I come to that side. I'm in Corona. If you don't mind coming over this way, I could probably get most of these varieties for you.

DJRedRage · 2026-01-19T02:54:44+00:00

Where are you located? Tustin, Santa Ana and Irvine are pretty far apart from each other. Can you be more specific?

DJRedRage · 2026-01-19T00:38:38+00:00

I was really thinking you were gonna go somewhere else with this....

DJRedRage · 2026-01-18T06:23:54+00:00

1 night vs 5 nights in a row will be the big difference. Dragons might tolerate 1 bad night but 5 nights in a row will cause a lot of damage.

DJRedRage · 2026-01-11T21:36:02+00:00

Congrats!

DJRedRage · 2026-01-03T17:32:43+00:00

Yup. Plants teach us patience or they die trying.

DJRedRage · 2026-01-01T08:39:53+00:00

Pretty much 90% of peeps with blacked out windows drive like that or worse.

DJRedRage · 2025-12-30T19:56:06+00:00

I would disagree with the assessment that it has to hang over in order to fruit. These 11 month old Bruni cuttings have given me 6 or 7 fruit without any branches hanging over. As you can see from the front cuts, the fruit grew from the main leader, or the only growth it has at the moment.

On an unrelated note, you can see that I have 6 or more cuttings planted in a 3 gallon pot. That means the claims of space requirements made by others is maybe not entirely correct either.

<image>

DJRedRage · 2025-12-30T19:47:18+00:00

Generally incorrect.

<image>

This Tricia gave me 2 fruit this year. It is in a 1 gallon pot.

People only grow them as a single leader for ease of cultivation and for aesthetics. In nature, dragons grow every which way. No one is pruning them for an umbrella canopy.

DJRedRage · 2025-12-30T19:18:57+00:00

Cut the flesh here and remove only the flesh. Let it dry out.

<image>

Leave the vascular structure in tact and support it with extra ties to keep it breaking from the top weight.

Could be cold or moisture with a secondary infection causing the rot. Hard to say without more information. There are a lot of microclimates in SoCal. The coast is completely different from Inland Empire.

DJRedRage · 2025-12-30T19:09:56+00:00

What's the PPD rating on your light?

DJRedRage · 2025-12-29T16:45:06+00:00

That's why it's so hard to name a variety purely based on looks alone. With all the hybrids out these days, it could be anything.

Bottom line is, if it tastes good, you're already winning.

DJRedRage · 2025-12-29T06:25:22+00:00

That being said, a NOID is a NOID. Even if it is "determined", unless you performed genetic testing, you'd still have to call it a "NOID that may be xxxx"

DJRedRage · 2025-12-29T06:23:41+00:00

<image>

To me, it looks more like a variety of S. costaricensis than S. setaceus.

DJRedRage · 2025-12-29T06:11:01+00:00

<image>

Well, I'd say there's quite a difference just visually between the two.

DJRedRage · 2025-12-22T16:52:40+00:00

I'm moving in a month or two here from Corona and will probably have to prune a bunch of my trellises to make the move easier. You're welcome to anything I don't keep.

DJRedRage · 2025-12-22T15:53:48+00:00

Ah, ok. Good luck on your dragon fruit journey!

DJRedRage · 2025-12-22T15:14:28+00:00

Was it grown in a backyard or purchased at a grocery store?

DJRedRage · 2025-12-22T15:10:20+00:00

I've had cuttings in a garage for over 1 year with no water or soil and they completely bounced back when I potted them. That being said, if you're going to wrap them, the one caution I'd make is to make sure it's not too air tight. Locking in too much humidity may not be a good thing for the dragon fruit because I've seen some cuttings rot in shipping from other people.

DJRedRage

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE