Dragon Fruits in Gujarat, India

I have  a grower  from Gujarat, India that has grown dragon fruits. His problems were  sun burn(excess heat) injury to these plants.  He has given 15:15:15  fertilizer  by drip irrigation and still continue with the same grade. Their  plants are now 12 months old.

He said that their plants have flowered this season and also are bearing few fruits and  would like  suggestions of how and what grade to fertigate and quantity of fertilizer by drip.

He also  asked me whether he could  spray fertilizers to get better quality and size of fruits to these plants? If yes in what quantity and what intervals should I spray?

The problem he said that is it necessary to sprinkle water on the canopy during high temperatures in summer, and can we cover the canopy with a shade net to protect from sun burn? If yes please suggest the color i.e green or white shade net, and should it be 50% or 75% shade net.

These are my answers:

 If your plants had flowers you should change your fertilizers to 12:12:17:2 instead of 15:15:15. If you continue to give the latter fertilizer your plants will have more vegetative growth meaning that your plants will be grow more green shoots rather than flowers.You can boost your plants with foliar fertilizers with high K mixed with fungicides ; spray for every two weeks. Once the fruits came out you should wrap with newspaper envelope to avoid insect attack or cracking.

To avoid scorching, you could cover your plants temporarily with green net  50% shade.

This area is  very dry and needs irrigation. As dragon fruit is heavy feeder it needs high amount of organic matter

Fruits need to be wrapped as it would damage by insects and cracking

This plants need foliar fertilizer as to enhance more branching. Branching will promote more flowers

The planting distant is OK however do not let insect from mango trees attack the fruits.

Note:
Fruit growers may ask me questions or advice. I am obliged to answer wherever I could. Please don't expect for me to answer immediately, or I try to answer to best of my ability. If they have money they could invite to their so that I could give my expertise.

My Talk

I had given a talk on dragon fruits. The audience was good and recepetive. Many questions asked of how to survive dragon planting in Malaysia. My response was that Dragon cultivation is not a "Touch and Go" farming, the grower should vision themselves where he/she is going to bring the business.
My abstract is as below;


Abstract



Malaysia is blessed with good tropical climate. Many crops can be grown like rubber, oil palm, paddy and cocoa besides fruits. One of the recent newcomers in the Malaysian fruit industry is dragon fruits. After many trials and errors, dragon cultivation has made its niche in the Malaysian fruit industry. Although its investment is lucrative however, there are many challenges lie ahead to enhance its production.
This paper will discuss several issues pertaining to the industry and strategies to be taken in order to move forward. Accredited planting materials and resistant varieties are the major limiting factors that hinder its future expansion and sustainability. The dragon fruit cultivation is this country could again be profitable and rewarding if good agro-management measures are sought properly.

Dragon Fruits Harvesting

I have visited a farm in Malacca, 80 km from Kuala Lumpur to observe dragon fruit harvesting. The farm is around 20 ac. situated nearby roadside. It was not a peak season during our visit however, the owner was kindly enough to take some photos to be posted in my blog. I hope there is some interesting to note and observe how washing, grading and sorting is done once the fruits are harvested.(The pics are not in sequence)

Manual of Dragon Fruit Planting (In Bahasa Melayu)

I have just completed my write-up on Planting of Dragon Fruits in Malay language. It takes quite some to finish it . This manual is simple and practical ways of how to plant dragon fruits. I hope to publish as soon as possible so that it can be practised immediately by the growers or hobbyists alike.
This manual is of  my very own effort and much time is devoted to it. I will translate into English once I have completed my other book.

I have to race against time because there are a lot work to do. However, you will be satisfied once you accomplished something on your own. I don't rely on anybody either to type the words or sentences, take photo, arrange the contents, paragraphs and layout whats not. Writing books or articles takes patience otherwise well begun half done or Malay proverb says hangat-hangat tahi ayam (direct translation chicken dung is always warm when it is out of its butt! ..and later cool).

Manual on Dragon Fruit Planting. I will translate in English very soon.

Field Mechanization of Dragon Fruit Planting

Large scale dragon fruit plantation in Malacca 

To plant dragon fruits in a large plantation ; there is no doubt mechanization is very  necessary. It is a very important tool to speed up management activities such as spraying of insecticide,weeding, fertilization and so on.However, what is the optimum  size of plantation that need to be considered before machines to be introduced? As machines are very expensive and needs to be  maintenance, careful decision has to be made so that the investment is profitable.Otherwise, you put unnecessary budget that would incur the return.

The size,type and power of the machines have to sought from experts or experience person in order to buy the correct tool. We cannot just  copy or buy from hearsay  what machines are needed. Think twice.

Using boom sprayer to spray foliar fertilizer, insectides and fungicides

Dr.Zainudin inspecting dragon fruit plantation

Horticulture Research Centre Director Tengku Malik explaining something to visitors.

Enquiry from Egypt that Wants to Grow Dragon Fruits

Someone from Egypt email me about grow dragon from there;

 

Dear Sir,

let me introduce my self , I am Mahmoud Abo Elkassem , from Egypt , Age 31 , working Software Developer .

from 5 month and i feel interested about Dragon Fruit , and looking to plant it in my home and in the future i will try to make it commercial.

once i check a lot of site a bout varieties in Malaysia , Philippines, Vietnam ,

i start get so confused, many varieties with different name in the Three country for example : in Philippines fruit name "Saniata" , in Vietnam  "Dragon Fruit" , in Malaysia a farmer create new varieties  "Orange Skin"

so which one is the parent and which one is the child "Clone" ,

what varieties good for me in both way to plant it in home aed commercial ?

My answer:

Asalaimualikum Mr.Mahmoud;

Thank you for your email. There three types of dragon fruits 1. Red skin white flesh (Hylocereus  undantus), 2. Red skin red flesh (Hylocereus Polyrhizus ) 3. Yellow skin white flesh (Selenicereus megalanthus).

The popular commercial types depend on the country. For instant in Vietnam the popular ones are red skin white flesh, in Malaysia the red skin red flesh but, in Colombia yellow skin white are popular.

Genetically , red skin  with white flesh and red skin white flesh are related may be clones or cultivar, but the yellow ones are    vareities.

In Malaysia we prefer the red skin with red flesh because it fetch high price.

Thank you