Dragon Fruit Tree

[Bucks2015]

My daughter has asked for a Dragon Fruit Tree for her birthday due to a book series she loves. Posting on the off chance someone may know a reputable seller? There’s a few on eBay, Etsy and Amazon but wasn’t sure where to start with it.

If she means the tree the dragon fruit comes on, it’s a cactus, so will need to be in a greenhouse. It’s too vigorous for a windowsill. This article is interesting - she gets some plants from Etsy and grows them on for a summer.

Thank you - if Etsy is the best place I'll sort from there.
We have a little greenhouse and a trug with a greenhouse cover - if we're successful I guess it may become too big for that.

I wouldn’t buy plants from Etsy! You don’t know anything about who’s grown them, and you’re unlikely to get much joy if they keel over in the first 6 weeks. I linked to the article to make sure you knew what you’d get.

I’d source from a cuctus nursery. @NantheWiser will give better advice as to which species and which nursery

Whoops sorry - hadn't read the article yet! Will do so later thank you

Ds loves those books too! He's also love a dragon fruit tree.

Someone on here mentioned writing to the author and getting a letter back. My daughter wrote and got a lovely, personalised response which she treasures. Passing it on in case your DS would like to

Thank you. I have emailed her but I'll get ds to write

OP I haven't watched any but I've seen thumbnails on YouTube, people who are growing Dragon Fruit (or trying) from seed. It seems a big plant from a nursery is the way to go for quick results though.

Thanks - have just ordered some seed. It'll be fun to try and can always get a plant if I can find one too

I agree. Good luck, I never get tired of growing plants from seed.

The Latin name for the Dragon tree is Hylocereus undatus, which is a huge tropical cactus plant, which climbs and scrambles over trees. It would certainly become too large for a small greenhouse, many growers train the stems over a framework of some sort in larger greenhouses, and it would require some heat over winter. Once large enough, it produces magnificent white flowers which only last only one night (it is known as the Queen of the Night) and the dragon fruit are formed after the flowers are pollinated.
I don’t know of any cactus nurseries selling it, but pots of seedlings sometimes appear in garden centres and supermarkets in the summer, I wouldn’t buy from Etsy, as some sellers can be unreliable.

Would the flowers have to be manually pollinated, are they self fertile?

I bought some donkey tail sedum, on a whim, from Etsy. Got a bunch of little 'beans' and a freebie echeveria leaf! But no instructions on how to grow them. I muddled through and the sedum are looking great. RIP echeveria 😔

@IcakethereforeIam yes, flowers would have to be manually pollinated, I’m not sure if they are self fertile though.

Your Etsy seller should have given you some instructions! However, the sedum and Echeveria are very easy to root from leaves, you just leave them on top of gritty compost, and they usually start to produce adventitious roots from the leaf base after a few weeks, when they can be lightly watered.

Brilliant thank you - if we get to the stage of it being a monster I’ll be pleasantly surprised 😊 I don’t have much luck with stuff outside of veg and some fruit

Thank you @NanTheWiser as I didn't know better I inserted the leaves slightly into the soil (at least I had the sense to use a cactus mix) and kept them lightly watered I learned! I don't much care for echeveria anyway. I've moved onto Crassula and Haworthia. I'm a bit obsessed with the windows.

OP I hope your dragon tree grows big enough so you and your child can do some dragon slaying.

@NanTheWiser Harrisia bonplandii (assuming I have the id right) is self fertile. In fact, aren’t most of the Cactaceae self fertile?

@MereDintofPandiculation in my experience, most cacti are not self fertile. Some Mammillarias are, and can produce prolific fruit, and a few Rebutias are too. A quick Google seems to suggest that some forms of Hylocereus undatus are self fertile, depending on the variety, so a bit pot luck really!

If you are buying plants from Etsy they should all be arriving with a unique plant passport, this is for traceability.
I own a houseplant shop and also sell on Etsy, funnily enough I am due to send out a dragon fruit cactus tomorrow!

We are DEFRA registered and have regular checks from plant health to check our plants are healthy and we have the correct paperwork for every plant.

Of course some do not do this, even though it is now the law when sending plants through the post.
Before purchasing I would suggest asking if the business is registered with plant health.