I love Pitaya! It is such a cool-looking cactus fruit. Commonly called, Dragon Fruit or Pitahaya, the Pitaya is grown all over the world in tropical and subtropical regions. It also can be grown in the desert in places like Arizona with some care. In this post, I will show you how to grow pitaya from cuttings.
If you love to garden and want to try growing a cool cactus, learn how to grow pitaya! The dragon fruit cactus plant will be a great addition to your garden. Let’s get started!
Pitaya or Dragon Fruit Information
The Pitaya is cultivated all over the world, in particular, Mexico, Southeast Asia, India, the Caribbean, Australia, and other tropical and subtropical places around the world. Vietnam, Indonesia, and China grow the most dragon fruit out of any other country. In fact, in 2018, Vietnam accounted for 50% of the global pitaya or dragon fruit production.
The dragon fruit even grows well in places in the United States, like California, Texas, Florida, Hawaii, and other southern states.
Pitayas love the sun and warmth, but not super hot, and not very cold. They can survive a few temps below freezing once in a while, but not sustained freezing temperatures.
Want to know how the dragon fruit taste? I have two posts on how to eat them and how they taste. Check out this yellow dragon fruit taste test and this pink dragon fruit taste test to find out more about how to eat them and what they taste like.
How to grow pitaya from cuttings
While pitaya can be grown from seed, this post focuses on how to grow pitaya or dragon fruit from a cutting. If you want to try it from a seed, you certainly can. Dry out the seeds from the fruit, then place them on a damp paper towel.
Fold over the paper towel and place it near a window. Or place the dried seeds in a small pot with a good seed starter or cactus soil mix.
To grow the pitaya from a cutting, first, you need a cutting. They are easy to prune off the main plant because they grow in segments.
Cut a segment at the stem/woody part that connects to another part of the pitaya. Sometimes the stem part has a harder time sprouting roots, so you may want to snip it off. If you do, let the cutting sit out in the shade for about a week, so it can scab over.
Take some rooting powder and sprinkle it on the base of the cutting. In the above image, I didn’t snip any off of the bottom. I recommend planting a few, some with the end snipped off and some without.
NOTE: Rooting powder is not necessary but it definitely helps it along. Try a few with the rooting powder and a few without.
Fill up the pot with good draining soil
Take a medium pot and fill it up with good draining soil. The Pitaya loves good drainage. Try and make the soil mildly acidic as well. If you like, you can add some earthworm castings to the soil for extra nutrients.
Then stick the pitaya cutting directly in the soil about 1 1/2 to 2 inches deep. Water the soil well. The roots should develop in a week or two.
The dragon fruit cutting should stay green. Don’t overwater, however. Dip your finger in the soil, and if it is dry two inches down, give it some more water.
Pitaya cuttings grow well in pots for a few years, but eventually, you may want to plant them in the ground. You can prune them as well, to get more cuttings to plant, or so it grows the way you want it to.
Dragon fruit cactus plants are vining cactus. You will need a trellis or pole or something for it to grow up. As it gets longer loosely tie the cactus vine to your pole.
Depending on where you live you may need to plant them in partial shade. I live in the very hot Phoenix area. This pitaya cutting after it was rooted was planted on the west side of the house which had lots of shade cover. It gets sunlight, but not too much. It is very protected during the harsh summers.
If you live somewhere like California, planting them with full sun, shouldn’t be a problem. The pitaya cuttings grow much quicker than growing dragon fruit from seeds. Some people have been able to get fruit after only the first year of growth. The speed of growth will depend on where you live.
Time to grow your own pitaya from cuttings. Enjoy!
How to grow Pitaya (Dragon Fruit) from Cuttings Video
Watch this video I made on how to grow Dragon fruit from cuttings.
One dragon fruit cutting made it and is alive and thriving in my parent’s yard. I made the mistake one year and didn’t move the post to the other side of my yard during the summer and torched the other ones. Sad day.
Here are other articles you may find interesting:
Hi. I live in Phoenix at 32nd St and Shea. I’ve got two healthy dragonfruit plants in 12 inch pots that I want to plant in the ground Thanks for your help. Thinking of the east side of the house to shelter from summer sun
Awesome Lisa! Yes, you definitely need shelter from the sun. Shade, filtered sun from other trees, and 50 to 60% shade cloth are all suitable ideas. I live in AZ as well. 🙂
I also live near Phoenix in the east valley. Thank you for your tips. I have just started researching how to grow down here in the heat and it can be tricky.
That is awesome!! And you are very welcome! 🙂 The heat can definitely be tricky. Depending on what you are growing and the location, you may need a shade cloth.
This comment isn’t necessarily for posting on your website comments section. It is feedback for the author. I am a professional proofreader for a tech company, so things like misspelling stand out to me when I read.
I’m not sure if you used your phone with autocorrect turned on when you wrote this article, or if English isn’t your first language. But I found an error in this version of the website.
The statement:
“you may want to plant them in the grown.”
in the instructions is grammatically incorrect. I assume you meant “ground” not “grown.” I’m sure you realize that ground is the earth in your garden area, and grown, means having completed a phase of growth.
Just a little feedback to help your website look more professional.
Thanks, Trey
Thanks, Trey, yeah just an oversight/lack of proofreading. English is definitely my first and only language. Grammarly doesn’t always catch things like this, haha. But I need to be better at proofreading when I have Grammarly turned on.
I cannot thank you enough for this post: Ever since I visited Viet Nam, Pitaya is one of my favorite fruits. If I could really grow it at home that would be awesome!
That is awesome! That would be cool if you could grow it at your home.
Great tips! We actually have a lot of dragon fruits! We even have one in our garden. My mom loves it so much!
Thank you and that is awesome!
I have been meaning to grow Dragon Fruit. This was really helpful.
Great!
I didn’t we could have this at our house and plant it. This is cool. I would love to add it to our garden and get more of it instead of keep buying it. Thank you for sharing!
Fransic – https://querianson.com/
You are very welcome! 🙂
Oh this is so cool! I wish I could try growing some dragon fruit. But Atlantic Canada wouldn’t be the right kind of weather sadly. It was really fun to see the whole process, thank you!
Thanks! Yeah, you would need to have a greenhouse with a heater!
I’ve seen some of our neighbors with dragon fruit in their front yard and I’m curious how it’s grown. Now I know how.
Awesome!
I used to love eating dragon fruit when we lived in Singapore but sadly we don’t get much if it here in the UK. I didn’t know you could grow it from cuttings.
That is cool you ate it in Singapore! If you have a specialty Asian market near you, try there, you may be able to find Dragon Fruit there.
This is so neat. I’ve never tried dragonfruit but have heard that it tastes great.
Thanks!
Interesting! I’m so bad with these things, but when we buy our home I want to plant everything! lol
lol nice!!
That’s so cool! I love dragonfruit and never knew you could do that.
Yeah, pretty awesome!
WOW, Matt! This is amazing. I would love to try growing this in New York. I have been growing an avocado plant for the last 5 years. It lives in my garden bathtub.. LOL it is now truly a garden tub. But my bathroom gets the most light and humidity from showers. I wonder if I could attempt to grow a dragon fruit plant too. What do you think?
If it is inside, it will probably work! But if it is outside unless it is in a greenhouse it won’t work in New York, it gets much too cold there. 🙂
I love dragon fruit and once tried to grow one but failed. I am excited though to try to grow another with your tutorial.
Awesome! If at first you don’t succeed try again! 🙂
This was so helpful and interesting read! My teens love dragon fruit and they would love to have a plant like this. So excited to start growing one!
Thank you, Beth! 🙂
I’ve always been fascinated by dragon fruit. My neighbor just gave me a cutting so I’m going to plant it this weekend with the help of your tutorial. Thank you!
You are welcome, Samantha!! 🙂