Dragon Fruit Plant (Pitahaya)

About the Dragon Fruit Plant (Pitahaya)

Pitahaya is a climbing cactus native to Mexico and Central America, and one of the most rewarding fruits for warm, sunny gardens. It produces huge, fragrant white flowers that open for a single night, followed by bright-pink fruit with green-tipped scales. Choose pink flesh, juicy, deeply coloured and slightly sweeter, or white flesh, crisp and mild, both speckled with tiny edible black seeds. It is drought-tolerant, fast to establish and easy to train on a post, wall or trellis, and it grows well in a pot. Grown on our farms in Yucatán and Chiapas and shipped via DHL.

How to Care for It

Give full sun (light afternoon shade in extreme heat) and very well-drained, gritty soil rich in organic matter. Water when the soil dries, more during flowering and fruiting; overwatering causes rot. Feed monthly in the warm season with a balanced fertiliser. Provide a sturdy post about 1.5 m tall and let stems cascade over the top. Protect from frost. Some types benefit from hand-pollination at night.

The backbone of a tropical orchard. Mangoes, Booth 8 avocado, red mamey, chicozapote, carambola, dwarf coconuts, jackfruit and dragon fruit: reliable, productive trees that thrive in Mexico's warm lowlands and coasts, grown on our farms and shipped by DHL.

Growing Profile

Botanical name

Selenicereus undatus and hybrids (syn. Hylocereus)

Family

Cactaceae

Native to

Mexico and Central America

Mature height

1.5–2 m

Plant spacing

3 m

Years to first fruit

1–2 years

Light

Full sun

Water

Low, drought tolerant

Cold tolerance

down to 0 °C

Best climates

Dry tropics, Humid tropics, Subtropical, Arid / desert

Grows in a pot

Yes

Ships from

Our farms in Yucatán & Chiapas