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Welcome to ADFGA, the industry body for dragon fruit growers in Australia
Dragon Fruit
Dragon fruit also known as pitaya, pitahaya or strawberry pear is the cactus family, originated from North, Central and South America. There are three main types of dragon fruit species which are commercial cultivation (1) White dragon fruit (Hylocereus undatus), a fruit with white flesh and pink skin; (2) red dragon fruit (Hylocereus polyrhizus also known as H. monacanthus), a fruit with red flesh and pink skin; (3) Yellow dragon fruit (Selennicereus megalanthus also known as H. megacanthus), a fruit with white flesh and yellow skin.
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Plants should be established on well-drained beds. Concrete or treated timber pole can be used as support, with a frame on top to train the branches. One to four plants can be used for each post depending on post size.
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Fruits can be harvested 30 days after fruit set. However, it is better to delay harvest to 50 days after fruit set, to allow more sweetness to develop. The fruit continues to grow in size until harvested, with no noticeable change in sugar content.
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The fruit is the nutritious fruit with a variety of uses. The edible part of dragon fruit is the fruit pulp which accounted for 70-80% of the ripe fruit.
Flower
The dragon fruit is a tropical fruit. The normal flowering and production season is during the summer. The flowers open rapidly, normally in the evening, flowering is completed by about 10:00 p.m. Dragon fruit is pollinated in the evening.The blooming of dragon fruit flowers is affected by temperature and light intensity. On warm day, the flowers may open in late afternoon while they tend to be open later on cool days.
Dragon Fruit flowering timelapse
They're a one-day wonder that get bees drunk on pollen, but you can only see their most spectacular show after dark.
Dragon Fruit, only flower once, only for about eight hours and only at night.
This timelapse was shot in 10 second intervals over about 3 hours.
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Fruit
The fruit has been called the most beautiful in the cactus family with a bright red skin or yellow skin and white or red flesh with tiny black seeds.
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When the outer skin of fruits change from green to red or yellow and even-coloured, the fruit is ripe and ready to harvest.
Eat Fresh Fruit
Simply peel, cut into section and eat
Dragon fruit is the best when is eaten fresh.
You eat the flesh and discard the skin.
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You can cut in half and scoop out the flesh with a spoon.
Processed Food
Dragon fruit can be processed into delicious food product such as dragon fruit beer and dried fruit.
