On the 3rd of October we sent out 15 lots of 3 different varieties of dragon fruit.
#1 This dragon fruit variety has thicker skin medium sized branch and has not suffered rust as much as other varieties.
#2 A thinner branched dragon fruit, not yellow megalanthus but similar. This branch has a smaller surface area so it will interesting to see how it goes with frost. This variety is quite reliant and generally doesn't suffer from many rust problems
#3 Dragon fruit cutting is a larger branched cutting with much wider limbs. It is more prone to rust at the end of the growing season. It's branches have a much larger surface area so it will be interesting how the cold affects these branches.
Rockhampton:
This is how Kevin from Rockhampton has potted up his dragon fruit cuttings.
He has used a 1-litre soft drink bottle base with drilled holes for transparency (root monitoring), inserted into a pot to exclude light (no idea if this makes any difference), and stuck posted dragon fruit plants are placed in a spot where it gets morning sun but protected from the afternoon sun.
Kevin's potting mix 50% searles potting mix, 50% cactus succulent mix.
No science behind my choice.It just seemed a good idea at the time. I figured the extra drainage of the cactus mix wouldn't hurt, and by mixing it with the cheaper potting mix it'd be more economic.
Pasadena, SA. Foothills.
Milo has sent thought these photos, she is in Pasadena (Adelaide)
She has potted into Mushroom compost, using cut off 2L and 1.5L plastic mineral water bottles, with holes drilled into the bottom.
The dragon fruit cutting have been staked and tied to stop movement that will affect root growth.
A little update from Pasadena SA. We have had temperatures from low to high 20s and plenty of sunshine and strong winds. A few days of cooler temps and up to 20mm of rain which is quite unseasonal.
#1 has take off and has a small shoot and a root of about 1.2cm. Not exactly sure when root formed, pulled it out to check today (25/11/2023). Here is a picture of the shoot. Shoot appear on the19/11/2023. Both #2 and #3 have air roots that seem to be growing and no base roots.
Townsville, Qld
This is how Jake from Townsville plants his dragon fruit.
When propagating my cuttings I generally put them in a container with a little bit of water at the bottom. I let the wounds callus over before doing this I generally wait between one to two weeks before they go into the water. I generally replace the water every 2 to 3 days to stop any algae or bacterial growth.
The dragon fruit cuttings are placed in an area where it gets morning to mid-day sun but protected from the afternoon sun.
This is just the way I learnt when starting my dragon fruit journey. I believe it also might help keep the cuttings hydrated as in my hotter conditions daytime temperatures are often in the high 30°c and extreme UV.
As soon as I see any root development I then place directly into its final spot, A large pot with a trellis. But for this experiment I will place into the same potting medium I use but into a smaller clear pot to watch the root development before I place into the final larger trellised pot (more photos to come as the experiment progresses).
Sydney North Shore, NSW
Henry has shared this information with us and he has hung his dragon fruit cuttings in a pumelo tree, he also hydrated the cuttings in water before planting.
The soil is a custom blend of Bunning's Garden basic soil mix with our own soil (quite sandy but nutrient rich as we have compost bins everywhere). We also mixed in a small amount of clay balls and perlite which we have a lot of because we keep orchids. There should be plenty of drainage and decent amount of food from our soils which would have worm castings. 
One challenge we might have is that something chew through our branches, we haven't quite caught what it is, as a precaution we sprayed some neem oil around the pot to hopefully deter whatever it is from chewing the young cuttings.
22.11.23 PROGRESS
We have very bright sun in most of the vacant place now so we have hung the cuttings under our pomelo tree, once we get good roots we will move them back to a sunny spot. During october we had a lot of rain storms in sydney and I should've checked on them and bring them in. Unfortunately plant 1 and 3 rotted by the time I got to them. I took them out and cut off the rotted ends and did 3% hydrogen peroxide and dried them a bit before replanting. It's been about two weeks since they are replanted, they seem to be still surviving but noticeably weaker than plant 2 which survived the rain storms in the first place. We cannot see any visible root growth or buds yet but our containers are quite big so might take some time before seeing roots.
We planted our dragonfruit cuttings a few weeks ago in large pots from Bunnings. We filled them with soil from our chicken coop, then a succulent potting mix and sugar cane mulch on top. I added bamboo sticks for the plants to grow up- I still have to tie the top of the posts together. I have also market the height of each plant when they were potted so it’s easy to see how much they have grown. There are also nasturtium seedlings planted in each pot.
We have had the most success planting dragonfruit in pots, so that’s where these guys have been planted. Emerald is very hot and dry, so pots allow me to love them around the backyard easily for the different seasons.
Lesley
Northern NSW Dragon fruit grower Gary Bond
Cutting number 3 had started to develop rot where it was cut before potting up so I trimmed it off and let dry out again before potting up.Soil mix is Searles premium, sand, perlite, alpaca poop and coconut coir.The clear containers have been put in a box with packing around them to help keep sun off the soon to be developing new roots, we don’t normally start in clear containers.Dragon Fruit Grower Innisfail Tropical North Queensland.Barny is a commercial fruit grower in Innisfail- Tropical North Queensland. We were lucky enough to catch up with Barny on a recent trip up north. He had some amazing freeze dried jack fruit to try and we had a tour of his farm.Day 1:Cuttings were planted Monday 9th OctDay 2: I read the instructions that were sent to me and realised I planting the cutting upside down 🤣So replanted cuttings the right way.Potting up cuttings: normally I would use a black pot, but so we could see the roots I used a plastic cup.Potting medium is coconut coir soaked in water. The cuttings are placed in this, in a easterly position to receive morning sun.Day 22: Today noticed some growth on cutting one.And some roots on cutting 2.
