Growing Dragon Fruit in containers? DON'T MISS this KEY ingredient...

[@eyeDtenTea]

Nicely done! As I was watching this, I was thinking .. this mix is similar to Gary’s Best Top Pot… LOL then the end confirms it. Gary’s Best Top Pot is hard to find and sourcing the ingredients to do the DIY version is pricey. For my mix I followed RARE DRAGON FRUIT channel’s recommendations to use SunShine Mix #4. I amended with sand and pumice… ratio is 4:2:1 (SunShine : sand : pumice) on the top 10 inches (per Gary’s videos, roots don’t grow that far down). The bottom/lower portion of the container is more like 1:1 (SunShine : sand); it’s more cost effective. SunShine mix is sold at Home Depot and Lowe’s for about $35 / 2.2-3 cu ft. Sand is ~$4 / 50 lbs. Pumice is the tricky one to price. My local nursery is the cheapest I can find that sells 8qt for ~$10. Gary mentioned rice hulls can be substituted for peat moss. His manufacturer said it was too light and blew all over the place, so they didn’t use it in the final Top Pot recipe. Rice hulls are really cheap and sustainable, so I ordered some from Amazon. I’m going to try to incorporate in my rooting pots and future soil amendments.

[@GreenLove1]

@@eyeDtenTea oh wow, thanks for sharing all this information. I saw that Rare Dragon Fruit (which is Paul's other channel) has been using this mix called Sunshine Mix, but was not sure where to get it. Thanks for the tip, and also for how you use it! Pumice is fairly inexpensive at my local Animal Feed store (something like $15 for a 40 lb bag). Did not know about the rice hull thing either, thanks for that tip as well! Happy gardening!!

[@eyeDtenTea]

@@GreenLove1 Watching more of Gary’s Matsuoka’s seminars.. Since you are replicating the Top Pot soil, you might want to look into mycorrhizal fungi (this one seminar cover’s it kzbin.infoJIgefqwYVFc?si=lacWJxw9KI7NgG48 [jump to 1:25:55]). His Top Pot soil doesn’t contain mycorrhizal fungi, but most natural fertilizers do, or you can buy the fungi by itself. SunShine Mix #4 contains mycorrhizal fungi.

[@GreenLove1]

@@eyeDtenTea great tip, thank you! I use woodchips mulch all over my garden, so I have plenty of mychorrhizal fungi that I can harvest. Will watch the whole seminar later, sound like and interesting one. Thanks again!💚

[@eyeDtenTea]

I’ve got a source for the rice hulls/husk recommendation.. from Gary Matsuoka’s live stream ~2 months ago titled “Soil-less Soil Kills Your Plants, Water Won’t” kzbin.info35uz3S1tLlo?si=LkYPVPogCRx6b6z2 [jump to 47:28]

[@GreenLove1]

@@eyeDtenTea oh that's great! Thanks for sharing the link! I will have to experiment with it! Do you know an economical source for rice hulls?

[@hebnermm]

Xlnt video and I love your energy. I managed a local feed store for 7 years and I didn't realize Dry Stall was Pumice- Duh! Most of my DF knowledge has been from watching Rare Dragon Fruit's KZbin videos which are terrific. Keep up the good work

[@GreenLove1]

@@hebnermm 😄! Yeah, Rare Dragon Fruit is awesome. Thanks for watching and for the wonderful feedback!!💚

[@lynnjackson1038]

Awesome information. Was easy to understand and well-organized. I really appreciated the itemized properties and characteristics of each component of the potting mix. The step-by-step info is tops! And so special at the end of the video that you gave props to your mom! You are carrying on her legacy 😇

[@GreenLove1]

@@lynnjackson1038 oh, thanks so much, Lynn, for your lovely comment. Truly made my day! This is why I make these videos!!❤️❤️❤️

[@danielmays-d4p]

Dragonfruit Soil Recipe - Quick reference. Video is fantastic FYI. I live in Texas so looking forward to growing. Such great info here. Peat Moss 30% Pumice 30% Perlite 30% Sand 10% Biochar 5% Other (your choice) Get chunky with your ingredients.

[@GreenLove1]

Thanks!!

[@danielmays-d4p]

@@GreenLove1 Thank you. My wife and I feel in love with the fruit while we lived in Hong Kong. Im setting all this up as a Christmas gift for her.

[@GreenLove1]

@danielmays-d4p what a thoughtful and lovely gift! Happy holidays to you and your family!

[@Pilliii]

Great video! Learned a lot. Definitely will subscribe to you.

[@GreenLove1]

That's fantastic, thanks so much!! Glad you found the video helpful!

[@duketran7735]

Great video! Very informative, well researched and sweet. Thank you very much for sharing with us. I am starting my own dragon fruit adventure. They will be in containers. I do have Gary’s Best Top Pot which requires more watering. Just having difficulty finding coarse sand for gardening. I am from the Bay Area also.

[@GreenLove1]

@@duketran7735 how exciting. It's so much fun to grow Dragon Fruit! I have 2 new additional varieties that I am growing this year, one of them actually from seed, so keen to see how all of them do! Good luck with your Dragon Fruit experience!!!

[@hebnermm]

Home Depot or Lowes for the coarse sand

[@marpaf7331]

Tank you for sharing, how long have you been using this mixture

[@GreenLove1]

As I mentioned in the video, it is my first time, the result of a lot of research from experts. But if you want to see the sources I used, I have linked them in the Description!

[@IIrandhandleII]

How do you stabilize the trellis from tipping or sagging?

[@GreenLove1]

I try to keep the dragon fruit plant as balanced as possible...and the pinwheel in the bottom keeps it quite stable actually

[@IIrandhandleII]

@@GreenLove1 have you had any tip or fall over to the side?

[@GreenLove1]

@@IIrandhandleII Not yet, but up until this point, I only had one planter, Now I have 3, we'll see. Why, have you had issues with Dragon Fruit plants tipping over their planter? They do grow large and heavy very quickly, so I am not surprised

[@IIrandhandleII]

@@GreenLove1 I have seen others having an issue with tipping and they have to reinforce the top structure. I'm starting out with containers and want to make sure I do it right the first time.

[@GreenLove1]

@IIrandhandleII check out Epic Gardening and Rare Dragon Fruit's channels for recent videos on trellises they have built.

[@Pilliii]

I think that's a 15 gallon pot vs 20 gal as you mentioned

[@GreenLove1]

You are probably right!

[@trudithomas9677]

I keep trying from seed growth. No luck so far.

[@filmcrew5848]

@@trudithomas9677 You’re better off just getting a cutting. It will save you time.

[@GreenLove1]

@filmcrew5848 I totally agree

[@trudithomas9677]

I live in Florida, I can't seem to get my dragon fruits to grow more than 2 inches high, then they dry up and die.

[@GreenLove1]

@@trudithomas9677 a high percentage of dragon fruit seedlings seem to do that. Of the 20 or so seedlings that I start off with, I might get 2 to grow to size

[@mimi2613]

@trudithomas9677 I live in Florida too.i started mine from seed summer 2023....I kept them in the shade most of the time.i think I started with probably 60 little plants and I would say 30 of them survived. I had to give some of them away because that is way to many...lol....I will say the ones I kind of neglected were the ones that thrived.the ones I babied just died....