FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all,

I’m trying out a plant in the office. This happens because it’s popular to have a small plant growing in the office to sometimes take the stress away from too much work
Among some DIY office table plants, 1 caught my attention was this Pitaya bonsai. I don’t know if this is the right name but in general. It is a Dragon Fruit plant. YES! These actually grow very big and bear fruits! So why am I trying to grow this on my office table?! Well after some research. It was proven that this plant, under some stress, will grow very very slowly and very little maintenance is required (light / water). So I’m going to experiment this in my office.

There is a few species of Dragon Fruit plant, I think the one I’ve collected the seeds while eating this morning was Pitahaya Roja, Hylocereus costaricensis. Basically this is how I’m going to start.

1. Collect the Seed off a fruit while eating
2. Find a very small and cute pot with drainage holes to water via water tray when required
3. Add soil medium, one that has a good drainage (prevent root rot) and no minerals/fertilizers (control the plant growth)
4. sow the seeds on top
5. leave it to germinate (few days to 2 weeks)
6. Water every 2 or 4 weeks with water tray and pour away water after 30 minutes (intervals depend on how fast the environment dries the soil)
7. Plant should grow very very slowly and looks very cute and neat

Since you expect the plant to grow slow and tiny, a small pot like a coffee mug size will do good. The soil should not contain any minerals or fertilizer like that for CPs so this plant will grow very very slowly, probably over 2 years or more. I read somewhere that coconut coir is used and proven very good result. Since this plant is a type of cactus, very little water is required, so watering every 2 or 4 weeks using water tray method is good enough. 2 weeks for drier area and 4 weeks for very humid area.


Let's try to have fun! Asl me anything and I'll try to answer if I know. This is my first experiment

What I've found in the internet

Very cool idea and experiment! I hope to see updates as things progress

tish, i will post my adult plant photo.

hey cool, i just started seeds about a month ago, and i bought a cutting as well, hope for the best in theses cool tropical cactus!

Matt wrote:Very cool idea and experiment! I hope to see updates as things progress

Thanks Matt. I got the stuff ready and should start anytime

roarke wrote:tish, i will post my adult plant photo.

Great! What specie is yours? have you tried eating it?

Robster_24 wrote:hey cool, i just started seeds about a month ago, and i bought a cutting as well, hope for the best in theses cool tropical cactus!

Any luck germinating ? I have not read enough to know about them yet. Just enough to know how to start 1 in my office

Right, as i mentioned i'll post some pictures.

What I did getting the seeds out is a slow process. after removing the seeds via a small scoup/spoon. The fruit fibre is very sticky. You need to carefully remove if you want. or just leave it if you are going to sow the seeds soon . i just prefer mine clean and dry soi could keep some. I use many tissue papers to clean the seeds over but the fibre seems reluctant to come off completely. I put in a small fibre tea bag and wash it in running water so the seeds stays. Finally got the sticky fibre removed. I dried the seeds on a kitchen tower and kept them.




These seeds resembles the Dionaea muscipula, but just slightly bigger.




I found a pretty pot from a local Diaso $2 shop. Its a small mug size with 1 drainage hole. So I covered the hole with a fibre sheet we use for dry sweeping. That will prevent most of the soil from coming out.




I was quite impatient, I can't find coconut coir nearby and I thought it'll take me much effort to mix the coir in peat moss. So I used what i had a home, here's a mixture of approx 65:35 Perlite : peat moss. I think the drainage will be good enough, keeping my fingers crossed.




I soak the pot in water for almost an hour while I kept it under my table CFL lamp for heat. Now, is the waiting game.

After seeing your pictures of the cute plants, I bought a dragon fruit and planted some seeds today too thanks for the inspiration!

How much it cost, a fruit ?

Illuminatiroxas wrote:After seeing your pictures of the cute plants, I bought a dragon fruit and planted some seeds today too thanks for the inspiration!

Post the result! glad to inspired some of you. I really wish my experiment works.

roarke wrote:How much it cost, a fruit ?

For me in Singapore, I bought a slice for USD$0.50, probably cost USD$2.00 in a super market.

Very cute pot Tish! I've been wanting to buy a small dragon fruit plant for awhile but I haven't because i have bad luck with cactus type plants :c lol, I tend to worry they don't have enough water. I feel inspired as well to try this out ^-^ Just have to find somewhere that sells the fruit and a cute pot :]

Zombie_walker wrote:Very cute pot Tish! I've been wanting to buy a small dragon fruit plant for awhile but I haven't because i have bad luck with cactus type plants :c lol, I tend to worry they don't have enough water. I feel inspired as well to try this out ^-^ Just have to find somewhere that sells the fruit and a cute pot :]

Since it's DIY, should be relatively cheap. You should go ahead and try:)

But maybe water once a week for a start, since this is still experiment stage. I was thinking for peat moss, 2 - 4 weeks watering interval might be too long. As the usage of original coconut coir or coconut peat has better water retention.

Dragon fruit is delicious... I wish you the utmost success with this!

Thank you Grey. Although I wont grow them to fruiting size to eat them. Coz this pot is meant as decoration on the office table Still, Thanks for the wishes

I have a bunch of small plants of H. undatus that I, too, grew from a fruit. They are EXTREMELY easy to sprout. Mine took about 3 days for more than 1/2 of them to sprout!

bananaman wrote:I have a bunch of small plants of H. undatus that I, too, grew from a fruit. They are EXTREMELY easy to sprout. Mine took about 3 days for more than 1/2 of them to sprout!

Thanks for the tip Bananaman, what soil do you use, was it for normal plant size grow or for decoration?

I left the pot in my office when it was 2 days ago. Hope to see germinations when i go back to office in another 36 hours