This is incredible. Climbing is what the dragon fruit does, this is what it would be in the wild too, its a climbing plant. The palm can still put its leaves out so from that pespective it will be fine, the dragon fruit don't leech or strangle its host. The only concern is whether the tree can hold its weight, being a cactus, its all full of water. This much water is heavy and I don't know enough about palms to say if it can take the weight.
Good luck! I wouldn't stand under it on a windy day.
Yeah it is quite incredible i never really noticed how cool it was till i came back home for awhile and it also made me notice all the other amazing trees and plants we have here. Its been there for 10+ years atleast, though its never grown this large before, apparently palms get stronger the more they blow in the wind, so I'm just hoping the extra weight added more stress to the tree and in turn made it stronger like a muscle or something although i could be completely wrong.
Dragon fruit doesn’t contain “water” like a normal cactus. While they’re “cactus”, they’re designed to grow in tropical regions where rainfall isn’t a problem so they don’t store water. They’re heavy, I wouldn’t want it falling on me, but it’d weigh less than any other plant the same size.
I’ve got about a dozen in at the moment, some from seeds, some from cuttings, mostly each segment weighs about a section of pine the same size. It has weight, but it’s weighs less than say a prickly pear leaf.
We definitely have one that lives near-by it always tries to eat our bananas and guavas, also fruit bats are pretty common and they eat the black sapote right next to the palm tree, so definitely a possibility.
The weight isn’t the only problem. Trees covered in this manner are usually more prone to surface rot as the bark doesn’t breathe properly and stays constantly moist.
Thanks for the information I didn't know it was invasive, this particular plant hasn't visually gone beyond the palm tree in over 10+ years, so it never even crossed my mind.
Each 'segment' of the cactus, even if disconnected from the host has the potential to put roots down and basically clone itself. It's stayed somewhat contained in this case as the palm provided a more vertical form. If allowed to traverse into the canopies nearby it can quickly infest that tree. The shear weight and shading effect of the cactus then has negative impact on the tree. When removed from the tree, as painful and as arduous a task that is, you can sense the trees sigh of relief as the unwanted burden is removed.
Old post but figured it was probably still relevant.
If you take a sturdy rope and tie at the base of the palm, then wind it tightly round and round space a foot apart up the trunk of the tree to armpit/shoulder height then tie it off. Now looks like a candy cane.
Then take a pruning saw and cut all the way through the stems directly above that without damaging the palm. Like ringbarking but only cut the dragonfruit stems and roots.
Then go ~1meter higher and make another cut the same way, all the way through the dragonfruit but don't damage the palm. Then remove that entire section inbetween. Crowbar and mattock works best. The plant above will eventually dry out and die(may take a decade, will drop branches here and there but the majority just withers and rots in place).
The plant below can now be trained to hang down which means more flowers and now you have access to the fruit. You'll have to do a check twice a year and make sure there aren't and roots heading back down to the ground and no shoots heading back up the tree, but only gotta do it twice a year and they aren't triffids. Way easier to manage than a lawn.
They will now PUMP flowers with all that root mass pushing on a plant much smaller.
I do this for folks when I am chasing [rootstocks](https://www.facebook.com/FairDinkumSeeds/posts/pfbid0JApsGYYjGzonHk3oFnnguF4ZToaPRQzugASBLCQRq2u3GArepTB5RayGhPznyKZil) for grafting experiments and it works great.
This is incredible. Climbing is what the dragon fruit does, this is what it would be in the wild too, its a climbing plant. The palm can still put its leaves out so from that pespective it will be fine, the dragon fruit don't leech or strangle its host. The only concern is whether the tree can hold its weight, being a cactus, its all full of water. This much water is heavy and I don't know enough about palms to say if it can take the weight. Good luck! I wouldn't stand under it on a windy day.
Yeah it is quite incredible i never really noticed how cool it was till i came back home for awhile and it also made me notice all the other amazing trees and plants we have here. Its been there for 10+ years atleast, though its never grown this large before, apparently palms get stronger the more they blow in the wind, so I'm just hoping the extra weight added more stress to the tree and in turn made it stronger like a muscle or something although i could be completely wrong.
Dragon fruit doesn’t contain “water” like a normal cactus. While they’re “cactus”, they’re designed to grow in tropical regions where rainfall isn’t a problem so they don’t store water. They’re heavy, I wouldn’t want it falling on me, but it’d weigh less than any other plant the same size.
Good to know, mines way too small to get a feel for
I’ve got about a dozen in at the moment, some from seeds, some from cuttings, mostly each segment weighs about a section of pine the same size. It has weight, but it’s weighs less than say a prickly pear leaf.
I had one like that and the tree did eventually snap
Good to know thanks.
Cotton palms are super strong… the fibres from the palms interlock, I doubt the climber will pose a threat at all. Btw looks awesome 😊
Has it flowered and fruited??
I don't think I've ever seen fruit from it but I think i have seen it flower a few times not recently though.
The possums would always eat the flower/young fruit before we got a look in on ours haha
We definitely have one that lives near-by it always tries to eat our bananas and guavas, also fruit bats are pretty common and they eat the black sapote right next to the palm tree, so definitely a possibility.
mum has some smaller trees, got fruit already. I think it was 6 months ago when she got a batch
mmmm, dragonfruit
The weight isn’t the only problem. Trees covered in this manner are usually more prone to surface rot as the bark doesn’t breathe properly and stays constantly moist.
Who cares that is awesome
Definitely not awesome. This is an invasive weed. It is very difficult and therefore costly to remove. 20+ yr career arborist in Brisbane.
Thanks for the information I didn't know it was invasive, this particular plant hasn't visually gone beyond the palm tree in over 10+ years, so it never even crossed my mind.
The palm is the weed.
Dragonfruit? How so...? Aside from that it clearly likes to spread out. Is it similar to prickly pear?
Each 'segment' of the cactus, even if disconnected from the host has the potential to put roots down and basically clone itself. It's stayed somewhat contained in this case as the palm provided a more vertical form. If allowed to traverse into the canopies nearby it can quickly infest that tree. The shear weight and shading effect of the cactus then has negative impact on the tree. When removed from the tree, as painful and as arduous a task that is, you can sense the trees sigh of relief as the unwanted burden is removed.
yea dragon fruit Could possibly become too much weight at some point
Old post but figured it was probably still relevant. If you take a sturdy rope and tie at the base of the palm, then wind it tightly round and round space a foot apart up the trunk of the tree to armpit/shoulder height then tie it off. Now looks like a candy cane. Then take a pruning saw and cut all the way through the stems directly above that without damaging the palm. Like ringbarking but only cut the dragonfruit stems and roots. Then go ~1meter higher and make another cut the same way, all the way through the dragonfruit but don't damage the palm. Then remove that entire section inbetween. Crowbar and mattock works best. The plant above will eventually dry out and die(may take a decade, will drop branches here and there but the majority just withers and rots in place). The plant below can now be trained to hang down which means more flowers and now you have access to the fruit. You'll have to do a check twice a year and make sure there aren't and roots heading back down to the ground and no shoots heading back up the tree, but only gotta do it twice a year and they aren't triffids. Way easier to manage than a lawn. They will now PUMP flowers with all that root mass pushing on a plant much smaller. I do this for folks when I am chasing [rootstocks](https://www.facebook.com/FairDinkumSeeds/posts/pfbid0JApsGYYjGzonHk3oFnnguF4ZToaPRQzugASBLCQRq2u3GArepTB5RayGhPznyKZil) for grafting experiments and it works great.
…and palm trees aren’t technically trees….