11/4/2020 Pitahaya or Dragon Fruit —A New, Water Efficient Crop for Southern California Farmers - Small Farm News

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Pitahaya or Dragon Fruit —A New, Water Efficient Crop for Southern

California Farmers
Author: Shermain Hardesty Published on: September 10, 20

Declining profits from most agricultural crops grown combined with increasing
restrictions on water use have forced many Southern California farmers to look for more
water efficient and profitable crop alternatives to diversify their farming operations.
Pitahaya or Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus spp.) meets these requirements and has emerged
as a viable crop alternative with great profit potential for small-scale agricultural
producers in the region.

Pitahaya is a vining cactus that adapts very well to arid southern California micro-
climates and can survive with minimal amounts of water. Its fruit is highly prized by
Southeast Asian consumers not only as a fresh fruit but also for its cultural importance.
However, market trends and increasing demand for new, exotic and more nutritious
fruits have increased the appeal of this fruit among mainstream American consumers
and the demand currently exceeds the domestic supply.

Most pitahaya consumed in the US has been

traditionally imported from Southeast Asia
with limited domestic production from
Florida and California. However, most of this fruit has been from white-fleshed cultivars of Asian origin,
which rarely met consumers' flavor expectations based on the fruit's exotic appearance.

Recognizing that more research-based information and tastier, more colorful varieties were needed to
increase consumer demand and to help growers capitalize on this opportunity, UCCE Small Farm Advisor
Ramiro Lobo initiated a pitahaya research and extension program with seed money from the former UC
Small Farm Program. Subsequent grants from UC-ANR and from the UC Hansen Trust have allowed
Farm Advisor Lobo to expand the geographic scope of this program into Riverside and Ventura Counties
in collaboration with Jose Fernandez de Soto, Jose Aguiar, other Advisors and Specialists from UC Davis
and UC Riverside and private growers and suppliers.

Research efforts to date have focused on the evaluation of pitahaya cultivars for adaptation to local
micro-climates, the genetic characterization of a pitahaya germplasm collection, pest and disease
management, irrigation and fertility management and post harvest management information. This
research has demonstrated that pitahaya or dragon fruit adapts very well to field grown conditions in
Southern California and that this drought-tolerant plant can be a profitable crop alternative for small-
scale producers in Southern Coastal California.

Pitahaya production seminar and research field days are scheduled for Ventura County on
September 29, 2015 and Riverside County on September 30th

If you are interested in learning more about pitahaya, you may want to attend one of these upcoming events. The Field Day in Ventura County will
begin with a tour of field research trials at MVP Farms in Fillmore, followed by

presentations, lunch and pitahaya fruit and ice cream tasting at the UC Hansen
Agricultural Center in Santa Paula. Field discussion and presentations will focus on
varieties, irrigation system design and requirements, fertility management, trellising
systems, pest and disease prevention and management, insect pest management,
nematode management and pitahaya establishment coast and marketing considerations.
You may register online or download the agenda and more details for the upcoming field
day in Santa Paula at:

http://ucanr.edu/pitahayafielday-ventura

A shorter program in Indio, Riverside County will be presented on Wednesday,

September 30 beginning at 10:30AM. To register for this event, contact Wendy Smith at
760 342 6437 or wensmith@ucanr.edu.

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11/4/2020 Pitahaya or Dragon Fruit —A New, Water Efficient Crop for Southern California Farmers - Small Farm News - ANR Blogs

Tags: pitahaya (1), Ramiro Lobo (2)

Comments: 9

Comments:

by Hilario
on October 10, 2015 at 10:42 PM
Hola Ramiro

Muy interesante el cultivo de pitaya en California ahora. yo tengo la curiosidad de donde trajeron la semilla? porque yo soy parte de la region mixteca Oax., yo se que
la pitaya se produce en esta tierra arida. Lastima que en Mexico es tan facil realizer un projecto de production por muchas circunstancias. Sin embargo yo estoy
produciendo aca en Alaska solo en verano corto, local y venda de verduras. y en el invierno estoy triste, esperando el calor del sol. Me parece que la UC esta muy
cerca de la gente que quieren sembrar, eso es magnifico.

Gracias por su informacion si me animo trabajar.

by Julie Cates
on December 30, 2015 at 6:32 AM
Thank you for this great article and your research efforts. Looking forward to sharing this nutritious fruit in the classroom !

by Pamela
on October 1, 2016 at 12:53 PM
Hi Wendy,

I missed your program by a day! Would you please give me more information and calendar of future events? Thank you so much!

by Arthur Galarza
on February 25, 2017 at 8:37 PM
Do you know of any Pitahaya producers in South San Diego County?
I own land in Campo, and would like to plant an acre of Pitahaya as a test, and perhaps another acre of Nopales cactus for local production aimed at the San Diego
Market.
Thank you very much in advance for your help.

by Thad Guidry
on May 5, 2017 at 2:13 AM
We really need to get a complete picture of Nutritional data for Hylocereus costaricensis which is Red skin/ Red pulp and highly favored in China and Asia where I am
vacationing now and tasting the deep red purplish pulp inside that tastes slight blackberry and plum with a ton of seeds. Interestingly this variety that I bought locally
has slightly more layers than Bien Hoa but less than Lisa. Its called Fire Dragon Fruit by locals. A bit different than all other varieties I have tasted prior. I am harvesting
seeds as I eat. :)

by Stuart Riddle
on June 25, 2017 at 2:06 PM
Has an evaluation been made at Cal Poly Pomona?

I was a student there under Prof. Dan Hostedler(sp?).

by Lisa Langner
on August 16, 2017 at 10:14 AM
Hello,
I am interested in growing dragon fruit as a commercial venture in Prunedale, CA (central coast) and am trying to find out as much as possible about growing the fruit
as well as how much land/plants are required to generate a profit.
Thank you,
Lisa

by Mati B. Pagtakhan
on May 25, 2020 at 10:53 PM
Pitahaya needs exposure to sun to produce fruits. Since Southern California is in latitude 30 up, the sun exposure will be a few degrees before the summer solstice at
23.5 degree latitude. The fruiting could be just two or three batches against its tropical counterpart of about 10 fruiting batches. I guess inducement starts 2nd week of
June, with signs of flowers first or second week of July, blooms first week of August and fruit at first week of September. Maybe two batches at most because the sun
immediately returns to the equator for the autumnal equinox.

by Susan Green

https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=18929 2/3
11/4/2020 Pitahaya or Dragon Fruit —A New, Water Efficient Crop for Southern California Farmers - Small Farm News - ANR Blogs
on August 22, 2020 at 1:07 PM
My son and I have about 7 pitaya plants, 2 of which produce flowers, but even being given pollen from another type, & fertizing them, we have not had any luck getting
fruit. We are in Santa Barbara and would love to visit anyone who can give us some more information to know what we are doing wrong. Ours are in the ground(mostly
clay) and are water about 2 0r 3x a week. We are not fertilizing since we don't know what to use.

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