In February 2025, a bus of happy members were excited to visit the Rare Dragon fruit Farm near Agnes Water. Owner Yana, gave her video presentation on dragon fruit, which covered all the basic information from how to propagate, when to propagate, how long between flowering and fruiting, fertilising, watering, etc. Here are a few interesting facts:

1) It takes about 30 days for a flower to form from a bud (which starts at one of the spines) and another 30 days for the fruit to form and ripen - that all depends, of course, if the flower been successfully pollinated. Mike said that, despite some of the fruit being self- fertile, it is better to get a small brush and move pollen from one flower to the next to give you a better chance of getting your flower pollinated and hence getting fruit. Also, dragon fruit do not ripen once they are picked, so make sure you pick them when they are ripe.

2) Pole height: Mike said that the poles only needed to be about shoulder height. This makes the fruit easier to access.

3) Fertiliser: Mike also said they fertilise their plants with a bucket of organic fertiliser every 2 weeks and also foliar fertilise, particularly the stems. He commented that these are rainforest plants and they so like to be watered and fertilised.