Dragon Fruit in Florida

[gnappi]

I just bought two DF (an American beauty and a yellow) but before buying them I read up on their soil requirements, so I prepped two spots (that would have done nicely for cactus, I have really sandy Florida soil) by amending the soil with organic matter, compost etc. and when the rooted cuttings get a bit larger I'm going to put them in the ground.

So, I do not want the typical (IMO unsightly) 4x4 post supported structures many build for them instead I have a matrix of steel trellis setup for them to climb on. My questions are:

Regarding the pics I see where people wrap the support structure with some type of burlap cloth... is it necessary for DF?

I have approximately 60 sq feet of trellis (4 x 15 sq ft panels) and room to expand if needed. Can they be contained in this much space?

Finally any advice for a novice DF aficionado from anyone here from south Florida would be greatly appreciated.

Oh... one more, why is it that there's so little chat about DF on this forum?

[7george]

If DF means "Dragon fruit", you should know that this is just one of the names of this cacti genus. Look for Hylocereus or pitaya.

[esp_imaging]

Oh... one more, why is it that there's so little chat about DF on this forum?

Dragon fruit do come up from time to time, but many of us live in locations where their cultivation isn't really an option.
Plus there are hundreds of other cacti to talk about, and lots of succulents too.

[greenknight]

From what I've read, they can be pruned heavily, there shouldn't be any problem maintaining them at that size. They're said to be easy to grow, and adaptable to many different styles of training.

Wrapping the trellis in burlap is clearly not a requirement, since I found many pictures of them being grown without that. I imagine that's done as a labor-saving method - the air roots of the cacti would grow into the burlap and anchor the stems to the trellis, eliminating the need to tie them to it.