Using LED Grow Lights for Your Dragon Fruit Plants

LED grow lights are beneficial for the cultivation of dragon fruit plants. By supplementing light at night, LED grow lights are able to trigger flowering and fruiting, extend the growing season, boost the yields, and increase profits. Most importantly, LED grow lights are energy-efficient and cost-effective. They consume less energy and cut down on electricity bills while providing better light quality and a longer lifespan.

LED  plant growth lamps can provide appropriate light and promote growth, which can generally help Fruit 10-15 days ahead of schedule.

Led Plant growth lamps can provide sufficient light to promote plant dry matter accumulation, thereby increasing yield. As a supplementary light, light can be enhanced at any time of the day to always help plants’ photosynthesis. Especially in the winter, the effective lighting time can be extended.

Using LED plant growth lamps can improve the quality and taste.

In actual lighting cases, if the illumination of lighting lamps is high and the irradiation cycle and time are too long, pitaya branches are prone to albinism, which will affect the photosynthesis rate of Pitaya in the unlit period to a certain extent.

Proper lighting can achieve the following purposes:

• ① Light supplement in spring: promote the early differentiation of flower buds, increase the number of flowers in the first two batches, improve the fruit setting rate, and achieve the purpose of early flowering and premature fruit delivery.

• ② Light supplement in rainy season: improve the speed of fruit weight gain and shorten the growth cycle.

• ③ Autumn lighting: improve the growth rate and shorten the reproductive growth cycle.

• ④ Lighting in winter: delay the opening of two more batches of flowers to speed up the growth rate and increase the yield.

LED grow lights can trigger flowering and fruiting

Timing of the floral transition is an essential factor of reproductive success. It can be triggered by environmental factors. The length of daylight varies with the seasons. Dragon fruits are photoperiodic, which means they flower in response to changes in day length or photoperiod.

Generally, dragon fruits produce flowers and bear fruits during the long-day months. Many growers turn on LED lights at night for several hours. LED grow lights provide supplemental light and prolong the “day length” for dragon fruit plants.

Therefore, LED grow lights can trigger flowering and fruiting by controlling the day length, or photoperiod.

LED grow lights can extend the growing season of dragon fruit

The usual dragon fruit season runs when the duration of daylight is 12 hours or more per day. One way to extend the growing season and increase the yield of dragon fruits is to use LED grow lights during the evening. By using LED grow lights, farmers can make the daylight longer and trick the plants into thinking that it is still summer. This technique has been successfully applied by some farmers, who have been able to grow dragon fruits for at least nine months a year by using LED grow lights. They reported that their dragon fruit plants produced more flowers and fruits than before, and that their fruits were bigger and sweeter than those grown without LED lights.

LED grow lights can increase yields and profits

With the optimal spectrum, LED grow lights satisfy the requirements of photosynthesis, perfectly fit the needs of dragon fruit plants. In addition, LED grow lights provide suitable light intensity and light duration, allowing the year-round production of dragon fruit plants. It means growers can yield more fruit in a year. Thanks to sufficient light, dragon fruit plants are able to generate the energy needed for their own growth and bear bigger and sweeter fruits. Growers can reap more profits with higher yields and better fruit quality.

LED grow lights are energy-efficient and cost-effective

You might think other light sources like CFL and HPS can also extend the day length. We don’t have to use LED grow lights. But LED grow lights have many advantages over other types of artificial lighting for growing plants. They are energy-efficient, durable, adjustable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly. LED grow lights can deliver the same light output with less energy consumption. This saves electricity bills and effectively reduces carbon emissions. Meanwhile, LED grow lights have a longer lifespan and lower maintenance costs than other traditional light sources. It means they can last longer without needing replacements. Besides, LEDs generate less heat than other lights. Thus, they can be placed closer to dragon fruit plants without damaging them.

Best practices for using LED grow lights for dragon fruit planting

So, how do you use the LED grow lights for growing dragon fruit plants?

There are two lighting strategies. Both of them light dragon fruit plants at night.

• ① Supplementing LED grow lights for dragon fruit plants from 4pm to 10pm during the winter. Normally, the plants will flower after 20 to 30 days, and bear fruit after another 20 to 25 days.

• ② break up the dark period by supplementing LED grow lights in the middle of the night between 10 pm and 2 am. The night break can induce flowering and allow off-season production. But we should note that LED grow lights are not a magic solution. They also need to be combined with other factors to ensure plant growth and health during winter production.