3 Months ago I bought a Dragon Fruit plant at a local green house. It has since grown to be one of my favorite plants that I own (as well as the largest). Throughout the summer I have had it outside in full sun / slight shade. Now that the temperatures are dropping I need to bring it inside for the winter. This is where I would like some advice. If you look at the picture of when I bought it, it wasn't trained on a trellis, so I re-potted it and installed a trellis myself. Last week I cut off three of the horizontal growths and I will cut off the remaining three this week, since I am training the plant to grow up and hang over the top of the trellis, not grow horizontally. I don't do much to it as far as watering besides watering it when it doesn't rain for a few days. If it is raining for a few days in a row, I bring it inside to prevent mold and rot, which I had a problem with one time. Lastly, I fertilize it with a balanced fertilizer once every couple weeks.

My questions are: (1) Does everything above sound like I am handling the plant correctly? (2) Before I move it inside, should I use a pesticide to make sure no critters living in the soil are brought inside? If so, what kind is recommended, I don't want to harm the plant in the process. (3) Looking at the pictures below, what are the small orange dots on the plant? I just noticed these this week. (4) Looking at the pictures below, what is the brown stuff covering the plant near the base? It has been on the plant for a long time and doesn't seem to harm it, but just curious.

Thanks!

Picture of the plant when I initially bought it:

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Picture of the plant taken this week:

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Pictures of the orange spots:

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Picture of the brown covering:

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