I would encourage you to look at pics of mature plants cultivated for the harvest of their fruits. "Dragon fruit farm." They are very large plants strapped to poles, with tons of branches.

In my zone these are hardy and planted in the ground in many home gardens. They are left to do their own thing scrambling over fences and all the way up trees if not managed. They fruit abundantly. But as Tiffany says commercially they're usually grown on poles. Several cuttings are usually planted sorrounding a post or pole. Each cutting is allowed to grow just one lead up that post. At the top of the post they're all allowed to branch out and weep down creating a weeping topiary effect and keeping the vines neat and the fruit easy to harvest.

Tiffany, purpleinopp Z8b Opp, AL , Florida_Joes , I had seen people just keep one lead up on each cutting at the bottom. I wonder why do they do that. if pest attacks the bottom stems, the whole plant will be destroyed right? but, I grow mine at a balcony. I have to grow it in a pot no bigger than 60cm (23.6in) by diameter. so, I have to manage the size of the plant as well.

I wonder if I can keep all 4 cutting in one pot.

Joe &Tiffany already pointed out these are huge plants, so keeping 4 in same pot could be really too big - unless you have lots of room on your balcony. Otherwise, you should probably constantly keep pruning them to control the size. New offshoots seems to be growing since main plant/stem has been cut - that is normal for most plants. And this one grows naturally lots of 'arms' as Tiffany already suggested.

If you intend to growing it for fruit, plant needs to grow mature, have a lot of warmth and sunlight. You didn't say what part of world you are in...

There really shouldn't be any pests - I had one for almost 5 yrs, no pest at all. But I got rid of it since it was getting too large (I have garden, but plants have to come indoors for winter in my zone).

In another post you said you live in London, UK. In which case I would leave your plant entirely alone and concentrate on getting it through the winter. It will need to come indoors, as was advised on the other thread.

They can be grown to fruiting size in 15 gallon containers, but they do require staking.

lgteacher , for how many cuttings in one 15 gallon container?

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK , I just move it indoor today since the temperature drop below 10C sometimes at night.

rina_Ontario,Canada , I live at London, UK. I do want them to grow fruits. but I will see how well they do. I can give them artificial light if they need. I had think about to grow 2 cuttings in one pot. but I end up buying more. cause my home really has a lot crazy pests. not joking, my home is a well known restaurant for the pest who live around. my dragon fruit plant has been attacked 2 time within 2 months. the first time is the tip of a young stem been bite off, the second time I found a big bite on the side of a large stem. and those guilty pests are still remain unknown. I am still trying to find out who did those.

I think that is going to be a problem: they need long period or hot temps and lots of sunlight to bear fruit. I doubt that it is possible in London, unless you have heated greenhouse. They are tropical fruit. But good luck anyway...

I have one in a 5 gal pot and it's fruited for me - they do not have big root systems. Another is in the ground and has never fruited. Under the right conditions, a relatively small plant can blossom and produce fruit. One of my neighbors has a 4' high single stick and it fruited, but many people think that it generally requires a bigger plant.

I don't get long hot periods (but maybe "hot" is relative), and I still get fruit, but it took my plant five or six years before it fruited. They do need to be staked constantly and are very difficult to rearrange when the arms are long. I wish someone would help me rearrange mine. I also have several stalks that have broken off, but they are still putting out roots, and so maybe I'll try to plant them in the ground. I do not consider them an indoor plant, but 5°C will not hurt them at all. Mine is blooming now, but in the past it has bloomed in August.

Lars/J. Robert Scott , where is the location of your plant? do you leave it outdoor all year round? I don't understand how long arms will make it difficult to rearrange. Cause mine haven't grow that big yet. It's difficult to imagine. Do you have a picture of yours?

My plant is in my back yard, on the SW corner, more or less. Here are some photos I took tonight while trying to pollinate it:

ETA: I stayed up until 10:18 PM - I think this is late enough. I did see some small bits of pollen, and so I may have been successful.

These photos were taken without a flash (it would not go off for some reason), and I may have some better pictures of it taken during the day. The light is from an outdoor spotlight that I guess the camera thought was bright enough.

Lars, I think the OPs is asking where your plant is geographically, not specifically where it is on your property. And ‘hot’ is definitely relative. I don’t know his or her history but I get the feeling that, although living in London, s/he is not very familiar with the climate there. It is a cool maritime climate in a northern latitude and is highly unlikely to produce dragon fruit outside of a heated greenhouse with additional lighting. This year we had what is considered a heatwave with the hottest summer since records began. There were warnings in the press to prepare ourselves for blowtorch temperatures. Can you guess what those were? We were being told to stay indoors and carry water at all times..... because the temperature might go above ..... .85. And the average winter temperature in London is in the 40s. Sunshine averages about 3 - 4 hours a day in winter. Rainfall is spread pretty evenly all year round and It rains on roughly half the days in winter. Dragon fruit plants might just about survive but they will not thrive and they are extremely unlikely to fruit. Worrying about pruning and training are not the OPs main problem. Getting the thing to stay alive is the challenge. Getting a peach to fruit is difficult, let alone a tropical cactus.

Geographically, my plant is in coastal Los Angeles, less than three miles from the ocean. Climate here varies greatly as you get further from the beach, and I am close enough to get the coastal influence that keeps the summers from getting too hot and also keeps the winters from ever having frost. It's not tropical - it's very similar to the climate in South Africa. I'm not that familiar with the climate in London - but from what I've heard, it is also very mild. However, I do know that I get a lot more sun in the winter than London does, even though winter is our rainy season. It does not get below 40°F where I live, mean temperature in January is 58°F.

I would think that anyone growing a dragon fruit plant would want to get fruit from it, as it is quite delicious. That's the only reason I am growing it. You can only see the flowers at night and early the next morning, and so that's not much of a reason.

And yes, my plant stays outdoors all year - it is extremely difficult to move once it gets to a certain size, and as I said before, the arms get brittle and break easily when they are very long.

Lars/J. Robert Scott , thanks for the detail. at the past 5 years, winter at London usually stay between 37F to 41F at night and will be around 50F at the middle of the day. there will be a few days of temperature drop to 30F. but it never drop lower than 27F. there will be frost once or twice at a winter. beside this summer, the London sunlight was never burning hot. But it's bright enough to make your eyes uncomfortable. I do not know if that will be enough to grow dragon fruit. Do you think if I can use heat and grow light somehow to create a better environment for the dragon fruit?

I have heard a lot method of how to grow dragon fruit plant. So, I got a big confuse of what to do now. some people grow it on ground at outdoor. some people move it indoor at winter. some people said let it stay cool at winter to it will bear fruit the next year.

Here's some info on dragon fruit. If you can protect it against cold in the winter, you are better off growing it outdoors. You would need to protect it whenever you are going to have a frost, but a cool (not cold) winter would not kill it unless you have a killing frost or a frost that lasts all day. It does not require excessive heat, and extreme heat can damage it. I had my plant for five years before I got fruit, however, and so do not expect fruit in the second year.

Ms houhouland, I’ve tried to help based on my experience as someone who lives in the UK and is very familiar with conditions in London. (Both my kids live there). In my opinion you will not succeed in producing dragon fruit in the UK if you leave your plant outside and are highly unlikely to manage it even if you bring it inside in winter. We just don’t have enough sun or warmth. Information on the web is almost all from people in different climates from ours. I can’t find any UK specific info from anyone who has got actual fruit, even if they’ve kept the plants alive. There’s a reason for that. London is a world away from LA in climate terms.

Floral, it may still be worth the effort. I've succesfully grown many things that I was told wouldn't survive in my situation. Everyone told me lavender won't grow in Florida yet my outdoor potted lavender has been growing well for two years now. I recently propagated it. Also my Camellia thrived and bloomed spectacularly indoors every winter for five years before I moved and had to give it away. Everyone had told me it would never survive as a house plant.

It all depends on how you want it to grow. Since it's inside now I would leave it until March or so and do a good prune then. The new growth with get very spindly over winter and will not return to normal growth until April-May because of the lack of sun. I grow mine as umbrella form and does well. It takes up to 5-8 years for fruit outside less then ideal climates.

Matt z5b GH 9b, what did you do with the new grow at winter? do you cut them or they will grow better during summer?

I am thinking about to use grow light at winter.

@mr houhouland, I pretty much let mine go dormant over winter and by Feb it starts to grow again and those new shots get pruned off in late April-early May.

Here is one of them taken back in July.