When is the best time for foliar feed dragon fruit?

Foliar Feeding after 5 pm (17:00) Philippine time GMT (September 3, 2017)

"One very crucial and important task we do at Maryland is foliar feeding. It's important to take note of the time when is the best time to do this activity. On  Sept 3, 2017 I did document how we did foliar feeding."

Foliar feeding is a way of feeding plants by applying liquid mixed fertilizer directly to their leaves or stems. Plants are able to absorb essential elements through their leaves. The absorption takes place through their stomata and also through their epidermis. Transport is usually faster through the stomata. Read more here.

How stoma looks like: where plants breathe and absorb nutrients. Cool fact!

Did you know?

According to research foliar feeding is four to thirty times more effective in providing nutrients to plants? This type of fertilizer application has been proven effective by farmers many years now. We've been using this method of fertilizer application since we started our dragon fruit nursery. It works.

 The dragon slayer's doing manual feeding. lol

Best time to foliar feed

Dragon fruit plants absorbs nutrients through the stomata. It's open early in the morning before sunrise (till 8am) or after 5pm (onwards) by sunset. Due to multiple tasks at Maryland we opt to schedule foliar feeding after 5pm. Based on our experience it will usually take 2-3 hours for a grower to feed at leasts 50 dragon fruit posts. If we start by 5pm with minimal pruning, we'll end feeding by 8pm. We have the moon , the stars and our headlights as our lighting last time.

Following this foliar schedule will save you water, fertilizer and energy. Water evaporates faster during broad daylight and warm temperatures. Mind you, it's not that practical. Let's work smart!