The red pitaya bears large pink, red or mauve fruits. Each weighs around 150-600g and contains many, small edible seeds. The pulp varies from white to various shades of red. The fruit is covered with many small clusters of spines, which can be brushed off the fully ripe fruit. It is commercially grown in Colombia.
Fruit is harvested when changing colour and can hold for at least a week.
Some pests and diseases have been recorded on pitaya. Problems in Australia are most likely to involve birds, possums, rats or bats feeding on the fruit. Observations in Australia have indicated similar effects to those caused in Central America by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris , causing rot in the stem flesh, leaving the main veins intact. As well as local insect attack, the fungus Dothiorella, causes brown spots on the fruit in Nicaragua. Hylocereus has also become popular in ornamental production in greenhouses in Europe and the United States as rootstock for other, slower growing ornamental cacti.