How to Plant Loquat Trees
Article Abstract: An explanation of how to plant loquat trees and the management of loquat trees in the field of green plants and flowers, the editor will introduce the following.
The taste of loquat is delicious, containing various fructose, glucose, iron, calcium, and vitamins A, B, and C and other nutrients. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that loquat fruit has the effects of moistening the lungs, relieving cough, and quenching thirst, and can be eaten by most people. When eating loquat, be sure to peel it. In addition to being eaten fresh, loquat can also be made into syrup cans, or used for winemaking. "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that "loquat can moisten the five internal organs, nourish the heart and lungs." The whole loquat is a treasure, in addition to the fruit, loquat flowers, loquat seeds and so on all have their own effects. Loquat is a subtropical evergreen fruit tree, which is more cold-resistant than citrus, and can be planted in areas with an average annual temperature of 12°C-15°C or above, winter temperature not lower than -6°C, and annual rainfall of more than 1000mm.
Establishment of orchard
1. Selection of orchard land: Firstly, it is necessary to choose a place with convenient transportation to build the orchard. Loquat has strong adaptability to the soil, but still prefers deep and fertile soil with a pH value of about 6-6.5.
2. Orchard soil improvement: Due to the shallow distribution of loquat roots, weak expansion force, and poor wind resistance, we must carry out deep soil improvement or trenching and green manuring or large pit green manuring, and plant seedlings in trenches or large pits (soil layer less than 50cm should be blasted for soil improvement). Every year, expand the pits outward and deep-fry the green manure to improve soil permeability and fertility, lead roots to penetrate into the soil, enhance root growth, expand root group distribution, make the plants grow strong, and increase wind resistance. For flat land or clay soil, every 2-4 rows should open a drainage ditch with a width of 40cm and a depth of 50-60cm.
3. Seedling planting
① Planting time: In colder winter areas, loquat should be planted in spring to avoid frost damage. Most areas in the south have warm winters and can be planted from September to the following March, with October to November being the best time.
② Seedling treatment: Before planting, seedlings must be soaked in bactericides such as carbendazim for 15-30 minutes, soaking the seedlings above the grafting point for 10cm or more, which is one of the key measures to improve the survival rate. Planting with mud slurry. Loquat has large leaves and large evaporation, so 1/2-2/3 of all leaves should be cut when planting, and all tender shoots should be cut off. Spray water on the leaf surface 3-4 times a day.
③ Planting density: For low-density early fruit orchards, several planting methods can be used, such as planting 13 meters or 1.52 meters (222 plants) and 23 meters (111 plants per mu).
④ Planting method: When planting, the roots should be evenly distributed, layered into the soil, just covering the root neck, and the root neck part should be 10-20cm higher than the surrounding ground. Then build a soil embankment around the plant, water the root water inside the embankment, 20-25kg per plant, must be watered enough, which is the key to improve the survival rate of seedlings. After the water penetrates into the soil, cover it with a layer of fine soil, and finally cover the tree tray with a range of 1 square meter with film to maintain soil moisture and increase soil temperature. Continue watering if it is dry for a long time after planting.
Fertilization management
Loquat is an evergreen fruit tree with lush leaves and abundant flowers, which requires more fertilizer than deciduous fruit trees. Nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium should be used in combination. Young trees mainly use nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers, while adult trees are combined with potassium fertilizers. The timing of fertilization must be determined in combination with the growth of branches and roots. Loquat has 4 growth peaks in a year, mainly: spring shoots (February to April), summer shoots (May to June), autumn shoots (August to September), and winter shoots (November to December), with spring, summer, and autumn shoots being the main ones. The root activity of loquat has an obvious alternating phenomenon with the growth of the above-ground branches and leaves. Generally, the roots grow 2 weeks earlier than the branches and leaves, with 3-4 growth peaks in a year, from the end of January to the beginning of March as the first time, with the largest growth, from mid-May to mid-June as the second time, from mid-August to September as the third time, and from October to the end of November as the fourth time. In combination with the characteristics of root and branch growth, adult orchards generally need to apply fertilizer 3 times a year.
1. The first time to apply spring shoot fertilizer, in the middle and second ten days of February, at this time the roots are in the first growth peak, convenient to absorb nutrients, mainly to promote the growth of spring shoots and enlarge fruits. Since spring shoots can become the fruiting branches of the year and the base branches of summer and autumn shoots, this time of fertilization is relatively important, accounting for about 30% of the whole year, mainly using quick-acting fertilizer, potassium fertilizer is also applied at this time to promote the expansion of young fruits. Per acre can be applied with 30kg of urea, 15kg of superphosphate (phosphorus fertilizer), 30kg of potassium sulfate (potassium fertilizer), and about 1000kg of human and animal manure water.
2. The second time to apply summer shoot fertilizer, from mid-May to early June after fruit picking (late-maturing varieties before fruit picking). At this time, it is the second growth peak of the roots, mainly to promote the growth of summer shoots and promote the differentiation of flower buds in July to August. Since summer shoots sprout more and more neatly, and most of them can form fruiting mother branches in the year, promoting the growth of summer shoots is the main measure to ensure annual high yield, so this time of fertilization is relatively large, accounting for about 50% of the whole year, using quick-acting chemical fertilizer combined with organic fertilizer, all phosphorus fertilizer is applied (which is conducive to flower bud differentiation). Generally, per acre can be applied with 100kg of urea, 30kg of phosphorus fertilizer (superphosphate), and 2000-3000kg of organic fertilizer.
4. The third time to apply autumn fertilizer or pre-flowering fertilizer, from September to early October, applied after heading and before flowering, accounting for about 20% of the whole year, mainly to promote good flowering, improve fruit setting and increase cold resistance and wintering ability, mainly using slow-release fertilizer, per acre can be applied with 10kg of urea and 1000-1500kg of organic fertilizer.
5. Fertilization of young trees adopts the principle of thin application and frequent application. From the survival of planting to germination, the first fertilizer is applied, mainly using quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer and quick-acting phosphorus fertilizer and clear manure. Then, fertilize once a month until October. The first time, apply 2.5kg of urea, 5kg of superphosphate, and 250kg of clear manure per acre, and then increase every month. In the second year, fertilize once in February, April, June, August, and October. After the seedlings are planted and survive and sprout in the spring, spray phosphorus dihydrogen potassium with YunDa 120 or YunTaijin, plus fungicides and insecticides for pests and diseases once every 10 days or so in April to May, spray 4-5 times continuously, this technical measure is extremely crucial for improving the survival rate of seedlings.
Orchard management
1. Orchard intercropping: Young loquat orchards can be intercropped with leguminous crops, vegetables, strawberries, etc. But it is best to plant green manure, which can be cut down and covered on the tree tray from April to August. Adult orchards can cover the tree tray with weeds or crop stalks from April to September, and press them into the orchard when fertilizing or expanding the pits and improving the soil in autumn, which can not only fertilize the soil, but also keep the soil moist in summer, reduce soil temperature, and be beneficial to plant growth. In winter, plow the whole orchard once, with a depth of 10-20cm.
2. Orchard deep turning: For orchards with trenching soil improvement and large pit planting, it is necessary to expand the pits and deep turn in autumn and press in weeds, stalks, phosphorus fertilizer, etc. It should be turned over the whole orchard in 3-5 years. It is beneficial to guide the roots to grow downward and increase the ability to absorb fertilizer.
3. Drainage and irrigation: If it rains too much during the fruit ripening period of loquat, it is easy to cause poor coloring and cracking of fruits. Therefore, in rainy areas, attention should be paid to drainage. During the spring drought, it is the development period of young fruits (March to April), and appropriate irrigation should be carried out. Drought in summer has a serious impact on flower bud differentiation and the growth and development of flower spikes, especially in August and September, irrigation should be carried out when the weather is dry.
How to plant loquat trees
Shaping and pruning
Shaping and pruning are the key to the success or failure of dense loquat orchards, and it is the most important link in technology.
1. Shaping
Loquat branching has obvious regularity, the growth potential of the terminal bud is strong, the axillary bud is small and not obvious, the growth potential is weak, the terminal bud and several nearby axillary buds sprout branches and leaves, and the axillary buds below become latent buds. The terminal bud extends upward as the central branch, and the axillary bud extends outward as the lateral branch. Therefore, the central stem of loquat is very obvious, and the tree body shows obvious stratification. In order to adapt to this characteristic, dense orchards often adopt small crown main stem stratified shape (3*2 meters), fan shape (2*1.5 meters). The shaping methods are as follows:
① Small crown main stem stratified shape: evolved from the main stem stratified, this tree shape has high yield and large load, suitable for loquat dense orchards with a row spacing of 3*2 meters (111 plants per mu). The trunk height is 30-40cm, the first layer has 4 main branches with an angle of 60-70 degrees with the central stem, the second layer has 3 main branches with an angle of 45 degrees with the central stem. The third layer has 2 main branches with an angle of 30 degrees with the central stem. It takes 3-4 years to complete the shaping, and the tree height is about 2.5 meters after forming, and then as the tree age increases, the top should be cut and the number of main branches should be reduced. The shaping method is as follows: select seedlings with a height of 30-40cm for planting, no pruning after planting, wait for the terminal bud and lateral bud (axillary bud) to sprout, let the terminal bud grow naturally upward, select 4 lateral bud branches as the first layer of main branches, extending in 4 directions, so that they form an angle of 70 degrees with the central stem (can be fixed with bamboo poles), twist the remaining branches and cut them flat to promote flowering when the branches and leaves stop growing in mid-July. For the lateral branches sprouted from the central stem for the second time, if they are within 40cm from the first layer, twist them at 30cm, if the branching distance from the first layer is more than 40cm, select them as the second layer of main branches, forming an angle of 50-60 degrees with the central stem, select the third and fourth layer of main branches (forming an angle of 30-45 degrees with the central stem) according to the same method. After the fourth layer of main branches is left, cut off the central stem, twist the lateral branches of the remaining branches except for the top of the main branches to promote early flowering, and properly thin out the dense branches in the second and third years.
② Fan shape: The fan shape has good ventilation and light transmission, high yield in the early stage, good quality, fast effect, and suitable for dense orchards. Suitable row spacing is 2 meters, plant spacing is 1.5 meters, and 222 plants are planted per mu. The main shaping steps are as follows: when planting seedlings in the first year, plant according to the north-south direction, the first layer of branches slant towards the row space in the southeast and northwest directions, forming an angle of 45 degrees with the row space, and all branches extending to the plant space are pruned off. The distance between the second layer of branches and the first layer of branches is 50-60cm, the direction is the same as the first layer of branches, and the height of the tree body is controlled at about 2 meters.
2. Pruning
For young trees (1-3 years old, during the shaping period), generally do not prune, let them produce more branches and leaves, except for keeping the main branches growing at the predetermined angle, twist the remaining branches and leaves when the new shoots stop growing in July, pull the non-main branches from the central stem flat to promote early flowering, and properly thin out the dense branches in the second and third years.
Adult trees are mainly pruned twice in spring and summer. Spring pruning is carried out in February to March, combined with fruit thinning, mainly to thin out weak branches, dense branches, and overgrown branches, increase the occurrence of spring shoots, and reduce the size of the year. Summer pruning is carried out after fruit picking, mainly to remove dense branches, weak branches, and pest branches to improve light transmission, to shrink the central stem of too high plants, fall the top open heart, and shrink some branches extending outward to keep a distance of 0.8-1 meters between rows, and do not excessively cross between plants, thin out fruit stumps or fruiting branches fruit axis, to promote the growth of summer shoots and achieve annual high yield.
Fruit period management
1. Adjustment of fruit setting
The adjustment of fruit setting is mainly to take measures such as fruit thinning or flower and fruit preservation to achieve a reasonable yield in the orchard, produce high-quality commercial fruits, and achieve annual high yield.
① Flower and fruit thinning: Loquat spring and summer shoots are easy to form flowers, each flower spike generally has 60-100 flowers, and only 5% of the flowers form yield, so it is necessary to thin out excessive flowers, especially for large five-star loquat, it is necessary to thin out a considerable part of flowers and young fruits to produce high-quality commercial fruits. Flower thinning is carried out from late October to November. For trees with too many flower spikes, part of the flower spikes should be removed from the base; medium trees can remove part of the flower spikes by 1/2. In short, determine the amount of flower thinning according to the amount of flowers. Proper thinning can make the flower spikes get sufficient nutrients, increase resistance to adverse environments, and improve fruit setting rate. Fruit thinning is better carried out in February to March after spring warming. Remove some small fruits and diseased fruits, and leave 1-3 fruits per spike according to the situation.
② Flower and fruit preservation: For some varieties with low fruit setting rate, plants with few flowers, and areas with frost damage in winter, flower and fruit preservation should be implemented. Excessive fruits should be removed after mid-March to ensure high yield. The main methods of flower and fruit preservation are:
※ Spray 0.8% loquat big fruit spirit (can refer to the instructions for use) once each in early November of the previous year (before flowering), late December (after flowering), and mid-January of the following year.
※ Use 10mg/L (10PPM) of 92O foliar spray during flowering period to increase fruit setting rate by 38.5%.
※ Spray 0.25% potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH2P) plus 0.2% urea and 0.1% borax foliar spray during the flowering period and young fruit period (within 10-15 days after flowering) to increase fruit setting rate by 34%.
③ Flower promotion measures: After the summer shoots of loquat dense orchards stop growing in the year, measures should be taken in July to August to promote flower bud differentiation for trees with strong tree vigor, especially for plants with double shoots in spring and summer, so that they can flower and fruit in autumn and winter. The main methods are:
※ Spray 500PPM 15% paclobutrazol or 350 times PB once each in early July and early August.
※ At the beginning of July, when the summer shoots stop growing, pull the branches flat, twist the branches, cut (cut 3 circles, each circle 1cm apart) and peel off the skin and paste them upside down.
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