How to care for Golden Fruit
Main text core guide: Learn how to care for Golden Fruit and the small knowledge of flowering cultivation methods and management for planting Golden Fruit, as follows:
Golden Fruit, also known as Yellow Crystal Fruit, Yellow Star Apple, Honeyed Egg yolk Fruit, and Honey Fruit, belongs to the Sapotaceae family, genus Pouteria. It is a perennial evergreen tree native to the upper Amazon River, mainly distributed in the east of the Andes Mountains. It was later introduced to Darwin in Australia's north, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In 1987, Professor Wang Denan from the Fengshan Tropical Horticulture Experimental Branch Station in Taiwan introduced it from Singapore, and in 1994, two strains were introduced from Malaysia. Later, Professor Yan Changrui from Pingtung University introduced and trial planted from the University of the Philippines and Hawaii, and bred the superior strains of Golden Fruit. Currently, except for small-scale commercial cultivation in Australia, Malaysia, and Taiwan, other places have not yet started commercial cultivation. Due to its novel and beautiful fruit, bright yellow appearance resembling gold, high sweetness, smooth and QQ flesh, graceful tree shape, year-round production adjustment, minimal pests and diseases, and ease of organic cultivation, it is deeply loved by both growers and consumers and has gradually developed into one of Taiwan's important economic fruits with a very promising market.
1 Main Cultivation Techniques
1.1 Selection and Planning of Orchard Site
Golden Fruit is a tropical fruit tree that prefers warm and humid conditions. It is suitable to choose a well-preserved ecological environment, below 500 meters in altitude, open and sunny, wind-protected, with cold air not easily accumulating, fertile soil, good drainage, deep soil layer, pH 5.5-7.5, good structure, and strong water and fertilizer retention. The site should be planned and designed according to the planting conditions, with aisles and irrigation and drainage ditches left. Sloping orchards should have contour ridges 2-3° inward, with soil and water conservation measures.
1.2 Planting
Prepare the land 2-3 months before planting, with a depth of 30-40 cm. Thoroughly till and crush the soil, dig planting pits 60 cm long, wide, and 60-80 cm deep, with a spacing of 4 m × 4 m, planting 44 plants per 667m2. Return to the pits after 2-3 months of soil weathering. Each planting pit should be applied with 20-25 kg of decomposed manure, 0.5-1.0 kg of compound fertilizer (N:P2O5:K2O = 15:15:15), and 0.5-1.0 kg of calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer, mixing the fertilizer with the topsoil before refilling, forming a tree basin 20-30 cm higher than the original topsoil and over 1 m in diameter. When planting, cut open the seedling bags, remove the entire plant with the soil cup intact, place it in the planting pit, then fill and press the soil, and water the roots.
1.3 Fertilization and Water Management
Young trees should be fertilized frequently with thin fertilizer, mainly nitrogen fertilizer, supplemented with phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. After the first new shoot matures, apply diluted human and animal dung or urea or compound fertilizer 200-300 times with water, 50-100 g per plant each time, once a month to promote new shoot growth and tree crown development. Fertilize once before flowering, mainly with potassium fertilizer and compound fertilizer, combined with bran or cake fertilizer; during fruit development, use high-potassium compound fertilizer to improve fruit quality. After harvesting in autumn and winter, apply organic fertilizer mainly, combined with compound fertilizer. During the period of new shoot greening, young fruit stage, and fruit expansion, apply 1-2 times of 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate, 0.1% magnesium sulfate, etc., as foliar fertilizer. Although "Golden Fruit" is drought-resistant, it dislikes dryness and waterlogging. Dryness is not conducive to flowering and fruit setting and affects later yield, while waterlogging affects plant growth. Continuous waterlogging for several days will cause the plant to die gradually. Avoid excessive dryness and continuous waterlogging during the growth of branches; avoid dryness during the fruit growth period, maintaining moisture to promote fruit expansion and improve quality.
How to care for Golden Fruit
1.4 Pruning
Golden Fruit is suitable for an open tree shape, with 3-5 branches encouraged in the seedling stage. Young trees do not require much pruning, but light pruning or branch pulling can control the tree shape for dwarfing. Weak and vigorous branches, crossing branches, and leaves can be removed to improve ventilation and light penetration, reduce overlapping of branches and leaves, and decrease the occurrence of diseases and pests. Two-year-old trees focus on crown development, generally not pruned, but topping and branch pulling can be done according to the goal of crown development. After fruiting, the branches droop slightly, requiring some pruning to control tree height. After harvesting, try to maintain the branches in the middle and lower part of the tree, pruning according to the principles of heavy pruning on top, light pruning on bottom, heavy pruning on weak trees, and light pruning on vigorous trees, controlling the tree height within 2.5 m.
2 Flower and Fruit Management
Flowering and fruiting can occur throughout the year, and production periods can be adjusted through pruning and thinning. Due to the large number of flowers, thinning is usually done after the fruit has stabilized, removing malformed, diseased, and densely packed fruits first, and retaining fruits with correct shapes on healthy fruiting branches, leaving 5-6 fruits per fruiting branch. Spray 0.2% potassium nitrate + 0.2% borax once or twice during flowering, and immediately apply fruit bags after thinning, preferably using white sulfur paper bags to reduce fruit surface damage, prevent fruit flies, improve fruit skin color, and enhance fruit quality.
2.1 Cold Protection
Before frost arrives, cover the tree basin with straw or other weeds to protect the roots. During cold wind, rain, cold injury, and frost, cover the plants with plastic film to prevent freezing, yellowing and falling of leaves, and drying of branches.
2.2 Pest and Disease Control
Golden Fruit has fewer pest problems, mainly affected by whiteflies, scale insects, aphids, and moths. Current production practices focus on spring cleaning, key control times, robust plants, and preventive measures. Diseased plants can be treated with low-toxicity and high-efficiency pesticides such as avermectin, Lushengben, and pymetrozine, while fruit flies can be controlled through bagging, pheromone traps, and yellow sticky traps.