A Detailed Guide to Key Fruit-Growing Techniques and Cultivation Management Methods

SummaryChoose suitable soil for planting, appropriately improve soil fertility and structure, and increasing the application of organic fertilizer helps raise the sweetness of the fruit; timely flower and fruit thinning helps improve the quality of the fruit set. Ecological fruit-growing models include mulching cultivation, grass-growing cultivation, orchard interplanting and intercropping, and many other forms.

I. What methods can make fruit grown sweeter

1. Field management: To grow fruit that is sweet, you must first choose loose, deep soil that is slightly acidic or neutral for planting; when planted in plots where the soil is compacted and heavy or on the acidic side, the acidity of the fruit will increase. Soil fertility and structure should be appropriately improved, and after planting the soil should be deep-ploughed year by year, thereby thickening the soil layer; the viable soil layer should generally be kept at 60cm or more.

2. Fertilization: The application of organic fertilizer can be increased, especially fully decomposed organic fertilizer, which can effectively raise the sugar content of the fruit. Applying too much nitrogen fertilizer without applying phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, applying too much chemical fertilizer without applying cake fertilizer, green manure and organic fertilizer, and failing to promptly apply a certain amount of trace-element fertilizer are all reasons for low sugar content in fruit.

3. Training and pruning: Timely flower and fruit thinning is beneficial to the quality of the fruit set, and appropriate training and pruning are also beneficial to the ventilation and light penetration of the tree body, allowing it to receive good light; through a series of management measures, this also helps increase the sugar content of the fruit.

II. What ecological fruit-growing models are there

1. Mulching cultivation

According to the principles of adapting to local conditions, being simple and easy to carry out, and using local materials, crops such as weeds, leaves and straw are used to cover the ground.

2. Grass-growing cultivation

Grass-growing cultivation is different from mulching cultivation: mulching cultivation uses the residues of crops for planting, while grass-growing cultivation, based on the rational use and protection of resources, grows perennial legumes, grasses and other green manure and forage grasses between the rows and plants of the orchard for a long time as an ecological cultivation measure for soil cover.

Its forms can be divided into three types: whole-orchard grass growing, inter-row grass growing and inter-plant grass growing, and grassland can be divided into two types: artificially planted and naturally grown. For example, in an orange orchard, beneficial weeds can be tried for mulching, with grass growing outside the tree basin, while inside the tree basin the grass can be cut and promptly used to cover the same spot.

3. Orchard interplanting and intercropping

The forms of orchard interplanting and intercropping are respectively as follows. The first is intercropping fruit trees with herbaceous crops; for example, soybeans, peanuts, garlic, ryegrass, Chinese milk vetch, stylo and other herbaceous crops can all be intercropped in the orchard.

The second is intercropping fruit trees with woody crops; for example, crops with a shorter fruiting period such as citrus and sugar apple can also be intercropped with crops with a longer fruiting period such as lychee and longan. The third is interplanting fruit trees with edible fungi; for example, oyster mushrooms can be grown under grapevines or lychee trees.