How to Grow Loquat: A Detailed Guide to Grafting Time, Methods and Years to Fruit
The loquat is relatively small in appearance and is generally commonly seen in yellow; it is a fairly well-known fruit in daily life. Every year when the loquat season arrives, many people like to buy it to eat, which attracts many people's attention to growing it. But before growing it, most people probably want a comprehensive understanding of its growing methods.
How to Grow Loquat
1. Seedbed selection: The nursery site should be chosen on shady, wind-sheltered sandy soil that is loose, rich in organic matter, of medium fertility, and with good fertilizer and water retention. Half a month before sowing (early to mid-May), apply an appropriate amount of decomposed compost, farmyard manure, pig manure, or broadcast 50 kg of compound fertilizer per mu as base fertilizer. Then plow the soil, harrow it fine and level it to make beds, each bed 1.2 m wide with 30 cm furrows. Where there are underground pests, the soil should be disinfected with carbofuran before land preparation to kill the underground pests.
2. Seed selection: Loquat seeds have no dormancy period. Before sowing, the loquat seeds should be screened, removing the smaller and abnormally developed ones, and selecting large, plump loquat seeds, which can be sown after being washed clean and dried.
3. Sowing method: The sowing period is from late May to early June. There are 2 sowing methods, broadcasting or drilling (drilling is generally used). For drilling, the row spacing is 20-25 cm and the plant spacing is 10-12 cm. Depending on the seed germination rate, sow 1-3 seeds per hole; press lightly when sowing to press the seeds half into the soil, then sprinkle a thin layer of fine ash and soil, until the loquat seeds are no longer visible. If sown too deep, they are difficult to emerge and may also rot; if too shallow, they will not take root. After sowing, immediately water the seedbed thoroughly, and thinly cover the soil surface with moisturizing materials such as rice straw or fresh pigpen grass, so as to keep the soil surface from crusting and help emergence.
Loquat Grafting Time and Methods
I. Time: For grafting loquat trees, sunny days in spring from February to April and in autumn from September to November are suitable. Select a mother tree that has fruited for more than three years and is high-quality and high-yielding, and cut lignified spring shoots from the outer periphery or the middle and upper part of its canopy as scions for grafting. First put them in clean water and use a laundry brush to brush the fuzz on the scions clean in one direction; after drying off the water, they can be used for bud grafting, and it is best to use them immediately after collection.
II. Methods:
1. Rootstock treatment. 1-2 days before grafting, cut the rootstock back to 15-20 cm, keeping 3-5 compound leaves, or keeping the water-pumping branches, which can reduce rootstock moisture, increase the rootstock's nutrient concentration and healing hormone concentration, reduce moisture inside the film after binding, and improve the survival rate. If the rootstock is left too short, grafting is inconvenient, affecting grafting speed and the survival rate.
2. Grafting. Choose a sunny day to carry out. On the scion, use the relatively straight side as the long cut surface; first make a 45-degree angled cut on its back with a knife, then turn it over and make a flat cut 1.5-2 cm long, just reaching the xylem. Keep 1-2 buds per scion and cut it off 0.3 cm above the bud. On the rootstock, select a relatively smooth side, use a knife to shave off a small piece at an angle, then cut downward between the phloem and xylem into a notch similar in size to the long cut surface of the scion, just shaving off part of the xylem. Finally, align the cambium of the scion's long cut surface with the rootstock notch, and apply a mixture of red clay and dichlorvos onto the film to improve the survival rate.
How Many Years Until Loquat Fruits
Loquat trees are not divided into male and female, and generally require three years from sowing, transplanting, grafting and field planting, then another four years to fruit, with 10~40 years being the peak fruiting period. Grafted seedlings are more likely to flower and fruit than seedling-grown ones. If grown from seed, it will take a long time, at least more than 5 years, and grafted seedlings generally also need more than 3 years to flower and fruit.
Common Pests of Loquat and Their Control
1. Leopard moth: Promptly prune out diseased and pest-infested branches, inject 10-30 times diluted 80% dichlorvos into the insect holes, and seal the outside with soil to poison the larvae inside the branches. Light traps can also be used to kill the adults.
2. Longhorn beetle: Dip a cotton ball in 10-30 times diluted dichlorvos emulsifiable concentrate or omethoate, stuff it into the insect hole, or use a syringe to inject the liquid medicine into the hole, then seal the hole with soil to fumigate and kill the larvae inside. The larvae inside the hole can also be hooked out with wire or stabbed to death.
When growing loquat, the selection of the seedbed must be done well, and then sowing should be carried out at the right time. If grafting is to be done, there are generally two optimal times, spring and autumn, so these need to be grasped well. If loquat is grown well, it can generally fruit in three to four years.