How to Grow Peaches (Honey Peaches)? Detailed Guide to Planting Methods and Precautions
The honey peach is a very common fruit in daily life. It is not only delicious and tasty but also rich in nutritional value. After eating it, it has a good health-promoting effect on the human body, and it is deeply loved by people. However, people who have eaten this fruit may not necessarily know where it comes from, nor are they familiar with what issues need attention when growing it. Let's take a look together below.
How to Grow Honey Peaches
1. Choosing Seeds
To grow plants from honey peaches, you should choose suitable seeds. Choosing good-quality seeds makes the resulting honey peach plants easier to survive. In fact, seed selection is very important. There are many kinds of peaches, and the honey peach is an excellent variety of peach. Honey peaches generally command a relatively high price on the market, and the honey peach pit is relatively large, making the resulting plant easier to survive.
2. Soaking the Seeds
To plant honey peach seeds, the white flesh on the pit needs to be completely removed to prevent rot. Then soak them in water. The soaking time should preferably be longer; the longer the seeds are soaked, the easier they are to germinate. Soak the seeds for one week, and wait for the honey peach shell to crack and a small green kernel to emerge, and then they can be planted.
3. Planting the Seeds
Bury the soaked seeds into the soil, taking care that the end that will sprout faces upward, and do not bury the seeds too deep in the soil. Each pit needs some spacing to give it some room. Water every evening, not too frequently. When you see it slowly sprout and finally grow strong, your heart will be full of joy.
Honey Peach Planting Methods and Precautions
I. Planting Methods
1. Seedling Selection
According to the soil, climate, management level and local market conditions, choose excellent varieties with good yield performance and products that sell well, and make a good combination of early-, mid- and late-maturing varieties.
2. Fertilizing and Topdressing
For base fertilizer, it is recommended to apply winter fertilizer in autumn, mainly organic fertilizer, accounting for 60%-70% of the annual fertilization amount. Generally, apply 2000kg of barnyard manure per mu or 150kg of special fruit tree fertilizer per mu; the number of topdressings, timing, and amount vary according to variety, tree age, cultivation management method, growth and development stage, and external conditions, etc., generally focusing on pre-bud fertilizer, fruit-swelling fertilizer and post-harvest fertilizer.
3. Orchard Establishment and Field Planting
Choose well-drained, deep soil with a pH of 5.5-6.5, slightly acidic sandy loam or gravelly loam, and dig large holes for planting; for low hillside slopes, terraces should be built, with a planting density of 40-50 plants per mu on flat land and 50-60 plants per mu on mountain land.
4. Fruit Management
Honey peaches have a high fruit-setting rate, so fruit thinning is necessary to control the number of fruits retained. Fruit thinning should be carried out in 2 rounds, respectively in late April to early May and mid-to-late May. Generally, short fruit branches retain 1 fruit, medium fruit branches retain 2 fruits, and long fruit branches retain 3-5 fruits. After the fruits are set, spray and bag them promptly. The harvest period depends on the characteristics of the variety, and it is advisable to harvest fruits at 80% maturity.
II. Precautions
1. Pruning
Dormant period (winter) pruning: This can be done from after leaf fall to before bud break. Pruning adopts a combination of heading back and thinning out, as well as measures such as long retention, renewal pruning and branch bending.
Fruit branch pruning: For long fruit branches, cut off about one third of the branch length; for medium fruit branches, apart from thinning out dense branches, generally no heading back is done; for short fruit branches, it is advisable to retain 1 branch about every 10 cm.
2. Pest and Disease Control
If disease control measures are insufficient, it may lead to reduced yield, and in severe cases, no harvest at all, so disease prevention and control are also very important. Pests that harm peach trees include aphids, pear fruit borers, small green leafhoppers, peach borers, stinging moths, lace bugs, mulberry white scale insects, etc. Spray pesticides in time for control according to the occurrence situation.
How to Best Store Honey Peaches
1. Refrigerator: Using the refrigerator to store things is everyone's first choice, and honey peaches are no exception. Put the bought honey peaches in a fresh-keeping bag and place them in the refrigerator's fresh-keeping compartment. The storage time should not be too long; if too long, they will not taste good. Store for at most 15 days.
2. Cupboard: A cupboard is a place where vegetables are often kept, and fruit can also be placed there. This is because the cupboard is clean and has relatively few bacteria. Dry the washed honey peaches and put them in a clean place in the cupboard. Generally, they can be stored for three to seven days.
3. Foam: Using foam to store things is a common method, and it can also be used to store honey peaches. It is especially a common method during transportation. You can just put the honey peaches inside, but the storage period is relatively short.
What Is the Difference Between Honey Peaches and Mao Peaches
Honey peach: A ripe honey peach is slightly spherical, with a layer of fine fuzz covering the surface, white tinged with green, and red showing through the white. A peach generally weighs 100 grams to 200 grams, and large ones weigh over 300 grams. The honey peach skin is very thin, and the flesh is rich, suitable for eating raw, smooth in the mouth with no residue.
Mao peach: The fruit is spherical, with a rounded blunt or slightly pointed tip, slightly yellow, densely covered with short soft hairs; the flesh is thin, dry, and freestone; the pit is small with grooves.
Honey peaches have high nutritional value and good health benefits, and have always been deeply loved by people, so the sales of honey peaches in the fruit market are still relatively considerable. But to earn more profit, mastering planting techniques is not enough; you also need to choose excellent varieties with good yield performance and products that sell well.