What are the grafting and propagation methods for plum blossoms?
Plum blossoms have been cultivated in our country for a very long time and are a very famous flower variety in our country. Plum blossoms have high ornamental value, mainly appreciated for their flowers. Many people grow them now, and when growing them, grafting propagation is the most common method. Besides this, plum blossoms also have some other propagation methods.
Plum blossom grafting methods
1. Selection of rootstock for bud grafting. Use current-year peach or apricot seedlings, or new shoots produced in the current year, choosing branches with a diameter of 0.3 to 0.4 cm.
2. Selection and treatment of the bud to be grafted. More than ten days before grafting, first pinch off the growing tips of vigorous branches on the mother tree to force bud treatment. When grafting, choose plump buds from the middle and upper parts.
3. Grafting process. From mid-June to early July on the solar calendar, use T-shaped bud grafting, making a cut 5 to 15 cm above the ground (for new branches on large trees, at 5 to 10 cm), and note that there should be 3-4 leaves below the cut. When cutting the bud shield, be sure to keep the leaf petiole and try to keep the bud shield intact. If it is seriously bruised or the bud core is damaged, do not use it and it is recommended to take another one. The removed bud shield can be held in the mouth, and it does not hurt to moisten it with a little saliva. Pry open the bark of the rootstock, insert the grafting bud into the cut, and wrap it tightly with plastic film, with tightness such that it does not bruise the bark and does not let water in.
3. Post-grafting treatment. Five to ten days after grafting, the petiole of the grafting bud will fall off by itself, and after about 10 days it can be boldly untied. Observe whether the grafting bud is fresh green and has survived (blackened and dead ones can be regrafted below). If there is no obvious necrosis, wait another 3 to 4 days and cut the rootstock 1 cm above the graft union. Do not remove the several leaves below the grafting bud. After that, observe once every three or two days and promptly remove sprouts emerging from the rootstock, otherwise the grafting bud can easily be drawn to death. More than ten days after cutting the rootstock, the grafting bud will sprout.
Plum blossom propagation methods
1. Seed propagation. Sow the fruit stones directly. Be sure to collect fully mature fruit from superior mother plants with large fruit and small stones. Generally, sowing in autumn is better, and the specific time can be in late September. Water thoroughly and cover with fine soil or sand. In the spring of the following year, when the seedlings grow to 10 cm to 15 cm, they can be transplanted from the seedbed. If propagating by sowing in spring, then after the seeds are washed and dried, they should be stored in moist sand in layers, and taken out in early spring for drilling. Plum trees propagated from seed are drought tolerant. They have vigorous growth and are suitable for planting on hillsides. However, plum trees bred by this method have unstable heredity and great variation.
2. Cutting propagation. Cutting propagation of plum blossoms is simple to operate and the technique is not complicated. Soaking the cuttings quickly in a 500 ppm indoleacetic acid or 1000 ppm naphthaleneacetic acid aqueous solution increases the survival rate and can also promote rooting in varieties that are difficult to root. For plum blossom cuttings, November is better, because at this time the leaves have fallen and the branches store sufficient nutrients, making rooting and survival easy. Choose vigorous one-year-old branches 10 cm to 12 cm long as cuttings. When cutting, bury most of the branch in the soil, leaving only two or three cm above the soil surface and one bud outside. The cutting site requires loose soil and good drainage.
How to fertilize and water plum blossoms
1. Watering. Do not water when potting; water once after 3~4 days; after 7~10 days, water once a day; after survival, water 1~2 times a day from May to August. The soil should not be too wet, and waterlogging must be avoided.
2. Fertilizing. Plum blossoms do not like heavy fertilizer. When new shoots grow to about 5 cm, apply 1 time of dilute crushed-bone sesame-paste fertilizer water to promote strong branch growth. When leaves emerge, fertilizer and water should be sufficient. Generally, apply 1 time of dilute liquid fertilizer per month to promote lush branches and leaves. When branches grow to 20-25 cm, fertilizer and water should be controlled. At the end of summer and beginning of autumn, apply 2 times of topdressing to promote flower bud differentiation. After each fertilization, attention should be paid to timely watering and loosening the soil to keep the potting soil loose and benefit root development.
Plum blossom pests and control
1. Yellow-brown tent caterpillar. Control method: when larvae are found clustered on the tent, remove the web tent and burn the larvae to death; spray to kill with 10% imidacloprid wettable powder 2500 solution or 2.5% kungfu emulsifiable concentrate 3000-fold solution.
2. Peach red-necked longhorn beetle. Control method: in May—June at noon on sunny days after rain, look for adults resting on branches and trunks and kill them, or spray to kill with 2.5% kungfu emulsifiable concentrate 3000-fold solution; after finding frass holes on the trunk, insert toxic sticks into the holes for fumigation, or plug the holes with cotton dipped in dichlorvos; in late autumn and early winter, whitewash the trunk.
The grafting methods for plum blossoms are actually not difficult. When grafting, be sure to prepare the rootstock well and then choose the appropriate time to carry it out. After grafting, later care must be done well, and proper watering and fertilizing are essential. Only in this way can its survival rate be guaranteed.