Citrus November Management Experience and Key Points

I. Strengthen management for improving late-stage citrus fruit quality

① Focus on reducing soil water-holding capacity before harvest. Moderate drying of the soil before harvest helps reduce the effectiveness of nitrogen fertilizer, can concentrate the juice, increase sugar content and maintain relatively high acidity, giving the fruit a richer flavor. In areas where autumn rain occurs frequently in autumn, in addition to deep-furrow drainage on raised beds to remove moisture, fruit growers with the means to do so can also use plastic film mulching on the ground surface to block rain and reduce moisture.

② Timely harvest: This is also an important measure to ensure citrus fruit quality. In areas without frost, allowing the fruit to fully ripen on the tree can increase sugar content by 1-2 degrees, and the fruit color becomes more vivid.

II. Prepare well for harvest, storage and transport, and harvest carefully. Before harvest, special fruit shears, containers and other items should be prepared. Any tools, containers and harvest transport methods that may cause mechanical damage to the fruit during harvest are prohibited. Within 2-3 days before harvest, the storage room and pre-storage room should be cleaned thoroughly, covered with clean soft padding, and then thoroughly disinfected for later use. When harvesting, be very careful, use the two-cut method to trim the fruit stalk flat to avoid puncturing each other, and the picking container should not be too large to avoid crushing the fruit. The container should only be filled to 90 percent full; overfilling easily causes the fruit to spill over and be bruised. Careful harvesting and reducing the fruit damage rate is one of the effective measures to improve fruit storability. After the fruit is harvested, it must be treated promptly with preservative and freshness-keeping agents within 24 hours, which helps improve the healing of lightly damaged fruit and its storability. After the fruit has been treated with the agents, it should first be placed in the pre-storage room for pre-storage.