Shaping and pruning techniques for pomelo trees

Through shaping and pruning, the pomelo tree is made to have a full crown shape and to achieve the goals of high and stable yield.

1. Trunk training: the trunk height should be 40-60 cm, and a total of 5-6 main branches should be cultivated. The biological characteristics of pomelo trees differ from those of other sweet oranges and mandarins: the tree vigor is strong, the tree is tall, and the fruit is large, and most or all of its bearing mother branches are inside the crown. We must understand these characteristics of it in order to master the pruning techniques.

2. Bearing mother branch: the shoot that produces bearing shoots is called a bearing mother branch. Bearing mother branches can roughly be divided into three types:

1. Small lateral branches growing from large lateral branches; this kind of branch grows weakly and cannot extend beyond the crown as a vegetative branch. After growing continuously for 2-3 years, it produces leafless bearing mother branches and sends out shoots that bear fruit;

2. Leafless branches; this kind of branch does not have sufficient nutritional conditions for flowering and sprouting, and generally only flowers and bears fruit by the third year;

3. Branches that have shed flowers and fruit (commonly known as blind-eye branches); they have no sprouted buds and bear flowers and fruit the following year.

3. Bearing shoot: formed by the sprouting of one bud at the tip of the bearing mother branch or several nearby buds. Bearing shoots are divided into leafy bearing shoots, bearing shoots with both flowers and leaves, and leafless bearing shoots. There may be one flower or many flowers, and bearing shoots with no inflorescence and few-leaf inflorescences are the best.

4. Purpose and significance of pruning: to make ventilation and light penetration inside the crown good, so that the bearing mother branches in the inner canopy are nutritionally full, and the fruit is abundant and of good quality.

5. Pruning principles: achieve emptiness outside but not inside, prune heavily at the top, prune lightly on all sides, prune heavily on the periphery, and prune lightly inside.

6. Pruning methods: pay attention to retaining the relatively weak leafless branches on the lateral branches inside the crown; these are excellent bearing mother branches; those with vigorous vegetative growth and overly dense branches and leaves should be pruned heavily, while those with weaker vegetative growth should be pruned lightly;

7. Pruning time and branches that should be cut off: after harvesting the fruit, the upward vertical and drooping branches inside the crown should be cut off, and dead branches, diseased and pest-damaged branches, shaded branches and heavily overlapping crossing branches should be removed. 2. Summer pruning: in summer, remove some overly dense and overly vigorous new shoots, thin out overly dense weak branches, and cut back water sprouts.