Can pig manure be piled up after root digging during the dormant period of sugar mandarins?
Q: May I ask whether pig manure can be piled up after root digging during the dormant period of sugar mandarins?
A: From the biological characteristics of the sugar mandarin fruit tree, there is no relatively clear so-called dormant period. What you may understand as the so-called dormant period probably refers to the plant entering the flower bud differentiation stage after the onset of winter, that is, the plant's vegetative growth slows down during this period (it no longer sends out new shoots or grows leaves). In fact, the slowing of its vegetative growth does not equal the so-called dormancy in which the plant stops growing. It is merely that temperature conditions, soil moisture conditions, and even soil nutrient element conditions are naturally or artificially suppressed, causing the plant to appropriately shift from vigorous vegetative growth to reproductive growth (flower bud differentiation and the formation of flower bud morphology). If at this time temperature, moisture, and nutrient conditions become suitable, new shoots, that is, winter shoots, will still sprout. On the other hand, for fruit-bearing trees, when the last autumn shoots have fully matured and stopped growing and entered the flower bud differentiation stage, the fruit will still continue to develop, grow, and expand, only the direction of growth differs.
By so-called root digging, do you mean using soil turning and root cutting to suppress the sprouting of winter shoots and promote flower bud differentiation? Or do you mean digging fertilizer trenches below the canopy drip line to cut off part of the absorbing roots? If the sugar mandarins you planted have not yet borne fruit, then organic fertilizer can be applied throughout the year. But if the plant has already borne fruit, then it is temporarily unsuitable to apply organic fertilizer at present. Because for fruit-bearing plants, if organic fertilizer is applied too early, once the winter temperature is relatively warm and there is more rain, it is easy to promote the sprouting of winter shoots. The sprouting of winter shoots will inevitably affect flower bud differentiation and flowering the following year. It is advisable to arrange a large amount of high-quality organic fertilizer around the end of fruit harvesting, adding an appropriate amount of quick-acting fertilizer, to quickly restore tree vigor. As for piling pig manure, do you mean piling pig manure on the surface soil of the tree basin? If so, then this fertilization method is not very scientific. Because when fertilizer is piled on the surface soil of the tree basin, a large amount of nitrogen in the fertilizer will volatilize due to scorching by sunlight, and the fertilizer may also lose effectiveness due to leaching by rainwater. Furthermore, applying fertilizer on the soil surface will cause the root mass to float upward due to nutrient-seeking behavior. Floating root masses will be damaged by high temperatures in summer. Root masses that float upward and do not penetrate deeply will weaken the plant's cold resistance and drought resistance. Moreover, fertilizer piled on the surface soil of the tree basin can easily pollute other environments when washed by rainwater.