How to Grow Kumquats: Detailed Planting Methods and Key Techniques

To grow kumquats, choose plains or hilly land, with soil preferably a slightly acidic sandy loam that has deep soil layers, loose texture and good drainage. After selecting the plot, deep plow, build beds, apply base fertilizer, then sow the seeds in spring or in November, water after sowing, and spread rice straw. After the seedlings emerge, carry out management tasks such as fertilizing, watering, loosening the soil, weeding and pruning.

1. Site Selection

Choose plains or hilly land, with soil preferably a slightly acidic sandy loam that has deep soil layers, loose texture and good drainage. After selecting the plot, deep plow the soil once before sowing, then plow again the following spring, with a deep plowing depth of more than one meter, and then build beds.

2. Sowing

This can be done in spring or in November. First apply enough base fertilizer to the soil, then sow the seeds, water after sowing, and spread rice straw. Control the planting density well; do not plant too densely.

3. Management

(1) Seedling stage management: Before the seedlings emerge, water several times to make the soil looser and softer. Once seedlings emerge, it is time to fertilize; when fertilizing, do not touch the seedling leaves, to avoid burning the seedlings. Before fertilizing, do the weeding first. After the seedlings emerge, also promptly check for dead seedlings; if there are any, replant in time.

(2) Watering during the growing period: Keep the soil moderately moist during growth; it must not become waterlogged, to avoid root rot. In dry and windy spring weather, spray water on the leaves once a day; in summer, spray 2-3 times a day and also spray the ground; avoid spraying during the flowering period to prevent flower rot; from the white flower stage to the young fruit stage, keep the soil in a neither dry nor wet state.

(3) Fertilizing during the growing period: From the start of new bud sprouting until before flowering, apply once every 7-10 days a diluted, well-rotted sauce residue water, alternating with several applications of alum fertilizer water. After summer begins, it is suitable to apply more phosphorus fertilizer; in the early fruiting stage, fertilization should be paused, and once the young fruits grow to about 1 cm in size, continue applying liquid fertilizer once a week until the end of September.

(4) Pruning: When the spring buds have not yet sprouted, carry out one heavy pruning, cutting away dead branches, diseased and pest-infested branches, overly dense branches and leggy branches. After young fruits are set, fruit thinning can be carried out: leave 2-3 fruits per plant on thick strong branches, and keep one fruit per weak branch; promptly cut off autumn shoots so as not to cause a second fruiting.

(5) Diseases and pests: The main diseases include canker and anthracnose, which can be sprayed with 600 times diluted amobam, or 600 times diluted thiram. Among pests is the yellow swallowtail butterfly; during the larval stage, spray 50% fenitrothion 1000 times dilution or 80% dichlorvos 1000 times dilution.