Loquat Growing Tips: Four Lessons for Better Fruit Quality

Loquat, also known as luqiu or jinwan, is a premium fruit distributed in southern China. Every part of the loquat is useful and can be used as medicine, and both its edible value and medicinal value are extremely high. So, what growing techniques are there for loquat? There are four lessons that can make loquat quality better! Come and learn about them!

I. Loquat Growing Techniques

1. Site selection

(1) Terrain and landforms

Loquat is suitable for planting on hillsides and flat land, preferably close to a water source, as this makes watering and irrigation convenient. Natural water resources are extremely important for loquat growth, and loquat is not suitable for planting in basin terrain.

(2) Soil sickness

Loquat is very intolerant of continuous cropping. For example, some loquat plots that have been planted for several years or even ten years no longer have fertility suitable for growing loquat. If loquat continues to be planted there, it is very difficult to grow fruit of excellent quality, and the effort will be in vain, so site selection is very important.

2. Soil management

(1) Deep plowing and green manure incorporation

Apply green manure to newly planted land and cultivate it so the soil becomes mellow, increases in nutrient level, and becomes richer in organic matter.

(2) Fertilization

For young trees, light fertilizer can be applied. The fertilizer should be sprinkled as 10%-30% decomposed human urine and manure. From November to January of the following year, winter fertilizer can be applied once. It can be applied mixed with human urine and manure, or organic fertilizer can be applied, which gives better results.

3. Shaping and pruning

(1) Tree shape

There are many ways to shape a loquat tree. Its tree shape can be a central-leader type, a double-layer cup shape, and so on. The double-layer cup shape specifically means that after planting, pruning is done at 50-60 cm from the ground, the trunk is cut short to a certain length, the main branches of the second layer must not overlap with the lower layer, and main branches with good growth are selected for focused training to favor fruiting.

(2) Pruning

Pruning is divided into two times, spring pruning and summer pruning. Spring pruning is in March. Spring pruning should not be too heavy; the pruning range should be within 10% of the total number of branches. The main purpose of spring pruning is to remove weak, aged, and overly dense branches. The pruning amount for summer pruning is within 20% of the total branches. Summer pruning can focus on cutting off small, thin branches and keeping thick branches with good growth.

II. Four Growing Lessons

1. Control yield to protect quality. There is no need to pursue yield excessively. By appropriately controlling yield, loquat quality will be higher.

2. Implement bagging technology. Bagging can prevent birds from pecking and keep the fruit more intact.

3. Prune branches to maintain ventilation and light penetration.

4. Let the fruit mature in batches to capture the market. This can avoid the increased workload caused by concentrated harvesting and also extend the harvest period, so the fruit can be sold on the market for a long time.

The above is the knowledge about loquat growing techniques summarized by the editor. Loquat has high returns and rich economic benefits, so everyone can invest according to their conditions.