When Do Dutch Fragrant Apricots Ripen? A Detailed Guide to Key Cultivation Techniques
Dutch fragrant apricot, also called honey apricot, has an unclear place of origin; some say the Netherlands and some say Japan, and it cannot be verified. However, its excellent quality has won the favor of a large number of consumers and fruit merchants. The Dutch fragrant apricot has a super refreshing taste and is delicious, with a strong pineapple fragrance. It can be eaten at the white-ripe stage, being crisp and sweet, and when fully ripe it is honey-sweet, with a pool of juice near the pit; it is freestone with a sweet kernel, and the pit is thin enough to be bitten open with the teeth.When do Dutch fragrant apricots ripen? What are the key cultivation techniques?
I. When do Dutch fragrant apricots ripen?
The average single fruit weight of the Dutch fragrant apricot is 60 grams, the larger fruit weight is 90 grams, the sugar content is 16.7, it is freestone, and the almond is sweet and edible. In the Shandong region it ripens from late June to early July. Fragrant apricot has a wide planting range and grows quickly. It can bear fruit in the second year of planting and has good returns. It is an excellent variety for ecological picking orchards and one of the wealth-generating projects with development prospects.
II. What are the key cultivation techniques for Dutch fragrant apricots?
1. Thinning and heading back in apricot cultivation
The apricot tree is a tree species with a strong preference for light, and its own growth is very vigorous, making it very easy to form competitive growth that causes the fruiting area to move outward, which is extremely unfavorable for forming strong flower buds and bearing fruit. Therefore, during autumn management after fruit harvest, fruiting trees should mainly be thinned, adopting a pruning method based chiefly of removing large branches and lowering tree height by heading back, to promote the emergence of new shoots in the lower and inner parts of the canopy and form short fruit branches and bouquet-like fruit branches. Of course, while thinning, attention should be paid to ensuring the retained main branches are evenly distributed and the light path is opened. For individual relatively upright branches that can be kept, use pulling, weighting, bending, and propping methods to change the branch direction and use the space to bear more fruit; hanging skirt branches, diseased and weak branches, and overly dense branches can all be thinned out together.
2. Fertilization and irrigation in apricot cultivation
In autumn, each mu of apricot orchard can be topdressed with 50-100 kg of quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer or 30-50 kg of urea, along with an appropriate amount of phosphate and potassium fertilizer. For large planted trees, a mixed fertilizer of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium can be applied around tree pits at 3-5 kg per tree. It is best if rain follows application. If summer drought and autumn drought are severe, strive to irrigate in August-September. However, note that the roots under the tree must not be soaked for a long time, as prolonged soaking easily damages the roots.
3. Pest control and leaf protection in apricot cultivation
Leaves are the factory that produces nutrients for fruit trees. Complete and thick leaves are the guarantee for apricot trees to bear fruit. This is generally not noticed by people. The heat of dog days plus occasional autumn drought can easily attract red spider mite damage and spread, or continuous cloudy and rainy weather in late autumn can easily trigger leaf-drop diseases, causing poor flower bud differentiation. In a timely manner, pesticides such as pyridaben or carbendazim and thiophanate-methyl can be mixed and sprayed to prevent pests and diseases and protect the leaves. In addition, adding a spray of 0.3% urea is even more beneficial to the tree body.
3. Pest and disease control
Apricot neck rot mainly occurs at the base of the main trunk of the apricot tree and is a disease caused by a fungus. The pathogen overwinters in the soil as oospores. In spring, the oospores invade the apricot branches and trunk, or the oospores can germinate to produce sporangia and then directly invade.
After an apricot tree is infected with neck rot, the cortex of the diseased part turns brown and rots, sinking in and appearing constricted like a strangling ring. The diseased part has no unusual odor. On the aboveground part corresponding to the diseased part, the branches and trunk show delayed sprouting and weak growth. If not treated in time, the leaves will wilt and dry up, and the plant may even die.
Apricot neck rot generally occurs easily in orchards with heavy clay soil, poor soil drainage, or due to excessive irrigation from intercropping vegetables, as well as in orchards with overgrown weeds and extensive management. Wounds at the neck of the main trunk or a low graft union buried in the soil also make infection with this disease easy. In good sandy loam with abundant rainfall in spring and summer, if the previous crop of a newly built apricot orchard was a vegetable plot, planting holes can be dug first before planting and disinfected with copper sulfate poured into the holes to sterilize them, about 10-15 kg per hole. When planting, the graft union should be 10-15 cm above the ground. Repair the drainage system of the apricot orchard in a timely manner to ensure that water does not accumulate in the orchard during the rainy season. After the soil thaws in spring, immediately dig open the soil at the root neck, expose the root neck to the air and sun, and carefully inspect the cortex of the roots. If diseased spots are found, scrape them off in time, then apply 25% metalaxyl at 50-100 times dilution or 40% fosetyl-aluminum at 30-50 times dilution to the wounds, applying once every 7-15 days; generally 2-3 times is effective. The scraped diseased bark must be cleaned up thoroughly, taken out of the orchard, and burned. Before the soil freezes in winter, pile the previously dug-open soil back at the root neck to protect against freezing.