How Much Does a Peach Sapling Cost? A Detailed Guide to Excellent Varieties and Planting Methods
The peach tree is a small deciduous tree native to China and widely cultivated across its provinces and regions. It is planted all over the world. So how much does a sapling cost? Which varieties are good? What are the planting methods? According to the Tai'an seedling base, prices vary with different specifications and varieties; for example, the most common variety costs 0.8 yuan to 3 yuan per tree, and a 4 cm specimen costs 7 yuan per tree. Of course, this is only a reference price; if you need to buy in large quantities, there will be a discount.
So, which varieties of peach saplings are good?
Actually, that is hard to say. In reality, it varies from person to person, from place to place, and from climate to climate. Different regions are suited to growing different varieties.
Peach trees are mainly divided into these varieties: early-maturing varieties, mid-maturing varieties, and late-maturing varieties
1. Early-maturing varieties:
Early-maturing varieties all ripen from early May to early June, including Zaomei, Chunyan, Zaoxialu, Chunhua, Jingchun, Chunxue and others. Generally the peaches weigh under 150 grams.
2. Mid-maturing varieties:
Mid-maturing varieties ripen from late June to mid-August, including Hujing Milu, Guonong No. 10 and others; the peaches weigh 5 to 8 liang (250-400 g), and the largest can exceed one jin (500 g). When ripe they are juicy and richly sweet, with a strong full aroma and a soft, melting flesh that dissolves in the mouth and can be sucked through a straw. During this period sunlight is abundant, which ensures that high-quality peaches grow large.
3. Late-maturing varieties:
Late-maturing varieties ripen from early October to late October, including Qinglang, Zhongdu Honey Peach and others; at this time the peach flesh is sweet and delicious, with good storage quality. They are especially suitable as gifts for National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival.
What are the planting methods for peach saplings?
1. Peach trees are mainly propagated by grafting, and can also be propagated by sowing, cuttings and layering. For seedlings used as rootstock, pinch out the growing tip when the seedling is 25-30 cm tall, so the seedling thickens, and by late summer and early autumn it can reach the thickness required for the rootstock at grafting time.
2. Transplanting is best done in early spring or after leaf fall in autumn. Small seedlings can be transplanted bare-root or dipped in mud slurry, while large seedlings need to be transplanted with a soil ball. Cultivating large seedlings requires shaping and pruning to build the framework. Peach trees are generally trained into a natural cup-shaped canopy and a natural open-center canopy.
3. The method of planting peach trees is not difficult; generally 500-840 peach trees are planted per hectare. Planting can be done anytime from after leaf fall to before bud break. A peach orchard must not be replanted continuously, otherwise young trees grow noticeably weaker, leaves lose their green color, new roots turn brown and branch excessively, and the trunk and branches exude gum. This replant problem is more severe on sandy soil or low-fertility soil. The main reason is that residual roots of the previous crop decompose in the soil and produce toxic substances such as benzaldehyde and hydrocyanic acid, which inhibit and poison the root system; it is also related to the multiplication and accumulation of nematodes in the soil during continuous cropping.
4. The ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium needed by peaches is about 1:0.5:1. For young trees, care should be taken to control the application of nitrogen fertilizer, otherwise excessive vegetative growth is easily caused. After the full fruiting stage, increase nitrogen fertilizer to strengthen the tree vigor. The potassium content in peach fruit is 3.2 times that of nitrogen; increasing potassium fertilizer gives larger fruit and higher yield.
5. Apply together with deep soil tillage, mainly organic fertilizer, accounting for 50% of the annual fertilizer application; apply the fruit-swelling fertilizer during the hard-pit stage of the fruit from late April to May; for early-maturing varieties, apply mainly potassium fertilizer; apply the post-harvest fertilizer before and after harvest, with the application amount accounting for 15%-20% of the annual total. In addition, the peach orchard needs frequent intertillage and weeding to keep the soil loose, and timely drainage to prevent waterlogging and root rot.
6. After the peach trees are planted, proper pruning is also very good. The trunk is headed at a height of about 60 cm, with 3-4 main branches retained, and 1-2 secondary main branches kept on each main branch as appropriate, with as few small twigs as possible left on the main and secondary main branches. Pruning periods are divided into winter pruning and summer pruning.
7. Although young trees that have just begun fruiting already bear fruit, they grow vigorously with many water sprouts and densely growing shoots, so summer pruning measures such as bud removal, tip pinching and shoot twisting are needed to suppress the strong and support the weak and keep the tree balanced. For peach trees in the full fruiting stage, because of many years of fruiting, the tree vigor has become moderate, water sprouts and secondary shoots are noticeably reduced, and the proportion of medium and short fruiting branches increases, so heading back should be the main approach, removing overly dense branches and strong terminal branches to improve light conditions among the shoots, and weak branches should be renewed promptly.