What are the latest pruning methods for navel orange trees?

Navel orange cultivation is very common in China; navel oranges have high yields and very considerable economic benefits, which has attracted many people to grow them. When cultivating navel oranges, we need to do a good job in management, especially pruning. Reasonable pruning is the key measure to ensure the yield and quality of navel oranges. So how should we prune when cultivating navel oranges? Today, the editor brings you the pruning methods for navel orange trees. Let's take a look together below!

1. Short pruning and thinning

Short pruning is what we often call heading back, which means cutting off part of a one-year-old branch and then keeping a portion of the original branch. Heading back is mainly to stimulate buds below the cut on the navel orange to sprout, promote the growth of new vigorous shoots, and enhance the growth capacity and fruiting performance of the navel orange. Thinning is cutting off branches of the navel orange tree from the base. Thinning can promote the retained branches to thicken and lengthen, improve the permeability inside the tree, and enhance the photosynthesis of the navel orange tree leaves, which is very beneficial to flower bud differentiation. It can significantly improve the fruit-setting rate and fruit quality of navel oranges. Thinning mainly targets diseased and pest-infested branches, as well as water sprouts and overly long branches, following the principle of removing the weak and keeping the strong.

2. Bud wiping and shoot releasing

Bud wiping of navel oranges should generally be carried out when the summer and autumn shoots grow to about two centimeters, removing some useless and unnecessary tender buds. Then, after repeated bud wiping, when bud wiping is no longer needed, letting a large number of buds sprout at the same time is called shoot releasing. Because navel oranges have compound buds, for some sporadic early-sprouting buds, wiping them off will cause other surrounding buds to germinate, thereby producing a large number of new shoots, so attention should be paid to repeatedly wiping them off multiple times until the time for shoot releasing stops. It is mainly used to wipe off summer shoots of navel orange trees, avoiding the phenomenon of fruit drop caused by summer shoots competing for the growth nutrients of young fruit.

3. Pinching and leaving unpruned

Pinching is actually also a type of short pruning, and proper pinching is very beneficial to the growth of branches and shoots. It can increase the nutrient accumulation of the tree and enhance the growth capacity of branches and shoots. When new shoots grow to a certain length and have not yet become woody, just pinch off the top of the tender shoots directly. In July, pinch off the extension shoots and water sprouts of summer shoots to promote branching. Then in October, pinch the long shoots, which is beneficial to flower bud differentiation. Leaving unpruned means not carrying out any pruning on branches that grow within one year of the navel orange, letting them grow until flowering and fruiting; the main target is the fruiting mother branches.

4. Retraction and girdling

Retraction is cutting off some perennial branches from the branching point of the navel orange tree. It is generally used on adult trees where the tops of large branches have declined or there are few branches inside the canopy, to renew the large branches of the canopy. It can improve the permeability inside the canopy and enhance tree vigor. Girdling is cutting off the phloem of a branch with a small knife all the way to the xylem, but without damaging the xylem. It is mainly to restrict the transport of the phloem, prevent nutrients from being transported to the lower part of the navel orange tree, and increase nutrient accumulation above the girdled part.

The above is a brief introduction to the pruning methods for navel orange trees. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and we hope it can help everyone!