How to manage citrus well in winter? A detailed explanation of the latest technical key points

Citrus is a very popular fruit. Unlike other fruit trees, citrus is an evergreen fruit tree with no obvious dormancy period, and its harvest period is also concentrated in autumn and winter, so seasonal cultivation is a very important part of the whole year's management and is directly related to the tree vigor and yield of the following year. So how should citrus be managed well in winter? Let's take a look together.

1. Harvest in time

Some citrus is meant to be picked in winter, but some fruit growers, in order to keep the fruit fresh, never pick it and only harvest and bring it to market when spring arrives. However, when too much fruit is left on the tree, it also consumes the tree's nutrients, which is not conducive to the recovery of tree vigor, makes the branches highly susceptible to freezing, and the new shoots that emerge are also relatively weak. Moreover, harvesting too late is not a good thing either, as it causes the fruit quality to decline.

2. Thorough orchard cleaning

After harvesting, winter orchard cleaning is relatively important, because the sources of pests and diseases that harm citrus all hide in dead branches, fallen leaves, weeds and dropped fruit to overwinter. Therefore, a comprehensive orchard cleaning is needed once, gathering diseased and insect-infested branches, dry and dead branches, fallen leaves, dropped fruit and weeds for centralized treatment, which can be done by burning or deep burial. This can greatly reduce the base number of pests and diseases and reduce the degree of pest and disease occurrence in the coming year.

3. Protect green leaves through winter

Citrus is an evergreen fruit tree year-round. When the winter temperature is relatively low, it enters the dormancy period, and at this time the tree's nutrients are mainly concentrated in the green leaves. Therefore, protecting green leaves through winter is in fact protecting the citrus tree's nutrients from being lost during overwintering. Protecting green leaves can start with fertilization, cold protection, hilling soil and so on, with the purpose of protecting the green leaves so they overwinter safely.

4. Do a good job of pre-bud pruning

After harvesting and before spring budding, some pruning is needed. In areas with freeze damage, it can be done in mid-February. When pruning, young trees should be pruned lightly, mainly to cultivate 3-4 evenly distributed main branches, and secondary main branches should be reasonably arranged on the main branches. For fruiting trees, the purpose is to create a high-yield tree shape with good ventilation and light penetration and three-dimensional fruiting. The pruning technique of “one opening, two thinning, three retraction” can be adopted.

5. Do a good job of fertilization

Citrus consumes a relatively large amount of nutrients after fruiting, so fertilization should be carried out in time after harvesting to promote the accumulation of nutrients in the tree and lay the foundation for flower bud differentiation and flowering and fruiting in the coming year. Fertilization after fruit harvest is also called overwintering fertilizer, base fertilizer, recovery fertilizer, postpartum fertilizer and so on. The best time to apply it is in late autumn and early winter. After that, the plant enters the dormancy period, the root system will no longer rapidly take up nutrients, and the fertilization effect will be poor. The fertilizer should be mainly organic fertilizer, combined with biological fertilizer.

  The above is an introduction to how to manage citrus well in winter. I hope it can help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.