Latest Management Techniques and Methods Tutorial for the Blueberry Dormancy Period

Blueberry is a relatively popular berry plant in China, and its planting area in China is very large. Blueberries enter dormancy every year in winter and early spring due to temperature, lasting about from October to March. After entering dormancy, blueberries will stop growing and show phenomena such as leaf drop and reddening. So how should they be managed during the blueberry dormancy period? Below, the editor brings you blueberry dormancy period management techniques. Let's take a look!

1. Cover the shed at the right time

Around late October each year, the temperature gradually decreases. When the nighttime temperature drops to about 5 degrees, the work of promoting dormancy with low light should be done well. In the evening, roll up the covering in the greenhouse, then open the vents. Every morning, close the vents again, re-cover the covering, and keep the temperature at about 5 degrees for about 30 days, which can meet the requirements for blueberries to enter dormancy.

Then do a good job of cleaning the orchard, removing fallen leaves, diseased and residual bodies, and other debris from the field, and then do a thorough disinfection job. Before covering the greenhouse with plastic film in winter, water thoroughly first to improve the cold resistance of the blueberry plants and ensure they can overwinter safely. Moreover, during overwintering, blueberries need sufficient chilling requirement, generally about 1000 hours. If the chilling requirement is insufficient, it will cause various problems such as poor sprouting and insufficient flowering in blueberries, affecting both the yield and quality of blueberries.

2. Shaping and pruning

Pruning of blueberry plants before budding can be carried out after entering dormancy and before sap flow. When pruning, pay attention to doing a good job of tree shape training. Commonly used pruning methods include thinning branches and heading back. Remove the inner canopy branches, overly dense branches, and pest- and disease-damaged branches of the blueberry plants. This is mainly to improve the air and light penetration of the blueberry plants and coordinate the relationship between reproductive growth and vegetative growth of the blueberry tree. Improve tree vigor to achieve the goal of high yield year after year. Control the number of flower buds on the blueberry tree well, and prune accordingly according to the variety characteristics and fruit branch length, thinning out dense, weak, and thin fruit branches, etc.

3. Water and fertilizer management before budding

Before the branches of the blueberry tree bud, pay attention to doing a good job of water and fertilizer management. Apply an appropriate amount of compound fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate and potassium sulfate. Control the application amount according to tree age; for example, adult trees are generally given about 80 grams per tree. The fertilization method is mainly ring trench application, digging trenches around the tree disk and applying fertilizer. At the same time, pay attention to controlling the width and depth of the trench well, keeping the width at about 25 cm and the depth at about 15 cm. Then, after fertilizing, pay attention to watering an appropriate amount of water to promote budding.

The above is a brief introduction to blueberry dormancy period management techniques. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!