The Latest Apricot Cultivation Techniques and Methods Tutorial
The apricot fruit tree is a small tree, its fruit is juicy, its kernel is edible, and it has a wide cultivation range, as it can even be cultivated at an altitude of 3000 m. It is nutritious, and the apricot tree provides good timber, so it is an excellent cash crop. There are some things to pay attention to when growing apricots, and there is also a specific process. In addition, what management tasks need to be done in apricot cultivation will now be introduced in detail.
1. Planting
In a dry, flat place with convenient drainage and irrigation, choose a deep, well-drained, airy sandy loam soil, not compacted or heavy clay. Dig a planting hole, about twice the size of the root ball, with a plant spacing of 2 m and a row spacing of 3 to 4 m. Apply about 20 jin of farmyard manure to each planting hole. Mix it with the soil, then cover with 10 cm of soil, place the seedling in, and backfill with soil. When nearly level with the ground, lift the seedling slightly, then backfill again. After firming it by stepping on it, water until it settles, then mound soil up to the root collar. The planting seedling should have two-thirds of its leaves removed and be covered with a shade net.
2. Fertilization and Irrigation
Use urea when sprouting begins, apply quick-acting fertilizer when new shoots grow, and spray fertilizer on the leaves, mainly potassium dihydrogen phosphate and urea. When flowering and fruiting, apply more potassium sulfate fertilizer, and spray yield-increasing bacteria at the full fruit stage. After harvesting, apply a large amount of farmyard manure, equivalent to the winter cold-protection fertilizer, which is also to replenish the tree's nutrients. However, trees just planted do not bear fruit in the same year, so mainly farmyard manure and nitrogen fertilizer are applied to promote growth. As for watering, after planting, water once every three to four days to help restore growth; after one month, water once every half month, adjusting according to soil conditions.
3. Plant Pruning
Once planting has returned to normal and the shade net is removed, the trunk can be headed. Head the trunk at 1 m above the ground, keep shoots at separated angles, about 8 to 10 of them. When they grow to half a meter long, 5 branches can be selected for key training, while the rest are encouraged to send out new shoots. Keep pinching to promote shoots, cultivate several grades of branches, maintain good angles, and remove dense branches. For fruiting trees, the main task is to prune dead, diseased, pest-damaged, dense, and slender branches, improve the canopy structure, then cultivate fruiting branch groups, and then renew roots and shoots. For aging trees, carry out heading back and root pruning to renew and rejuvenate them, remove the weak and keep the strong, and re-cultivate fruiting branches.
4. Other Management
High humidity is unfavorable for flowering, pollination, and fertilization, and the fruit set rate declines, so pollination can be done manually on sunny days. In hot summers, after rain, pests and diseases are likely to occur frequently, so diseased and pest-damaged branches should be cut off in time, then pesticides should be sprayed to sterilize and kill insects to prevent losses. Receiving enough light helps fruit enlargement and improves quality. Ensure the supplement of nutrients for different needs at different stages.
Apricot cultivation is mainly managed by dividing trees into young trees, fruiting trees, and aging trees, with some different management priorities, and management must be emphasized, but this is also the growth process of the apricot tree. Starting management from the young tree stage, the key management points will gradually change. Cultivation is not just planting; how to make it grow well after planting is the focus of cultivation techniques.