The Latest Technical Management Methods and Tutorial for Lemon Trees in Summer

Lemons taste extremely sour, yet they are extremely popular in the market. They are rich in vitamins and also have beauty and skin-care benefits, making them deeply loved by women. Summer is exactly the period when lemon fruitlets swell, summer shoots sprout, and physiological fruit drop occurs. At this time, the focus of management is to ensure lemon yield and improve quality. So how should lemons be managed in summer? Let's take a look together.

1. Soil, Fertilizer and Water Management

Summer has high temperatures and abundant rain, and the humidity in the orchard is relatively high, which is not conducive to lemon growth. Therefore, drainage in the orchard should be strengthened in a timely manner, and drainage ditches should be properly prepared. If drought occurs and soil moisture is below 60%, irrigation should be carried out immediately to ensure there is no water shortage during the lemon fruiting stage. If water is insufficient, water-saving irrigation methods such as sprinkler irrigation or drip irrigation can be used. After irrigation, cover with straw or rice straw to increase humidity and lower temperature. In summer, both the swelling of fruitlets and the sprouting of summer shoots require large amounts of nutrients. Insufficient nutrients may lead to poor growth, so fruit-strengthening fertilizer should be applied in a timely manner. Fertilization should be determined according to weather conditions, and the amount of fertilizer should be determined according to soil fertility and tree vigor. Generally, young trees are fertilized 5-10 times per year, applying frequently and lightly, mainly with quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer, combined with phosphate fertilizer, potassium fertilizer and human and livestock manure. Fruiting trees are fertilized 5-6 times per year, with several foliar fertilizer applications during the young shoot growth period. In summer, the fruit-strengthening fertilizer should be applied heavily. In the idle winter season, combined with shallow plowing and earthing up, dig trenches outside the canopy, apply 100 kg of compost or barnyard manure per tree, mix it evenly with the soil, and then cover with soil.

2. Summer Pruning

Summer pruning is extremely important. For young trees, the main focus is on training branches and setting the trunk. After the summer shoots mature, pinch the tips at plump buds on shoots 40 cm from the ground to encourage 4-6 new shoots to sprout at 30-40 cm, forming branches. For adult fruiting trees, summer shoots should be promptly removed to prevent summer shoot growth from competing with the fruit for water and nutrients, reducing the second physiological fruit drop. At the same time, weakened branches, diseased and pest-damaged branches, densely growing branches and leggy branches should be pruned off to maintain good canopy ventilation and light penetration. For some plants with heavy fruit load and weaker tree vigor, moderate heavy pruning can be carried out before the summer solstice, followed by strengthened fertilizer and water management, to promote strong tree vigor and lay the foundation for a bumper harvest the following year.

Fruit bagging is a common means of increasing yield and quality. For lemon bagging, it is advisable to choose double-layer lemon-specific paper bags that are black inside and yellow outside. Select fruits from plants with good tree vigor, good management level or good appearance, no disease or pest spots, and a diameter of 30-40 cm for bagging. Before bagging, sterilization and pest control should be carried out last, so as to avoid poor bagging results or loss of bagging effectiveness.

4. Pest and Disease Control

The main pests and diseases occurring on lemons in summer are red spider mites, rust mites, anthracnose, and scab. Red spider mites can be controlled by spraying with 20% tetradifon emulsifiable concentrate at 2000 times dilution; rust mites can be controlled with 10% fenbutatin oxide suspension concentrate at 2000 times dilution and new high-lipid film; anthracnose and scab can be controlled with 10% difenoconazole water-dispersible granules at 3000 times dilution mixed with water.

The above is an introduction to lemon summer management techniques. We hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.