How to Grow March Plums for High Yield? Latest Cultivation Technique Guide
March plum is an early-maturing variety of plum. Generally, this plum matures in March and can be harvested. Generally, March plums are sour and crisp and tasty; they are fresh plums that are eaten after pickling, and they can also be made into preserved fruit for consumption. Therefore, March plums now occupy a unique market in plum cultivation and sales. So many people have begun to grow this March plum, which is the first to reach the market. Many people are also very concerned about how to achieve high yield when growing March plums. Today, I will introduce this to everyone.
1. Seedling Raising and Planting
Plum trees can use several propagation methods, but in actual production, the method generally used is sowing rootstock and then grafting. This is because rootstock is generally cold-resistant, drought-resistant, and waterlogging-resistant, with wide adaptability and strong resistance, while the scion often has more excellent varietal characteristics, so grafted seedlings are chosen. Generally, the rootstock is sown first, and when the rootstock grows to about 20 cm, the scion can be prepared for grafting. The most common method, bark grafting, is generally used for grafting. Prunus tomentosa can be used as rootstock. Grafting is generally carried out in spring and is easy to survive. When planting, the best row spacing is about 3 m, and the spacing is about 2.5 m.
2. Orchard Selection
The orchard for growing plums generally should choose soil with good humidity and temperature conditions, so generally the best is a hillside with slightly higher terrain. The soil is best if it is deep, flat, rock-free, and well-drained structured soil. Do not plant in saline-alkali land, gravelly land, or low-lying land. As for sunlight, it does not necessarily have to face the sun; it is not strict about light requirements.
3. Fertilizer and Water
Base fertilizer: before planting in the first year, apply farmyard manure as base fertilizer when preparing the land. Generally, about 2000 jin of base fertilizer is applied per mu. This is necessary in the first year for the trees, so more should be applied. After that, when applying base fertilizer, it is about 1500 jin per mu. One week before applying base fertilizer, irrigate the entire orchard once so as not to damage the root system during planting. Then there is topdressing. In the first year, basically no topdressing or only a little topdressing is done. In the second year, more topdressing can be done, mainly during the flowering period and fruiting period. For topdressing, generally during the flowering period, about 500 jin of farmyard manure is applied per mu once, and during the fruiting period, topdressing is applied multiple times, about 100 jin each time. Each time, irrigation should be done one week before topdressing. In addition, base fertilizer is applied after fruit harvest.
4. Training and Pruning
Generally, after planting, trunk heading is started at 70 to 80 cm above the ground, all buds on the main trunk are removed, and then three to four healthy branches are selected and kept as side branches, and then the other branches are removed. After that, branches can continue to be kept, with five to six branches kept on each side branch. In this way, branches are kept three to four times, and the tree crown takes shape. After a kept branch grows to more than 1.5 m, the growing tip should be pinched off. Then, after the shape is set, every year prune diseased and pest-damaged branches, dense branches, dead branches, and water sprouts, and at the same time renew and rejuvenate them.
The cultivation of March plums is similar to the cultivation of other plums, but because the maturity period is different, we need to adopt different management measures, and the points to note will also change. I hope you can find corresponding good methods for planting and achieve the goal of high yield.