How to Grow Milk Fruit? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Cultivation Techniques
Milk fruit is also called star apple, golden star apple, and it is a tropical fruit. At present, it is mainly grown in China in Hainan, Fujian, Guangdong, and other regions with relatively mild climates year-round. Since the scale of cultivation is not very large, milk fruit on the market is also very scarce, so today let us follow in the editor's footsteps and learn about the cultivation techniques for milk fruit.
1. Soil selection and preparation
Milk fruit is suitable for growing in fertile, loose, well-drained and easily irrigated, slightly acidic soil. Of course, neutral soil can also be used to grow milk fruit. The planting site is best on gently sloping land, as this makes water and fertilizer management easier. After the planting site is selected, in order to reduce field pests, it is best to carry out full-field tillage. Of course, hole tillage can also be used, but in that case the later management work will be relatively greater. After turning and leveling the soil, dig planting holes 60 cm in length, width, and height, with each planting hole spaced about 4 m to 6 m apart. Then apply sufficient base fertilizer into the planting holes, cover with a layer of fine soil about 3 cm thick, and wait to plant.
2. Cultivation techniques
There are mainly three propagation methods for milk fruit: seed propagation, cutting propagation, and grafting propagation. No matter which propagation method is used, we need to go through a period of seedling raising, and only when the sapling has grown to a certain size can it be transplanted. When transplanting, we should plant the sapling together with its base soil, which can improve the survival rate of milk fruit planting. Of course, this also has another advantage: when the sapling is dug out, its root system will not be damaged. Finally, when planting, straighten the sapling, let its root system spread out, then backfill the soil, compact it, and water once.
3. Cultivation management
After the milk fruit has survived planting and resumed growth, we need to combine intertillage and weeding with topdressing. This can not only promote the growth of the milk fruit tree, but also reduce nutrient consumption and improve nutrient use efficiency. However, when fertilizing, we should note that it is best to fertilize on sunny days, and at the same time do not sprinkle fertilizer onto the milk fruit tree, so as to avoid fertilizer burn. Next, we should do a good job of pruning young trees, scientifically cultivating the main trunk and branches to form a complete tree shape. After the milk fruit bears fruit, we should still persist with pruning work to increase the fruiting rate of the tree.
4. Pest and disease control
Milk fruit has strong resistance, and the most common pests are fruit flies, fruit-boring insects, and scale insects. Fruit flies and fruit-boring insects mainly harm the fruit of milk fruit, while scale insects harm the tree body of milk fruit. For fruit flies and fruit-boring insects, we can use bagging technology for prevention, while scale insects can be controlled with propargite emulsifiable concentrate.
By reading the above, I believe everyone has gained some understanding of milk fruit cultivation techniques. If you have better suggestions, you can leave us a message.