What are the causes of lychee flower rot and what are the prevention and control measures?
Various problems, big and small, can arise during lychee production, and flower rot is one of them. It affects the fruit-setting rate of lychee and, in severe cases, leads to a total crop failure. So what causes lychee flower rot? How should it be prevented and controlled? Let's take a look at the detailed introduction below.
I. Causes of flower rot
1. Excessive shortening of flower spikes. In production, many fruit growers, for early- and mid-maturing varieties, manually remove the first batch of flower spikes or use chemical agents to kill the first batch of flower spikes so that a second batch of flower spikes grows. The reason for doing this is that the second batch of flower spikes has more female flowers, which noticeably improves the fruit-setting rate and increases yield. However, because the chemical agents often fail to reach the target, the newly grown flower spikes are shorter. Due to their poor ventilation, these flower spikes develop flower rot during rainy weather.
2. During flower thinning, if all the flower buds are removed and only some flower clusters at the top are left, densely growing clusters of flower spikes will form at the top, resulting in flower rot.
3. If damaged flowers are not removed in time during rainy weather, other flowers will develop flower rot.
II. Prevention methods
1. After the first batch of flower spikes is removed or treated with chemicals, when the second batch of flower spikes regrows, carry out flower thinning in time. Do not let them form clustered, densely growing flower spikes; increase the ventilation between flower spikes.
2. During the flowering period, in rainy weather, shake the branches in time to shake off flowers that have already rotted, thereby avoiding flower rot or disease outbreaks.
III. Remedial measures
After flower rot occurs, first shake the branches to remove the rotten flowers, so as to prevent the other flowers on the same flower spike from rotting along with them. If it rains when the flower spikes are too dense, thin the flowers in the rain to increase the ventilation of the flower spikes. When flower rot is severe, promptly cut off the rotten flowers on the flower spikes, and at the same time carry out flower thinning and spray foliar fertilizer. Before long, new flower spikes will grow again, and the proportion of female flowers will be higher.
The above is an introduction to the causes of lychee flower rot and the prevention and control measures. We hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.