How to Grow Crabapple Fruit? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Planting Methods
Crabapple fruit is the fruit produced by the crabapple flowers that bloom on the crabapple tree. It is a fruit with excellent health benefits and can be used both as food and as medicine. It has a fairly long history of cultivation in our country, and many people also love crabapple flowers, especially when the crabapple flowers bloom and fall, which is very beautiful, and in autumn the fragrance of the fruit is also very enticing. Today let us take a look at the planting methods for crabapple fruit.
1. Land Preparation and Fertilization
Crabapple fruit is suitable for planting in slightly acidic sandy loam soil that has no standing water, plenty of sunlight, a sunny aspect, and relatively sufficient soil fertility. At the same time, the land should be prepared carefully, holes should be dug at a certain spacing, and then sufficient fertilizer should be poured into the holes as base fertilizer. The base fertilizer is mainly farmyard manure, mixed with a small amount of compound fertilizer. Then a small amount of fine soil should be filled into the holes, and you can wait to plant.
2. Scientific Planting
Crabapple fruit is generally planted around April and October each year, and a small number of regions also plant in May and June, but the survival rate is not as high as planting in spring and autumn. There are three methods for planting crabapple fruit, namely seed propagation, division propagation, and grafting propagation. However, seed propagation is generally the method used for growing and selling nursery stock, because it grows very slowly, so it is generally only used for raising seedlings. In ordinary practice, division and grafting are the most commonly used methods, because in this way the crabapple tree grows faster, and the grafting method is now also relatively well developed, so the survival rate of planting is also very high.
3. Reasonable Close Planting
Because crabapple fruit has a growth habit of liking sunlight, the planting site is either sloping land or flat land, so when planting out we also need to decide according to the specific situation. Secondly, the planting density is also closely related to the fertility of the soil at the planting site. In general, the planting density on sloping land is set at a row spacing of 3 m to 4 m and a plant spacing of about 2.5 m to 3.5 m, while on flat land the density is generally set at a row spacing of 4 m and a plant spacing of 3 m. At the same time, note that when planting out, attention should be paid to the ratio of pollinator trees, because it can directly affect the success rate of pollination and the yield of crabapple fruit.
4. Field Management
Crabapple fruit is a perennial plant, and it also needs to grow to a certain extent before it will bloom and bear fruit. Throughout its growth process, it needs multiple rounds of intertillage and weeding as well as loosening and earthing up of the soil each year. This can enhance the permeability of the soil, promote the growth of the crabapple tree root system, and thereby promote the growth of branches and leaves. When watering, we should be careful to avoid overwatering, because the crabapple tree is a plant that is very afraid of waterlogging. Generally, watering should be done only after the soil has dried out, and when watering, it must be watered thoroughly so that it can grow normally. Crabapple is also a plant that greatly likes fertilizer. During its growth stage, it generally needs a topdressing about every half month to 20 days, mainly with farmyard manure or organic fertilizer. When the crabapple flowers, phosphate fertilizer and potassium fertilizer can be added, and at the same time an appropriate amount of nitrogen fertilizer is also needed to prevent the branches from aging. Finally, after the fruit is harvested, maintenance fertilizer should be applied to ensure the yield of the coming year. During the growth of crabapple fruit, branches and leaves also need to be pruned continuously to maintain reasonable light exposure and permeability.
5. Pest and Disease Control
The most common pests and diseases of crabapple fruit are rust disease, anthracnose, moldy core, as well as aphids and thrips. Therefore, during the planting process, field management should be strengthened. Secondly, in the early stage of occurrence, flusilazole water dispersible granules, polyoxin, validamycin plus borax, carbendazim mixed with imidacloprid, and acetamiprid water dispersible granules can be used for control.