What to Do About Low Fruit Set in Apricot Trees? Causes and Countermeasures Explained
The apricot tree is a deciduous tree with strong adaptability, cold resistance and drought tolerance. Its fruit is one of the common fruits, sweet and juicy, rich in nutrients, and full of sugars, proteins, and calcium and phosphorus substances. It is an important economic fruit tree in our country. However, many fruit growers often see a low fruit set rate when growing them. What is going on here? How can the fruit set rate of apricot trees be improved? Let us take a look together.
I. Causes of Low Fruit Set Rate
1. Variety: There are extremely many apricot varieties, and some varieties have a low fruit-setting rate themselves, such as Tianzhen apricot, Maihuang apricot, Hongyu apricot, and others. These varieties have more abortive flowers, which leads to a low fruit set rate. Introduced varieties such as Jintaiyang apricot, Kaite apricot, and Yidali No. 1 have a higher fruit-setting rate and also strong cold tolerance.
2. Unsuitable environment: During planting, the environmental conditions do not suit the growth and development of apricot trees. If low-temperature weather is encountered during the flowering and fruiting period, the flowers and fruits will freeze and stop growing, and in severe cases drop off directly. Especially in orchards planted in valley lowlands, frost damage is very likely to occur, causing flower and fruit drop.
3. Improper cultivation: Because of improper management and extensive, rough cultivation, the tree vigor weakens, nutrition is insufficient, and there are more abortive flowers, causing the plant to lack nutrients and drop flowers and fruits. In addition, excessive pruning, one-sided application of nitrogen fertilizer, and too frequent watering will all cause the plant to grow excessively, seizing a large amount of nutrients, causing insufficient nutrient supply to flowers and fruits and leading to flower and fruit drop, resulting in a low fruit set rate.
II. Methods to Improve the Fruit Set Rate
1. Site selection: Choose a plot with high and flat terrain, deep soil layers, loose and fertile soil, good drainage, and shelter from the wind and facing the sun for planting. This can avoid the accumulation of cold air and prevent frost damage to flowers and fruits.
2. Seed selection: Choose varieties with a high proportion of complete flowers, a high self-fruit-setting rate, and strong cold tolerance. If planting an apricot orchard in a place with late frost, this kind of variety should be chosen even more.
3. Cold protection: Do a good job of cold protection measures. By delaying the flowering period, the flowering period can avoid the late frost, so as to prevent flower and fruit drop. In early spring, watering and covering with rice straw can be used to thaw the ground, speed up the rise of ground temperature, and promote the growth of apricot trees. The tree body can also be whitewashed to resist severe cold.
4. Artificial supplementary pollination: When natural pollination is poor, artificial supplementary pollination can be used, and this is the best way to improve the fruit set rate of apricot trees. Collect the anthers of suitable varieties, place them in an environment at room temperature of 26 degrees, and let them shed pollen as soon as possible. Collect the pollen and use the point-pollination method so that the female flowers are successfully fertilized. The time for fertilization is 1 to 2 days after a single flower opens.
5. Spraying hormones and fertilizer: During full bloom, Aiduoshou water agent can be sprayed, and for fertilizer spraying, mainly borax solution is sprayed. Improving the spraying method can increase the utilization rate of the agent and fertilizer, enable the plant to absorb them faster, and improve the fruit set rate.
The above are the causes of and countermeasures for a low fruit set rate in apricot trees. We hope this can help you. To learn more about fruit tree cultivation knowledge, please stay tuned to us.