Reasons for Low Fruit Set Rate in Chestnuts and Measures to Improve It
Chestnut is a traditional fruit in China, rich in nutrients and known as the "Pearl of the East." It is distributed throughout China and is widely cultivated artificially. However, during artificial cultivation, low fruit set rates often occur, seriously affecting yield and growers' economic returns. So what causes the low fruit set rate in chestnuts? How should it be addressed? Let's take a look together with Qinnong Web.
1. Reasons for Low Fruit Set Rate
The main causes of low fruit set rate in chestnuts include insufficient nutrients, poor pollination, weather, variety, and lack of trace elements. During the flowering period of chestnuts, the plant's branches and leaves grow simultaneously, which leads to competition for nutrients, causing insufficient nutrients and resulting in a low fruit set rate. Chestnut is a tree species with unisexual flowers on the same plant, and its male and female flowers bloom at different times. Moreover, there are often more male flowers and fewer female flowers, which leads to a low fruit set rate. In addition, if rainy weather occurs during pollination, it can cause poor pollination or pollination failure, leading to a decline in fruit set rate. Therefore, to achieve high yield in chestnuts, solving the fruit set rate is key, and since these reasons are related to the fruit set rate, management in these aspects must be strengthened during cultivation to improve the fruit set rate and achieve the goal of high yield.
2. Measures to Improve the Fruit Set Rate
Strengthen fertilizer and water management: When insufficient nutrients cause a low fruit set rate, we need to strengthen fertilizer and water management. The first thing to do is to apply sufficient base fertilizer. After harvesting fruit each year, dig a ring-shaped trench around the planting area and pile 100 kg of fertilizer in it, which can help the tree recover as quickly as possible and promote flower bud differentiation in time. Next is topdressing. Spring is the period of branch and leaf growth and flowering and fruiting, and it is also the main time when the low fruit set rate occurs. At this time, we should choose quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer as the main topdressing, supplying about 1 kg of urea per plant, which can make the branches and leaves lush and produce more flowers. In the later stage, to avoid empty burrs, apply some boron fertilizer to increase yield, about 0.1-0.25 kg per plant, and it can also be combined with foliar spraying.
Reduce male flowers: The number of male flowers in chestnuts far exceeds that of female flowers, so during the flowering period, male flowers can be appropriately reduced to avoid nutrient consumption by the plant and correspondingly increase the number of female flowers. Generally, before flowering, excess male flower branches or the more numerous male inflorescences on some fruit branches should be pruned off.
Artificial pollination: Chestnut is a tree species with a high seed-setting rate through cross-pollination. According to experiments, the probability of self-pollination is only 20%, while the probability of cross-pollination can reach 90%. Therefore, when planting, plant some pollinator varieties around the production varieties to improve the fruit set rate. In addition to this method, the simplest pollination method is to collect pollen and carry out artificial pollination. Collect the male flower pollen from other plants and apply it to the female flowers of other plants, and the pollination probability is 100%.
The above are the reasons for low fruit set rate in chestnuts and methods to improve the fruit set rate brought to you by Qinnong Web. We hope it can help you. For more information, please stay tuned to Qinnong Web.