How to Bag Pomegranates? Detailed Guide to the Latest Technical Methods
The pomegranate is a common fruit. When growing pomegranates, besides choosing disease-free, superior varieties, good management is also one of the factors that promotes high pomegranate yields. Bagging is one aspect of this management: fruit is bagged to protect the skin of the fruit and better promote growth. Today I bring you the bagging technique for pomegranates.
1. Types of pomegranate bags
To bag pomegranates, you must first choose the right type of bag. Bags are divided into plastic bags and paper bags. Paper bags have better permeability, and young fruit can be bagged immediately after it appears. The advantage of paper bags is that after bagging you do not need to spray too much insecticide, and the fruit ripens earlier and is easy to store. However, paper bags cost more and are easily damaged. The advantages of plastic bags are that they are simple to use and cheap, and they can reduce fruit cracking, but their breathability is poor; bagging too early will affect fruit development, and coloring may be poorer, affecting appearance. The choice of bag is mainly decided by the variety and the growing environment.
2. Management before bagging pomegranates
Pomegranates have female and male flowers. The flowering period of pomegranate flowers can reach three months, and fruit growth differs depending on the flowering time. Flowers found to be aging or poorly developed must be cleaned up promptly. You should also pay close attention to the fruit: if diseased fruit, deformed fruit, etc. are found, they must also be cleaned up promptly. Before bagging, topdressing should be carried out at the flowering stage and the swelling stage, applying the corresponding basal fertilizer according to the condition of each tree to increase the pomegranate fruit-setting rate. Also, before bagging, insecticidal and antibacterial agents should be sprayed throughout the whole orchard to disinfect the entire orchard, because the fruit-setting period is the stage when pests and diseases are most likely to occur, so this is to prevent the occurrence of pests and diseases.
3. Methods of bagging pomegranates
If you are using paper bags, open the mouth of the paper bag, put one hand inside to open the bag, and use the other hand to make the fruit bag puff up. Then put the young fruit in from top to bottom, letting the young fruit stay in the middle of the fruit bag, but do not let the young fruit touch the fruit bag during bagging. After putting it in, pinch the opening of the bag tightly with your hand and close it with string or wire. When bagging with plastic bags, directly open the mouth of the bag and, just as with paper bags, place the young fruit in the bag. Then seal the bag.
4. Management after bagging pomegranates
After bagging, water and fertilizer in the orchard should be increased, with more phosphorus and potassium fertilizer applied to help the fruit swell and improve quality. Because bagging takes place when pomegranates set fruit, the period after bagging is a stage of rapid pomegranate development; you must ensure the required amount of water to promote fruit enlargement and increase yield. You should also carefully observe whether new branches have grown from the lower part of the trunk; if so, prune them promptly, because new branches will compete with old branches and fruit for nutrients, and this is beneficial to fruit growth.
The above is a brief introduction to pomegranate bagging techniques. Bagging mainly improves fruit yield and quality. Nowadays, no matter what fruit growers plant, they choose to bag the fruit when it sets. As long as you pay attention to management before and after bagging, as well as the methods, it will not have any impact on the fruit. It has only benefits and no harm.