What to Do About Litchi Fruit Cracking? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Control Methods

Litchi encounters many problems during cultivation. To make sure everyone gets to eat sweet, fresh litchi, how can these problems be better solved? Today, the editor brings you the answer to litchi fruit cracking, the most common problem in litchi cultivation. Let's solve it together with the editor below!

Causes of Litchi Fruit Cracking

The most likely cause of litchi fruit cracking is uneven water supply within the litchi tree. For example, after a long dry spell, a sudden heavy rain makes the litchi tree take up too much water, causing the fruit to hold excess moisture and the skin to split. It may also be that the soil lacks calcium. When the litchi fruit skin has too little calcium, it becomes thin and soft and tears easily. In addition, pests and diseases can cause damage: for example, stink bugs and leaf-rolling moths chew on the fruit skin, which can also lead to litchi fruit cracking. Different varieties also crack differently; for example, Nuomici is a variety prone to cracking, while Feizixiao cracks less often.

Symptoms of Litchi Fruit Cracking

Cracked litchi fruit generally shows split skin with the flesh exposed. This condition does not appear only on a single fruit or a single tree; at minimum it affects a few trees, and at worst an entire mu. It is usually large-scale fruit cracking. Cracking causes the fruit to drop. After the drop, because there are fewer fruits, the litchi tree will deliver more water and nutrients to the remaining fruits. In this way it enters a repeating cycle, until all the fruit on the tree has dropped. If the drop is caused by pests and diseases, the cracked fruit should be dealt with as soon as possible to prevent it from spreading to other trees.

Prevention and Control of Litchi Fruit Cracking

First, if you do not want fruit cracking to occur, choose varieties that are not prone to cracking when planting. For example, Feizixiao and Heiye. Then, in day-to-day litchi management, keep the soil at an appropriate moisture level. In the rainy season, drain excess standing water in time and remove excess moisture from the tree canopy. Also be sure to add an appropriate amount of calcium to the soil, such as calcium magnesium phosphate and lime. When young fruit appears, spray organic calcium in time. Pay special attention to pest control, spraying appropriate pesticides or manually catching and killing pests. Do not let diseases and pests damage the fruit skin.

Many friends do not pay much attention to litchi fruit cracking, but this will directly affect your economic returns. Growing litchi is a very long process and requires more patience and more care. If fruit cracking occurs, quickly check what caused the splitting, then treat the root cause! To learn more about agriculture, please keep following Qinnong Net.