The Latest Guide from Site Selection to Seedling Management: How to Grow Pomelo
China has a very long history of cultivating pomelo trees; records of planting pomelo trees date back as far as the Zhou and Qin dynasties before the Common Era. Pomelo leaves resemble those of mandarin and orange trees, mostly long oval or long ovate. The pomelo surface is mostly yellow or orange and has a pungent odor. The flesh is rich in vitamins, organic acids and minerals, and has effects such as relieving cough and reducing phlegm, moistening the lungs and clearing the intestines, making it deeply loved by the people. Here we introduce the matters and methods needing attention from site selection to the seedling management period, hoping to provide some help to friends who are thinking about growing pomelo.
1. Site selection
The first step before sowing is inevitably to choose the site of the nursery. The nursery site should face south or southeast, with good ventilation and light transmission, and a slope not exceeding 10 degrees at most. The soil layer should be more than 20 cm deep. Generally, choose a place with good water retention and drainage, convenient irrigation, and medium-fertility sandy loam or sandy yellow loam, with a certain ability to resist wind damage and pests and diseases.
2. Land preparation
After determining the sowing nursery, before sowing, the nursery land should be deep-plowed and the soil sun-dried so that the soil is fully weathered. Drainage ditches should be opened around the nursery to facilitate drainage and irrigation. The nursery beds should be arranged in an east-west direction, generally 1.2 m wide and 15-20 cm high, with ditches 40 cm wide. The length of the beds depends on the terrain. The bed surface should be flat and the soil particles fine and crumbly. A few days before sowing, apply grass fertilizer; generally use 1800 kg of farmyard manure and 150 kg of plant ash per mu, mix well with the topsoil, and then sow.
3. Sowing
The sowing time can be chosen between September and December, sowing as soon as the seeds are harvested, or the seeds can be stored in sand and kept until the following spring for sowing. When sowing, first open small horizontal furrows on the bed surface, with a row spacing of 10 cm. The seeding rate is about 15-18 kg per mu, which can produce about 40,000-60,000 seedlings. After sowing, cover with about 10 cm of fine soil, then cover the bed surface with bracken fern, rice straw or other weeds, and water to keep moist. Where irrigation is convenient, one run of “horse-race water” can also be let in to soak the ground. In dry times, pay attention to watering, often keeping the nursery land moist to promote seed germination. After the seedlings emerge, remove the covering grass.
4. Seedling management
After the seedlings emerge, the seedbed should often be kept moist, but waterlogging should not form. When the seedlings grow two true leaves and the leaves change from light to dark green, fertilization can begin. In the early stage, focus on light and frequent application, similar to “small amounts and many meals”, applying once every ten days to half a month. After six or seven consecutive applications, fertilize as appropriate according to the growth of the seedlings. The fertilizer should mainly be human and animal manure or nitrogen fertilizers such as ammonium sulfate, with an appropriate addition of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers such as plant ash or superphosphate. Generally, after one year of growth management, the young seedlings can grow to 30-50 cm tall. At this point they can be planted directly or used as rootstock seedlings for grafted seedlings.
The above is an introduction to the initial seedling-raising techniques for pomelo seedlings. It should be added that the pomelo tree is a sun-loving plant and needs to grow in low-altitude areas with ample sunlight and a warm climate, as far north as the Xinyang and Nanyang areas of Henan Province. Before planting, geographical and environmental factors must be considered, and blind introduction must be avoided.