What are the methods of applying organic fertilizer to fruit trees?
How should organic fertilizer be applied to fruit trees? Please give guidance. Fruit trees need a balanced supply of nutrients. Although organic fertilizer is very rich in nutrients, the ratio and content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium cannot fully meet the growth needs of fruit trees. Especially during the piling and decomposition process of organic fertilizer, the nitrogen content will further decrease. If applied alone...
How should organic fertilizer be applied to fruit trees? Please give guidance
Fruit trees need a balanced supply of nutrients. Although organic fertilizer is very rich in nutrients, the ratio and content of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium cannot fully meet the growth needs of fruit trees. Especially during the piling and decomposition process of organic fertilizer, the nitrogen content will further decrease. If organic fertilizer alone is applied to meet the nitrogen requirement, phosphorus and potassium will be excessive, causing waste; if phosphorus and potassium just meet the needs of the fruit trees, nitrogen will be insufficient. Therefore, applying organic fertilizer alone cannot simultaneously satisfy the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium requirements of fruit trees, and it should be applied together with chemical fertilizers.
I. Harm of undecomposed organic fertilizer to fruit trees
1. Burning the root system. Farmyard manure mostly comes from animal feces. When these organic fertilizers are not decomposed, their nutrients are in a slow-release state and cannot be directly absorbed and used by the root system of fruit trees. If applied, during the underground decomposition process they easily generate heat that burns the roots (commonly known as "root burning"), causing root rot.
2. Nutrient release is not synchronized with the tree's fertilizer demand. For example, if undecomposed organic fertilizer is applied in autumn, because the soil temperature is low, it takes a long time to decompose underground. In the spring of the 2nd year, the tree needs a large amount of nutrients, but the limited organic nutrients released by the slowly decomposing organic fertilizer simply cannot meet the tree's needs. At the same time, during the decomposition process, microorganisms will also consume part of the original nutrient elements in the soil around the fruit tree roots (such as nitrogen fertilizer), and the tree often shows signs of malnutrition. After entering summer and autumn, rainfall increases, ground temperature rises rapidly, the decomposition speed noticeably accelerates, and more organic nutrients that can be absorbed by the tree are released, causing the tree to grow faster, produce a large number of water sprouts, poor fruit coloring, excessive vegetative growth, and poor flower bud differentiation ability, so that a large amount of organic nutrients is wasted in vain, and the tree's nutrient supply is imbalanced. Someone once dug into the soil of an orchard where raw manure had been applied and found that after 3 years part of the raw manure was still in its original state.
3. It very easily attracts pests that overwinter underground. Because undecomposed organic fertilizer contains a large amount of animal-derived organic matter, it becomes an ideal overwintering site for many fruit tree pests, and is especially likely to attract fruit tree pests such as scarab beetles (white grubs), peach fruit borers, inchworms, brown-tail moths, and pear lace bugs, which is extremely unfavorable for pest control.
II. Piling and decomposition of organic fertilizer and its application
When piling undecomposed organic fertilizer, the composting site should be chosen in a place sheltered from the wind, facing the sun, and on high ground. Lay agricultural film on the composting ground or choose a cement ground. Break up the caked livestock manure in the farmyard manure. Straw should be chopped to below 5 cm and rolled, and about 3% superphosphate should be mixed in, turned evenly with the manure and soil, and then piled. Adding superphosphate is mainly to prevent the loss of nitrogen in the organic fertilizer and can also increase microbial activity. After piling, flatten the surface with a shovel, coat it with about 10 cm of mud or cover it with agricultural film, and press the edges tightly to create an oxygen-deficient environment so that it decomposes as quickly as possible. Farmyard manure can be decomposed after about 60 days of piling. When the color of the organic fertilizer changes from the original gray to purple or black, the texture is loose, and there is a foul odor, it indicates that it has decomposed and should be applied to the orchard in time. When applying fully decomposed organic fertilizer to the orchard, choose a location beyond the vertical projection of the tree canopy, dig a fertilization ditch 30-40 cm wide and 30-40 cm deep, mix the organic fertilizer evenly with an appropriate amount of chemical fertilizer (nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer) and topsoil, then place it at the bottom of the fertilization ditch, and finally cover it with the raw subsoil dug out, or broadcast it over the whole orchard and then turn it into the soil layer.
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