How to Prevent Fruit Cracking in Sweet Cherries: A Detailed Guide to Practical Control Methods
Cherries are prone to cracking in rainy weather. What methods can prevent fruit cracking in sweet cherries? When cherries are exposed to rain close to maturity or before harvest, fruit cracking occurs. This problem is widespread in cherry-producing regions of China and brings huge losses to fruit growers every year. Methods such as spraying mineral substances, hormones and other protective agents to prevent fruit cracking have an effect of only about 1%-3%; breeding excellent crack-resistant rootstocks and varieties is an effective measure, but so far there are still no highly resistant rootstocks and varieties available for selection; flood irrigation of the cherry orchard 24 hours before rain can reduce the fruit cracking rate of sweet cherries by 30%, but because weather changes cannot be accurately predicted, fruit growers cannot accurately apply this technique; the trunk girdling technique at full bloom stage has a very significant effect on preventing fruit cracking, but it often easily causes heavy gumming and tree death due to heavy fruit load or weak tree vigor. Aiming at the main problems in sweet cherry production, this study controlled the fruit cracking rate of sweet cherries within 0.3% at low cost by building simple "rain shelters" for sweet cherries.
Cherries are prone to cracking in rainy weather. What methods can prevent fruit cracking in sweet cherries?
When cherries are exposed to rain close to maturity or before harvest, fruit cracking occurs. This problem is widespread in cherry-producing regions of China and brings huge losses to fruit growers every year. Methods such as spraying mineral substances, hormones and other protective agents to prevent fruit cracking have an effect of only about 1%-3%; breeding excellent crack-resistant rootstocks and varieties is an effective measure, but so far there are still no highly resistant rootstocks and varieties available for selection; flood irrigation of the cherry orchard 24 hours before rain can reduce the fruit cracking rate of sweet cherries by 30%, but because weather changes cannot be accurately predicted, fruit growers cannot accurately apply this technique; the trunk girdling technique at full bloom stage has a very significant effect on preventing fruit cracking, but it often easily causes heavy gumming and tree death due to heavy fruit load or weak tree vigor. Aiming at the main problems in sweet cherry production, this study controlled the fruit cracking rate of sweet cherries within 0.3% at low cost by building simple "rain shelters" for sweet cherries.
The cost of building a simple "rain shelter" by the Shandong Institute of Pomology is only 1500 yuan per mu. The construction technique is simple and easy to carry out, can be used for many years, and is easy for fruit growers to master. Afterward, the film is replaced once every 2-3 years, costing 200-300 yuan. For fruit growers, this cost is easy to accept compared with the high returns of the current cherry market.
The construction technique of the simple "rain shelter" for sweet cherries not only solves the problem of easy fruit cracking when rain occurs during the cherry ripening period and effectively ensures the income of fruit growers, but also reduces bird damage to sweet cherries; in areas prone to frost damage in early spring, if the "rain shelter" is built in advance, it can also play a role in preventing frost; in the rainy areas of southern China, where cultivation is impossible because of abundant rain, if ridge cultivation is combined with the construction of a "rain shelter", sweet cherries can absolutely be grown in the rainy areas of China.
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