Detailed Explanation of Key Lemon Orchard Management Techniques
Lemons like warmth and tolerate shade, but they are not cold-tolerant and not heat-tolerant. According to experiments, the market demand and market price of lemons are steadily rising step by step, and the economic benefits are becoming more and more considerable. Many people are growing them. Although everyone may have a relatively correct growing method, this is still far from enough. After the lemon trees are planted, the orchard management that follows is the most important step. How can orchard management be done well so that lemons produce fruit better? Let's take a look below!
1. Fertilizer and Water Management
The characteristics of fertilizing lemon trees are that spring fertilizer should be applied early, fruit-stabilizing fertilizer should be applied depending on the situation, more fruit-strengthening fertilizer should be applied, and fruit-harvesting fertilizer should be applied as a top dressing. Fertilizer should be applied at least three times a year, and the amount of fertilizer used is specifically determined by the number of fruits and the fertility of the soil. Fertilizing lemon trees is mainly based on farmyard manure, supplemented by chemical fertilizer. Every year at the Beginning of Spring when new shoots grow, spring flower fertilizer is applied. Spring flower fertilizer is mainly quick-acting fertilizer, mainly organic fertilizer. Trees with weaker growth and more flowers should be given more, while trees with strong growth and fewer flowers can be given less or not at all. The water requirements of lemon trees are also relatively important. If drought occurs, water should be replenished immediately to ensure that fruiting trees have sufficient water supply for development and fruiting during the spring shoot sprouting period and young fruit period.
2. Reasonable Pruning
The shaping and pruning of lemon trees can be carried out all year round, but it is mainly in winter and spring, with the growing season as a supplement. In the early stage of fruiting trees, light thinning and long releasing should be the main method, with the goal of cultivating excellent fruiting mother branches and maintaining a gradual increase in flower quantity every year. However, as the tree age increases year by year, the pruning amount of the tree body should also begin to increase appropriately. In pruning, summer pruning is still the main method. One purpose is to prune overly long branches to enhance the tree's air permeability, and the other is to cultivate the tree shape and thin out branches that may disrupt the tree shape. Relatively weak spring and autumn vegetative branches are retained as mother branches, with the purpose of ensuring sufficient flower quantity and fruit set for the coming year, so that the tree's nutrients are promptly directed toward reproductive growth.
3. Flower and Fruit Management
In the summer of the previous year, according to various factors such as the growth of the lemon tree, age, number of fruits, and rainfall, autumn shoots should be released uniformly, in order to allow the lemon tree to form good fruiting mother branches. The branches and leaves of the tree should also be protected well to avoid damage from pests and diseases. In autumn, after the autumn shoots have fully matured, loosening the soil and cutting the roots can begin, in order to control the growth rate of winter shoots of the lemon tree and promote flower bud differentiation for the coming year. After the lemon tree finishes flowering, fruit-preserving measures should be taken immediately. If rainy weather occurs, the tree body should be shaken in time to shake the water out of the flowers and avoid soaking the flowers until they rot.
4. Fruit Bagging
Although there was no such thing as bagging when growing fruit in the past, after people discovered the benefits of bagging, bagging technology began to become popular. Now no matter what fruit is grown, even some melon vegetables, bagging technology can be used. When bagging lemons, choose plants with strong growth and good management. For the fruit, lemons with no differences in appearance, no pests and diseases, and good growth should be selected for bagging. The time is generally around July each year. Before bagging, the orchard needs to be thoroughly and completely sterilized, sprayed once every three days, for two sprays. After the liquid medicine dries, bagging can begin.
The above is the orchard management technology when growing lemons. Manage the orchard well, reduce sources of disease, and lower the incidence of disease. To give lemons a good growing environment, what also needs special attention is the prevention and control of pests and diseases. No matter what pests and diseases there are, if they are not treated and controlled in time, they will cause a large reduction in orchard yield, a rapid decline in quality, and may even result in total crop failure. If everyone wants to understand what pests and diseases lemons have and their control methods, you can go to Qinnong.com to check previous articles!