How to grow Physalis peruviana? A detailed explanation of the key cultivation techniques
Physalis peruviana is also known as the "red girl" (Chinese lantern plant), and it can be seen everywhere in the countryside of our country. When I was a child, I often picked them to play with, but do you know that this wild fruit seen everywhere has extremely high nutritional value? It can not only be eaten directly but can also be made into canned goods, juice, and so on, and it is very popular on the market, with its market demand growing larger and larger. Many people also want to grow it but do not know how to grow it, so below I have brought you the cultivation method for Physalis peruviana.
1. Land selection and planting
Although Physalis peruviana is not very strict about soil requirements, if you want Physalis peruviana to grow and develop normally and well, you should still choose a place with more humus, fertile soil, and loose soil texture. The orchard should be established in a place sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, away from noisy places such as residential areas and factories. Ensure the orchard is pollution-free, and build the orchard on hillsides as much as possible, but the slope must not exceed 10 degrees. When planting, determine the planting density well, with a row spacing of about 1*1 m per plant, and the width and depth of the planting hole at about 40 cm. Apply 5 kg of farmyard manure to each planting hole. After planting, the hole surface should be a few cm lower than the ground to ensure moisture for Physalis peruviana during the growing season.
2. Shaping and pruning
Physalis peruviana generally begins to bear fruit in the second year after planting, and each fruit cluster will have about 2-3 fruits. In the year of planting, you should choose to retain 4-5 strong-growing, healthy and robust basal branches. After the second year, retain 4-5 basal branches each year, and usually about 20 basal branches are retained per clump. When each tree grows to 4-5 years, it can reach a high yield of about 10 kg. However, if the branches within the clump are too dense, it may cause poor air and light penetration, making the area under the main branches prone to becoming bare, with no fruit forming inside, reducing yield. Therefore, when entering the fruiting period, pay attention to pruning the fruit trees, strengthen the air and light penetration of the trees, and for overly dense branch clumps, cut out weak branches and excess basal branches.
3. Topdressing and watering
After planting and recovery from transplanting, apply a seedling-promoting fertilizer together with watering, and water sufficiently to keep the soil moist, watering once a week. In dry summer weather, the watering interval can be appropriately shortened. Apply by hole application or furrow application per mu, generally farmyard manure or urea. After the fruit expands, apply the second fertilizer to promote fruit development and plant growth. In the middle and late stages of harvest, topdressing should be carried out according to the plant's growth condition. If the base fertilizer is insufficient, compound fertilizer can be applied as topdressing. If conditions permit, foliar topdressing can be carried out, using urea or compound fertilizer made into an aqueous solution and sprayed on the leaves about once every five days. If the leaves are too large and the internodes are too long, showing suspected excessive vegetative growth, use potassium dihydrogen phosphate for control.
4. Disease control
During the cultivation process, great attention should be paid to soil management in the orchard, removing grown weeds to reduce the occurrence of pests and diseases. During the flowering period and new shoot growth period, if continuous drought weather occurs, pay attention to timely irrigation. Fertilizer should be applied at least three times each year. In mid-to-late October each year, when the leaves fall, pay attention to burying them into the soil for cold protection; the thickness of the covering soil should not expose the branches. Around April of the second year, when the temperature gradually rises, the cold protection measures can be removed. This can effectively prevent frost damage and pests and diseases, ensuring the normal growth and development of the plants.
The nutritional value of Physalis peruviana is very high, and it can almost be said that the whole plant is a treasure. Now the market price of Physalis peruviana is also very high. Moreover, after the ripe fruits of Physalis peruviana are harvested, they can be stored for a relatively long time, so it is a good project for growing crops to make money. Before planting, everyone should first understand the growth characteristics of Physalis peruviana, the suitable environment, and so on, and then decide whether to plant it on a large scale. I hope this article of mine can be of some help to everyone.