How to Grow Smoked Plum? Detailed Planting Methods and Techniques
Smoked plum is a fruit and also a Chinese medicinal herb, with relatively high nutritional and medicinal value, but it should not be eaten in large amounts or over a long period, otherwise it will cause adverse reactions. Smoked plum is also fairly common in our daily lives, but it mainly appears in the form of dried fruit, and can be used to treat chronic diarrhea and chronic dysentery, chronic cough due to lung deficiency, as well as vomiting, abdominal pain, and ascariasis syncope, while also having an appetite-stimulating effect. So how do you grow smoked plum? Let us take a detailed look at its planting methods below.
1. Forest land preparation
Smoked plum has the characteristics of preferring warmth, moisture, and sunlight, being cold-tolerant, drought-resistant, and afraid of waterlogging. It has relatively strong vitality and is not particular about the soil of the planting site, but generally smoked plum grown in loose soil with sufficient fertility has better yield and quality. In particular, it is best not to plant smoked plum in heavy clay soil and saline-alkali land, as it is difficult to survive and prone to pests and diseases. The planting site should be relatively high in terrain, have good drainage, be finely prepared, and fertilized during land preparation, mainly with farmyard manure, with an appropriate amount of urea, phosphate fertilizer, potassium fertilizer, and the like added. Open furrows and make beds, with the bed width at about 1.5 m and height at 20 cm, and then you can wait to sow.
2. Planting techniques
There are three propagation methods for smoked plum, namely seed propagation, grafting propagation, and cutting propagation, but the most commonly used method at present is still seed propagation. Seed propagation is generally carried out in April each year for spring sowing, sown evenly at a row spacing of 25 cm, with the distance between each seed at about 6 to 8 cm, and finally covered with soil. Grafting propagation is generally carried out in early spring, as this makes the survival rate much higher, and rootstock suitable for grafting that is 1 to 2 years old is used. Cutting propagation can be carried out in early spring or at the autumn equinox, and before cutting, the cuttings should be soaked in rooting powder, as this can promote rooting. During the seedling-raising period, the soil in the field should be kept moist.
3. Field management
Transplanting and setting out smoked plum is generally best done before budding in early spring, as this makes the survival rate of transplanting much higher. When transplanting, it is generally set out at a row spacing of 3 m and a plant spacing of 2 m. After setting out, watering should be carried out reasonably, as this helps the plants survive. After the smoked plum survives, attention should be paid to intertillage and weeding, and the field moisture should be controlled according to changes in the weather. Generally, three topdressings are needed in a year, and each topdressing is best carried out together with intertillage and watering, as this helps the absorption of nutrients and promotes root growth. At the same time, pruning and shaping should be carried out at least once a year for smoked plum to achieve the effect of increasing yield.
4. Pest and disease control
The main disease of smoked plum is anthracnose, which not only harms the fruit of smoked plum but also harms branches, leaves, and so on. In the early stage of the disease, we can use thiophanate wettable powder or carbendazim for control. Next, there are also gray mold, plaster disease, and scab, which can be controlled with procymidone wettable powder, 1 Baume degree, and thiophanate-methyl wettable powder respectively. There are also insect pests that harm the growth of smoked plum, including aphids, longhorn beetles, globular scale insects, and stinging caterpillars, which we can spray and kill with pyrethroid insecticides.
The planting method of smoked plum is actually very similar to the planting method of the cherries we usually grow. In the process of growing smoked plum, there are actually many places that need attention, and we will continue to update and improve them later. If everyone wants to learn more detailed content, you can follow us.