Detailed Explanation of Practical Technical Points for Flower Enhancement and Fruit Retention in Lychee
Lychee is a very delicious fruit with a very elegant nickname——Feizixiao, and it is a specialty fruit of our country. It also has a wide planting area in our country, as the lychee market is growing larger and larger. Growers all want to increase yield as much as possible, and the key technique for increasing yield is lychee flower enhancement and fruit retention. So today, the editor brings you the techniques for lychee flower enhancement and fruit retention. Let's take a look below!
1. Cultivating Flower Spikes
During the planting process, management of lychee trees should be strengthened to cultivate healthy and sturdy fruiting mother branches, improving the flowering and fruiting rate of lychee. When cultivating flower spikes, the direction should be short and sturdy, sound, and with a normal proportion, laying the foundation for lychee fruit set. Therefore, when managing seeds, cultivating robust flower spikes is essential. During the flower spike growth period of lychee, fruit retention agents and other chemicals should be sprayed appropriately to carry out flower enhancement and fruit retention work. However, there should not be too many flower spikes, to prevent an excessive number of retained fruits in the later stage, which would affect the normal growth of lychee and instead reduce yield.
2. Regulating the Flowering Period
Lychee flower spikes have strong growth ability and a high flowering rate, but the number of female flowers is relatively small, and the flowering period is also relatively concentrated. However, because lychee varieties differ, their growth habits, growth stages, and so on all differ. So we should properly control the growth and development of lychee trees by regulating the flowering period of lychee. Increase the number of female flowers, reduce nutrient consumption, lower cultivation costs, and promote the development of flowers and fruits. It can also prevent environmental factors from affecting lychee pollination and fertilization, improve the fruit-setting rate, and achieve the purpose of flower enhancement and fruit retention.
3. Artificial Pollination
The female flowers of lychee trees must go through the pollination process to develop into fruit. Although lychee is a fruit tree with both male and female flowers on the same plant, the growth periods of female flowers and male flowers differ, usually opening in batches. Therefore, without artificial pollination, the success rate of natural pollination in lychee is very low. So during the planting process, we should do a good job of artificial pollination, which can be carried out through factors such as bees and wind. Or promote the simultaneous blooming of lychee female and male flowers, providing good conditions for lychee pollination and fertilization.
4. Girdling for Fruit Retention
Girdling is the most basic measure for lychee fruit retention, but it is generally used on fruit trees with strong growth vigor, especially fruit trees that have fruited no more than two times, where the girdling effect is very good. Therefore, it is also not suitable for old trees and weak-growing trees. Girdling begins about 10 days after female flowers wither. First, select a sturdy branch with a diameter of about 5-7 cm, then make a ring cut around the branch, with the girdling depth reaching the xylem of the branch, but not too deep, otherwise it will cause the fruit tree to die. Reasonable girdling can concentrate nutrients on flowers and fruits, and can improve the flowering and fruiting rate. However, the girdling time and method should vary according to the lychee variety.
We also need to understand the physiological fruit drop of lychee trees and rationally use growth regulators. They can be sprayed about two weeks after female flower fruit drop, then sprayed again about one week later, for about three consecutive times, which can reduce fruit drop and increase the fruit load. However, note that growth regulators should not be used excessively, to prevent excessive vegetative growth of lychee, which would instead affect the flower and fruit quantity of lychee. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you everyone for reading and supporting.