Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for High-Yield Cultivation of the Giant Winter Peach

The giant winter peach, also known as the Red Snow Giant Peach, is currently one of the largest winter peach varieties in China. Its fruit sugar content reaches as high as 19.6%, and its ripening period coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, making it highly favored by fruit growers and consumers in recent years and well worth promoting.

I. Variety Characteristics

The fruit of this variety is nearly round, with an average single fruit weight of 400 grams. The background color is creamy yellow, with more than 60% of the fruit surface being bright red. The flesh is creamy white, crisp and tender, clingstone, and extremely sweet. The fruit is highly resistant to storage and transportation, and can be stored for more than 35 days at room temperature. This variety has strong growth vigor, an upright tree posture, short internodes, and easy flower bud formation. Its self-pollination fruit set rate reaches as high as 41%. After planting, the fruit-bearing plant rate in the second year is 100%, and the per-plant yield in the third year can reach 18 kg. From the fourth year onward, it enters the full production period, with fresh fruit yield per mu reaching as high as 4000 kg.

II. Planting Specifications

To achieve high yields, dwarf and close planting cultivation should be adopted. For flat land and sloping land, the planting spacing of 3 m x 1 m is appropriate, with 222 plants per mu. The planting hole should be 80 cm long and 80 cm wide, with a depth of 60 cm. Crop straw, farmyard manure, and other materials should be filled into the hole in layers, ensuring one layer of fertilizer and one layer of soil, with soil and fertilizer mixed evenly. The topmost layer should be covered with 30 cm of soil. The best planting time is from September to November and from February to March of the following year.

III. Fertilizer and Water Management

For peach trees planted in winter, the first topdressing should be applied after sprouting in spring, and thereafter topdressing should be applied once every 15 days, each time using nitrogen fertilizer, phosphorus fertilizer, and organic fertilizer mixed with water and applied around the root zone. Topdressing should stop in early July to control excessive shoot growth and promote flower formation. In late September, apply one topdressing of decomposed human and livestock manure water. In the second year, apply compound fertilizer once each in February, July, late September, and early May. Early March is the initial flowering stage; if drought occurs, irrigation should be carried out promptly to resist drought and favor flowering. From May to September during the high-temperature season, crop straw or weeds should be used to cover the tree disk to resist drought and preserve moisture, favoring fruit enlargement. In the rainy season, trenches should be cleared in time to drain water and prevent waterlogging damage, creating a suitable environment.

IV. Training and Pruning

The V-shaped form provides good ventilation and light penetration, bears fruit early, and gives high and stable yields. The method is as follows: In the year of planting, cut the trunk back to 40-50 cm to establish the main stem. Select and retain 2 vigorous branches growing toward the row spacing as permanent main branches, leaving no central leader, and insert two bamboo poles diagonally to secure them, with the main branches at a 45-degree angle to the ground. Additionally select 4-6 new shoots as auxiliary nurturing branches, and when they reach 30 cm in length, pinch the tips and twist the shoots to promote flower formation; they will bear fruit the following year. After entering the full production period, gradually thin out the auxiliary nurturing branches. When the main branches reach 40 cm, pinch the tips to promote branching, and at the same time select the vigorous shoots at the top as extension branches, tying them to the diagonally inserted bamboo poles. During pruning in the second year, shorten the extension branches again to promote branching, and select and retain extension branches. This tree form takes 2-3 years to take shape. When formed, the main branches and extension branches are about 1.5 m long, and a 0.6 m light-transmitting band is maintained between rows.

V. Flower and Fruit Management

This variety forms flowers very easily, has strong self-fruit-setting ability, and shows light physiological fruit drop and pre-harvest fruit drop. Fruit thinning should be carried out from late May to early June, maintaining a leaf-to-fruit ratio of 50:1. Bagging can prevent pest and disease damage and fruit cracking, and can also significantly increase coloration and improve quality. Bagging should be carried out after fruit thinning in early June, and bags should be removed in mid-September.

VI. Pest and Disease Control

Spray insecticide and fungicide once before and after bagging; before bud break, spray 3-5 degree lime sulfur mixture to prevent peach leaf curl; in early April, spray quick-kill solution to control aphids; from early May to early June, spray mancozeb solution or carbendazim solution to control bacterial shot hole disease, powdery mildew, and scab; from July to August, use fenvalerate solution to spray and kill leaf miner and other pests.