How to manage Xuezao jujube? Key points of fine management techniques

Xuezao jujube is favored by people for its excellent quality, and in recent years the planting area has grown considerably in various places. However, problems exist in production such as relatively small fruit size, size variation, poor coloring, and weak flavor. Taking the following measures can effectively improve the situation.

1. Increase organic fertilizer application. Every year in late September (around fruit harvest), apply 100 kg of farmyard manure and 2 kg of calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer per fruiting tree, by hole application or trench application.

2. Mulch the tree base with grass. Carry this out in mid-September (fruit enlargement stage), with a mulch thickness of 15-20 cm; thereafter add new grass each year to maintain a thickness of 20 cm and press down with soil to prevent it from being blown apart by wind and to prevent fires.

3. Control the tree's fruit load. After Xuezao jujube trees achieve early high yield, problems such as insufficient nutrition and relatively small fruit caused by a large number of flowers are likely to occur. In addition to strengthening soil, fertilizer and water management, the appropriate fruit retention amount should also be determined according to the tree's load capacity, so as to maintain consecutive years of high yield and high quality.

4. Lay reflective film on the ground. In mid-September (before fruit coloring), lay reflective film under the canopy, using reflected light to enhance light intensity in the middle and lower parts of the canopy, promote fruit coloring, and increase sugar content. Method: under the canopy of each row, at 0.5 m from the trunk, lay one 1 m wide strip of reflective film on each side in a north-south direction. Press the edges firmly with clods of soil or bricks.

5. Summer and autumn pruning. In dense planting cultivation of Xuezao jujube, summer and autumn pruning must be strengthened to prevent excessive shoot growth, which causes row-to-row contact, poor ventilation, insufficient light, poor coloring, and bland taste. Main measures: during the flowering period, girdle vigorous growing jujube heads and secondary branches to increase the fruit-setting rate. Promptly remove useless sprouting shoots and buds on the trunk, and thin out crowded jujube heads within the canopy. For scaffold branches and fruiting branch groups whose growth direction and angle are undesirable, bend the branches to adjust them.

6. Timely harvest. The best harvest period for Xuezao jujube is around mid-October. Xuezao jujube harvested at this time has more fully red fruit and high sugar content.