A Complete Analysis of the Key Points of Large Flat Apricot Cultivation and Management

1. Planting method Before planting, soak the seedling roots in water for 24 hours, take them out and dip them in a water-retaining agent, then plant them. After planting, irrigate thoroughly, and once the water has seeped down, cut the trunk back to a height of 80-100 cm. With the main trunk as the center of the planting hole, cover with 1 m x 1 m plastic film, press the edges of the film down firmly with soil, and leave the area around the planting pit slightly higher. Years of practice have proven that covering with plastic film after planting both retains water and raises soil temperature, causing the tree to sprout early and grow quickly. One week after planting, slip a plastic bag over the trunk, with a bag length of 40 cm and a width of 10 cm. To prevent damage from strong winds, tie the middle and lower opening of the bag tightly with string. This method both prevents the seedlings from dehydrating and prevents damage from the Oriental beetle and the weevil. When the seedling leaves have grown to 1/2 the size of normal leaves, tear open the upper part of the bag before 10 o'clock or after 16 o'clock each day to let air in; after 2 days, remove the bag on a rainy day or in the early morning or evening, and at the same time wipe off the suckers. If there is no rain for 15-30 days after planting, one supplemental watering is needed. Using the above method, the survival rate of planting is over 90%.

2. Training and pruning Winter pruning of young trees is carried out from January to March each year, mainly for training, to build a good framework and lay a solid foundation for high and stable yields. During winter pruning, the central leader and the heads of the main and secondary branches are all cut back at 40 cm, competing branches, crossing branches and dense branches are thinned out, and all others are left unpruned. To make young trees bear fruit early and achieve early high yields, summer pruning is especially important. Branch bending begins in June, pulling the main branches to a basal angle of 50-60 degrees and other branches to 90 degrees, and wiping off the buds below the first main branch and the upright buds and competing buds on the back of each main branch, improving ventilation and light conditions and converting vegetative growth into reproductive growth.

During the full fruiting period, continue to moderately cut back the extension branches of the scaffold branches at all levels, promptly renew the fruiting branch groups, and promptly cut back and rejuvenate the thin and weak branch groups and those that have become weak due to continuous fruiting, prompting new branches to emerge from the base and form new fruiting branch groups. To prevent the interior of the canopy from becoming bare due to insufficient light and to keep it continuously sprouting new branches, the fruiting branch groups must be promptly renewed to form new fruiting branch groups, ensuring consecutive years of high and stable yields.

3. Fertilizer and water management The fertilizer pits should be slightly deeper. Dig a ring-shaped trench 40-60 cm deep and 50 cm wide around the outer edge of the tree, mix fermented straw manure and other farmyard manure with phosphate fertilizer, and apply 50 kg per tree during the full fruiting period and 20 kg per tree for young trees. Topdressing is done in 2 applications. The first is applied before flowering, with a quick-acting fertilizer mainly of nitrogen, which both increases the fruit-setting rate and benefits root and new shoot growth. The second is applied in early August after the fruit is harvested, this time with a compound fertilizer mainly of phosphorus and potassium, which after application can quickly restore tree vigor, promote flower bud differentiation and increase the number of complete flowers.

The large flat apricot has relatively strong drought resistance and can be irrigated 2-3 times a year: first, after trench fertilization in autumn, pour 2 buckets of water into each fertilizer trench; second, irrigate once when topdressing before flowering; in addition, irrigate once when spring is especially dry.