Methods for Lifting, Packaging and Transporting Jujube Nursery Stock

Packaging and transport: After lifting the seedlings, they should be trimmed promptly, mainly pruning the damaged roots, and cutting back the secondary branches to leave about 1 cm, then bundling them into bundles of a set number. If transport over a relatively long distance is required, the roots should immediately be dipped in mud slurry and wrapped well with soaked cattail bags or straw bags. If nursery stock of several varieties is packaged and transported together, a label should be tied both inside and outside each package stating the variety, grade and number of plants. For long-distance transport, soaked straw or water grass should also be packed into the gaps between the seedlings to prevent the roots from being dried by the wind and losing too much water and dying. After loading, the top should be covered well with a tarpaulin, and wind must be strictly prevented from getting under the tarpaulin; at the same time this also reduces water loss caused by sun exposure.

For root-sucker seedlings that have been cultivated after being returned to the nursery, grafted seedlings, and jujube nursery stock raised from cuttings, once the height reaches more than 80 cm and the ground diameter reaches more than 1 cm, they can be lifted and planted out. The lifting season in northern jujube production areas is generally during the two periods from after leaf fall in autumn to before the soil freezes, or from after the soil thaws in spring to before bud break. During the lifting period, if the soil is too dry, it should be watered promptly, and lifting should be carried out 5 days later. Doing so can not only effectively increase the moisture content of the nursery stock, but also to a certain extent reduce the occurrence of root damage during digging caused by overly hard soil. This can effectively improve the survival rate after planting.