How to Grow Taoxi Extra-Early Honey Pomelo? Detailed Cultivation Points

Taoxi Extra-Early Honey Pomelo in Xingan County, Jiangxi Province is a superior seedling individual discovered over many years during the county's selection of improved sweet pomelo varieties. This variety matures in mid-September and features extra-early maturity, sweet and crisp flesh, relatively few seeds, strong adaptability, and resistance to disease and frost. The county has established a research and development project, with a cultivation area of 500 mu this year.

Characteristics

The Taoxi Extra-Early Honey Pomelo tree has a round-headed canopy, tree height 3.5 m--4.5 m, robust and relatively upright branch growth, and a well-developed root system with roots reaching over 3 m deep and spreading about 5 m, distributed densely within 20 cm--80 cm of the soil layer. The leaves are unifoliolate, long-elliptical, with a relatively pointed tip and medium-sized winged petiole. The inflorescence is a compound raceme, averaging 5 flowers per inflorescence, white, with 4--5 calyx lobes. The fruit is short bottle-gourd shaped; the rind color of mature fruit is light green in the early stage, turning green-yellow in the middle stage, and golden yellow in the late stage. The average single fruit weight is 1200 g, with a maximum of up to 2000 g. The fruit surface is smooth with fine, densely packed, slightly raised oil cells. The rind is about 1.5 cm thick, and the segments are kidney-shaped, 10--13 segments. The juice sacs are white, short-lanceolate, with relatively abundant juice, fine and tender texture, relatively crisp, sweet flavor, no bitter or numbing aftertaste, pure taste, and excellent quality. Each fruit averages 40--50 seeds, the edible rate is 54.5%, the soluble solids content is 12.7%, the total sugar content is 10.52%, the acid content is 0.407%, and vitamin C is 62.2 mg/100 g. The fruit does not store well, and quality declines after 45 days of storage at room temperature.

Cultivation Points

Proper close planting. The Taoxi Extra-Early Honey Pomelo has relatively upright branch growth and is suitable for proper close planting; generally, the spacing on flat land is 4 m x 5 m, and on mountain land 3.5 m x 4.5 m. Reasonable pruning. Pruning of young trees focuses on controlling vigorous top growth and expanding the canopy. Summer pruning uses propping and pulling branches to increase branching angles and adjust growth orientation; spring pruning should focus on thinning out upright vigorous shoots at the top and on scaffold branches. Pruning of mature trees mostly uses renewal pruning to rejuvenate weakened branches, control vigorous top growth, improve light conditions in the canopy, and increase fruiting. Fertilization and irrigation. Each year, focus on applying fruit-strengthening fertilizer and post-harvest fertilizer. Fruit-strengthening fertilizer is applied from late June to early July, accounting for about 40% of the annual fertilizer amount, mainly nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium chemical fertilizers combined with organic fertilizer. Post-harvest fertilizer must be applied before mid-to-late October after harvest, mainly organic fertilizer, accounting for 50%--60% of the annual fertilizer amount; spring fertilizer is applied according to tree vigor, applied to weak trees and not to strong ones. During the fruit growth and ripening periods, irrigate promptly in case of drought. Flower and fruit thinning. The Taoxi Extra-Early Honey Pomelo has a high flowering and fruiting rate; to improve fruit quality, enhance its marketability, and maintain a reasonable leaf-to-fruit ratio, timely flower and fruit thinning is necessary. Pest and disease control. The main pests and diseases include canker, gummosis, red spider mite, scale insects, leaf miner, and longhorn beetle. Control methods should focus on production measures such as strengthening tree vigor, improving resistance, and improving tree ventilation, combined with timely spraying.

TAG: Pomelo