What is the Luwang peach? An introduction to its variety characteristics
Luwang peach is a mid-to-late ripening peach variety, bred in Japan, and after 5 years of observation, it performs well in low-altitude areas (around 300 m) at 40 degrees north latitude.
Fruit traits: the fruit is nearly round, well-formed with a distinct suture, the two halves symmetrical, the fruit apex flat and slightly sunken, the fruit surface ground colour white, turning pink after colouring, the flesh white with red lines, the texture fine, with few fibres, juicy and sweet, with a certain wild peach flavour, of the very highest quality, and the fruit is large, with an average fruit weight of 450 g and a maximum fruit weight of 995 g. This variety has a small stone, is freestone, and individual fruits have a splitting-stone characteristic; at room temperature it can be stored for 20-25 days, and under refrigeration it can be stored until the Spring Festival.
Growth and fruiting habits: this variety grows vigorously, with a strong tree habit, a high bud-break rate on the branches and a fairly high shoot-forming rate, and it is easy to train and prune; long, medium and short shoots of all types readily form flower buds. Young trees crop mainly on medium and long fruiting branches. In a normal year, the flower buds break in early April, flowering occurs around 20 April, the flowering period lasts about 1 week, the fruit development period is about 120 days, and the fruit ripens in late August. This variety fruits early and is highly productive: it flowers and fruits in the second year after planting, crops heavily in the third year, with a yield per tree of 20-30 kg. By the fourth year the yield per tree can reach 80-100 kg.
Cultivation and management
1. Planting time: for spring planting, late March to early April is suitable. For autumn planting, aim for late October to early November, but with autumn planting care should be taken to mound soil over the base for winter protection.
2. Dig large planting holes: the planting holes should be at least 80 cm square, filled with mixed fertile soil, and watered in before planting.
3. Nursery stock management: after the trunk is headed back, the branches and trunk can be protected with bags, and the ground covered with plastic film to ensure survival and promote growth.
4. Watering and top-dressing: once the nursery stock has established and the new shoots have grown to more than 15 cm, the first top-dressing and watering can be carried out. Generally apply 15 g of multi-element chemical fertiliser per plant, then water.
5. Pay attention to training and pruning: when the new shoots reach 60 cm, they can be pinched out, and once the secondary shoots emerge the branches can be bent and spread to open the crotch angle and fix the tree shape. Young trees should be pruned lightly and left to extend, increasing the order of branching, and paclobutrazol may be sprayed moderately to control excessively vigorous growth and promote flower formation.
6. Spraying foliar fertiliser: during the growing season, foliar fertiliser can be sprayed continuously, such as 300 times dilution of Guoling, 600 times dilution of Cufengbao, 300 times dilution of monopotassium phosphate, etc.
7. Appropriate arrangement of polliniser trees: Yihong and Guohongbao are suitable as pollinisers, and the proportion of polliniser trees should be about 1/4.
8. Do a good job of flower and fruit thinning: under normal circumstances, the spacing between flowers is 10 cm, and the spacing between fruits is 25-30 cm.
9. Pest and disease control: pay special attention to controlling the peach leaf miner, red spider mite, aphids, bacterial shot hole disease and the peach fruit moth, protecting the leaves and branches so that the trees grow vigorously.