Key Points of Peach-Shaped Plum Cultivation Techniques, A Guide to Growing This Rare Fruit

The peach-shaped plum is a deciduous small tree of the Rosaceae family, blooming from late March to early-to-mid April. This variety sets fruit very well: long fruit branches, medium fruit branches, short fruit branches and bouquet-like fruit branches can all bear fruit, and it also shows clustered fruiting. The fruit ripens from late July to early August and has a very good in-season consumer market. The peach-shaped plum is drought-tolerant and cold-tolerant, and is not demanding about soil; it can be planted wherever peaches and plums are suitable for cultivation.

Choose a site with irrigation and drainage conditions to establish the orchard. If planting on hillsides, the slope should be under 25°, with full reclamation and deep digging of 20 to 25 cm; on steeper slopes, level terraces should be made. For hillside planting, the spacing between plants and rows is 2.5 x 5 m; in plains areas, the spacing between plants and rows should be 3 x 4 m. Before planting, apply 100 to 150 kg of farmyard manure in each hole.

Plant at the right time. Winter planting is best done after the seedlings lose their leaves, with late December to mid-January of the following year being the best time; spring planting can be done in February to March. Set the trunk at 35 to 40 cm, spread out the seedling roots and place them in the pit, fill with soil and press firmly, then water to settle the planting.

Young tree management: in the summer of the first year after planting, select and keep 4 to 5 branches on the main trunk as main branches and remove all the rest. There should be a certain distance between the main branches, distributed in a radial pattern. Before bud break in the second year, cut each main branch back to 50 to 60 cm, with the bud at the cut facing outward. After shoots emerge, let extension branches grow from the lower side of the main branch tips. Before bud break in the spring of the third year, cut back the extension branches of each main branch according to the strength of their growth so as to balance their vigor. Be careful to remove sucker shoots at the base of the trunk at any time, and in the spring of the second and third years the flower buds should also be removed to avoid consuming nutrients. For young trees before they come into production, topdress once each in spring when buds sprout and leaves unfold, and in autumn when leaves fall.

Management of trees in production: for trees in production, the one-year-old branches should be cut back and thinned to regulate vegetative growth and promote balanced fruiting. Short fruit branches and bouquet-like fruit branches should be appropriately thinned to ensure normal branch growth and fruiting of the plant. Topdressing is required with pre-flowering fertilizer, fruit-swelling fertilizer, pre-fruit fertilizer and pre-winter fertilizer. In June, it is best to use 0.2% to 0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate as a foliar topdressing, spraying once every 12 to 15 days. In terms of pest control, attention should be paid to pests such as longhorn beetles, fruit borers, scarab beetles, stink bugs, aphids and termites, and it is best to combine targeted chemical control with light trapping.