Key Points on the Cultivation, Management and Pest and Disease Control of Huyou (Citrus changshan-huyou)

Huyou has many benefits and effects, and the plant itself also has fairly high ornamental value, so learning how to grow Huyou and planting it in your own yard would be a good choice.

I. Benefits and Effects of Huyou

1. Huyou tastes sweet with a hint of bitterness; good medicine tastes bitter but is good for illness, and the outer peel of Huyou can treat wind-cold.

2. Huyou can beautify the face and prolong life; its flesh contains 16 amino acids essential to the human body as well as large amounts of vitamin C, B vitamins and trace elements. It is suitable for elderly people and makes an excellent gift for parents.

3. Huyou can help prevent the occurrence of colon cancer and stomach cancer. Fresh pomelo flesh, because it contains components similar to insulin, is an ideal food for people with diabetes.

4. Huyou can lower blood sugar, but the effect is not very strong, so it is only suitable to eat in small amounts. Doctors also point out that Huyou has an auxiliary therapeutic effect, but regular follow-up examinations are necessary.

II. Huyou Cultivation and Management Techniques

Timely harvesting. Fruit intended for storage is generally best harvested when the fruit around the periphery of the canopy has turned color by 90%, usually around the time of Lidong (the Beginning of Winter solar term). Bagged Huyou, however, must be harvested after October 30 and must not be picked early, so as not to affect quality. Use the two-cut method when harvesting, focusing on harvesting quality fruit. Do not harvest when frost, dew or rain has not dried, or on foggy days; harvest 2 to 3 days after strong wind and rain. Treat the harvested fruit with a chemical agent within 24 hours. After the fruit is soaked in the chemical solution, take it out and air-dry it; after it has fully sweated, wrap each fruit in plastic film and store it in the warehouse.

Preserving flowers and fruit. When three-quarters of the flowers have faded, spray once with 50 ppm, that is, 1 gram of 920 (gibberellin) mixed with 40 jin of water, plus 0.3% monopotassium phosphate, plus 0.2% borax (Sule boron), plus 0.5% urea, along with 800-fold dilutions each of Tuzet and trichlorfon, sprayed on the leaf surfaces. Local people call this the "six-in-one" mix, and the effect is very good. However, this spray can only be applied once a year; spraying it more often will cause the rind to thicken and reduce fruit quality.

Freeze protection and warmth retention: Apply sufficient organic fertilizer such as barnyard manure and weeds. Before early December, bring in 2 to 3 dan of outside soil to the root crown, with the mound height at 25 cm or more, or cover the ground beneath the canopy for insulation, and whitewash the trunk. Before the soil freezes, spray the canopy with 0.2% urea or a wood-ash extract to increase the leaves' cold resistance, and remove young late-autumn shoots. Water the roots with dilute human and animal urine or irrigate to retain warmth. When heavy snow falls, promptly shake the snow off the trees to prevent the snow from breaking branches. After the snow has accumulated and frozen, do not shake the snow, so as not to damage the branches.

III. Huyou Pest and Disease Control

1. Insect pests: The main insect pests harming Huyou are mites, scale insects, citrus aphids and citrus leafminers.

Control methods: For red spider mites, yellow spider mites and rust mites, abamectin and similar products can be used. For citrus leafminers, B.T. or pyrethroid pesticides can be used. For scale insects, Shajie and Pushaling give the best results.

2. Diseases: The diseases harming Huyou include canker and anthracnose.

① Canker: Canker is not commonly seen in our city. Its main symptoms appear on the trunk and leaves. After canker occurs, copper-based chemical agents are used for control, and imported nursery stock must undergo strict quarantine.

② Anthracnose: It mainly occurs when there is a lot of rain, with concentric circular spots appearing on the leaves. It can be controlled with agricultural streptomycin, Bordeaux mixture, thiophanate-methyl and the like (prepare and use according to the drug instructions).

In addition, Huyou is also easily infected by sooty mold and huanglongbing, and is attacked by pests such as swallowtail butterflies, longhorn beetles, flower-bud midges and fruit-piercing noctuid moths. To ensure its healthy growth, early prevention and protection must be carried out.