How to Grow Milk Fruit? Detailed Planting Methods and Techniques

Milk fruit, also called star apple or golden star apple, is a tropical fruit. In China it is currently grown mainly in Hainan, Fujian, Guangdong and other regions with a relatively mild climate year-round. Since the planting scale is not very large, milk fruit is also very scarce on the market. So today, let us follow in the editor's footsteps and learn about the cultivation techniques for milk fruit.

1. Soil Selection and Preparation

Milk fruit is suitable for growing in fertile, loose, micro-acidic soil with convenient drainage and irrigation; of course, neutral soil can also be used to grow milk fruit. The planting site is best located on gentle slopes, which makes water and fertilizer management easier. After choosing the planting site, in order to reduce pests and diseases in the field, we had best carry out full reclamation; of course, hole reclamation is also possible, but in that case the later management work will be relatively greater. After turning and leveling the land, dig planting holes 60 cm in length, width and height, with each planting hole about 4 m to 6 m apart, then apply sufficient base fertilizer into the planting holes, cover with a layer of fine soil about 3 cm thick, and it is ready for planting.

2. Cultivation Techniques

There are mainly three propagation methods for milk fruit: seed propagation, cutting propagation and grafting propagation. No matter which propagation method is used, we need to go through a period of seedling raising, and only when the saplings have grown to a certain size can they be transplanted. When transplanting, we should plant the saplings together with their base soil, which can improve the survival rate of milk fruit planting. Of course, this also has another advantage: the roots of the saplings will not be damaged when they are dug out. Finally, when planting, straighten the sapling, let its root system spread out, then backfill the soil, compact it and water once.

3. Cultivation Management

After the milk fruit has survived planting and resumed growth, we need to carry out topdressing together with intertillage and weeding. This can not only promote the growth of the milk fruit tree, but also reduce nutrient consumption and improve nutrient use efficiency. However, when fertilizing, we should pay attention: it is best to fertilize on sunny days, and do not sprinkle fertilizer onto the milk fruit tree, so as to avoid fertilizer burn. Next, we should do a good job of pruning young trees, scientifically cultivating the main trunk and branches to form a complete tree shape. After the milk fruit bears fruit, we should still persist with pruning work to increase the fruiting rate of the tree.

4. Pest and Disease Control

Milk fruit has strong resistance. The most common pests are fruit flies, fruit-boring insects and scale insects. Fruit flies and fruit-boring insects mainly harm the fruit of milk fruit, while scale insects harm the tree body of milk fruit. For fruit flies and fruit-boring insects, we can use bagging techniques for prevention, while scale insects can be controlled with propargite emulsifiable concentrate.

By reading the above, I believe everyone has gained some understanding of milk fruit cultivation techniques. If you have any better suggestions, you can leave us a message.