Wax Apple Price per Kilogram, Cultivation Methods, What to Do When It Doesn't Flower or Fruit, and Common Varieties
Wax apple is a tropical and subtropical fruit, native to Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Hainan, China, and other places, and is a famous premium fruit of its native regions. As wax apples have entered inland cities of China in recent years, they have attracted more and more attention, and their price is truly eye-catching - one kilogram of wax apples can reach 60 or even over a hundred yuan. This has drawn many people to rush into growing them, but after all, it is a fruit that lives in the tropics, and it is not easy to cultivate. So how should wax apples be grown? What should you do if they don't flower or fruit? What varieties are there?
I. How are wax apples grown?
1. Raising seedlings
Growing wax apples first requires raising seedlings, and there are three ways to raise wax apple seedlings: layering, cuttings, and grafting. At present, the main seedling-raising methods are layering and grafting. For layering, choose vigorous branches that have grown for at least three years, and carry it out each summer during hot, rainy weather. First select a branch with a diameter of about 3 cm and peel the bark, then mix moist soil with chopped grass into a ball, and tie the upper and lower ends tightly with rope. After about a month, new roots will grow at the peeled area, and after three months, transplanting can begin. For graft propagation, use 1-2 cm seedlings as rootstock, then use full branches about two years old as scions. Grafting can be done at any time, but the survival rate is relatively higher in spring and autumn.
2. Orchard establishment
The orchard should be chosen on fertile, deep, relatively moist, slightly acidic or neutral soil. If the orchard area is large, it is best to set up a footpath in the orchard to facilitate management during the growing period, and the irrigation and drainage system in the orchard should be well built so it can promptly handle hot, dry, water-deficient weather and rainy, waterlogged weather. Then build a manure pit and a water pool outside the orchard to facilitate fertilizing and watering. If conditions permit, a fertigation-integrated management system can also be established, which allows more convenient management of the orchard and helps the fruit trees grow better.
3. Land preparation
After the orchard is established, before transplanting the seedlings, the land in the orchard should be plowed and leveled, and debris, stones, and some grass should be removed. After plowing the soil, let the soil be exposed to the sun for a week to disinfect it, reduce pathogens and parasites in the soil, and then level the land. If the orchard is established on a hillside, then when planting wax apples, you cannot directly plant along a line; the hillside should be terraced, and it is best to build the hillside into terraced fields to facilitate later management.
4. Base fertilizer
To plant wax apples, holes need to be dug in the orchard. Determine the row spacing according to plant size, then begin digging holes. The distance between holes is generally 1*0.8*0.8 m, and after digging, expose them to the sun for about 30 days. The purpose is the same as above: to use the high temperature and ultraviolet rays of the sun to kill pathogens and parasites in the soil and reduce sources of disease. Apply base fertilizer before planting. For the base fertilizer, use farmyard manure plus calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer and compound fertilizer, mix and stir them together with broken soil, and put the mixture into the holes. Then cover with a layer of rare earth, and after three weeks, planting can begin.
5. Planting
Planting time is generally chosen in spring and autumn, and the planting density should be reasonably controlled. According to tree size, the row spacing is generally 4*4 m. This ensures early-stage yield and survival rate of the trees. When wax apples reach the full production period, carry out shading treatment in the orchard, then thin out by cutting, keeping the yield per mu at about 20 plants. This ensures the final yield and quality of the wax apples. When planting, tread while planting; the best result is that the seedling cannot be pulled out by hand afterward. However, note that the seedling roots should be prevented from touching the base fertilizer, to prevent root rot and avoid affecting the survival rate. If dead seedlings are found, replant them promptly.
II. What should be done if wax apples do not flower or fruit? How can flowering be forced and fruit be retained?
1. Shoot control
3-4 days before pruning the fruit trees, spray 40% ethephon aqueous solution at 6000 times dilution or paclobutrazol at 200-500 times dilution for shoot control, inhibiting the sprouting and growth of shoots.
2. Tree pruning
Spray ethephon or paclobutrazol before pruning the fruit trees. After spraying, choose light, moderate, or heavy pruning according to the tree's growth and development conditions and production period, to increase ventilation and light penetration in the tree;
The operation for light pruning is: remove water sprouts, back branches, overly dense branches, diseased and pest-infected branches, and weak branches, and cut off some branches and suckers;
The operation for moderate pruning is: remove terminal branches from the tree, select and retain large branches and strong branches with evenly distributed space, and for fruiting branches, according to the strength of branch growth, cut back and retain branch stubs about 2-5 cm long;
The operation for heavy pruning is: shorten the main branches, removing about 70% of the shoots and leaves.
3. Flower-forcing time and methods
The flower-forcing time is from June to November, so that the market period can be controlled from October to April of the following year. The specific operations are as follows:
① Trunk girdling or strangling
30-35 days after pruning, when the last shoots are more than 70% mature, on the trunk 30 cm above the ground, make one closed girdling ring 1-2 cm wide, or 14-21 days before flower forcing, use wire to strangle the trunk.
② Drenching rhizomes with paclobutrazol
On the second day after girdling, irrigate the soil at the base of the fruit tree's root and stem with 15% paclobutrazol wettable powder at 200 times dilution, with a dosage of about 2-4 kg per plant.
③ Covering the canopy with netting
After pesticide application, cover the fruit trees with shade netting with a 90% shading rate for 25-45 days. From April to August, the shading period is more than 35 days, and in September, the shading period is 25-30 days.
④ Chemical flower forcing
Immediately after removing the net, continuously spray 2-3 times with 48% chlorpyrifos emulsifiable concentrate at 500 times dilution + 1.8% sodium nitrophenolate aqueous solution at 1200 times dilution + 0.5% urea, spraying once every 2-3 days;
Spraying time: before 7 a.m. or after 6 p.m., choose cloudy or overcast weather for spraying, and spray evenly on both the front and back of the leaves.
4. Flower and fruit management
① Flower thinning
Principles for selecting and retaining flower branches: retain oblique, lateral, or drooping fruiting branches; back fruiting branches, thin and weak branches, and diseased and pest-infected fruiting branches should be removed. Retain 1 inflorescence per fruiting branch, and keep 5-10 flowers per inflorescence.
② Fruit thinning
From after flower drop until the fruit is the size of a finger, wipe off withered stamens and remove small fruits, weak fruits, deformed fruits, and diseased and pest-infected fruits, retaining 3-6 small fruits per fruiting branch.
③ Bagging
After fruit thinning, spray the whole tree and young fruits with 50% prochloraz manganese salt wettable powder at 1000-1500 times dilution, or 64% oxadixyl mancozeb wettable powder at 600-800 times dilution, or 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 800 times dilution + 20% fenpropathrin emulsifiable concentrate at 2000-2500 times dilution, or 10% imidacloprid emulsifiable concentrate at 5000 times dilution, or 1% abamectin emulsifiable concentrate at 5000 times dilution. After spraying for sterilization, use special fruit bags to bag the fruit clusters.
④ Fruit retention
From after flower drop until 1 week before harvest, spray once every 7 days with 80% 2,4-D sodium salt water-soluble powder at 50,000-100,000 times dilution + 0.1% potassium dihydrogen phosphate or multi-element foliar fertilizer, to increase fruit set rate and prevent fruit drop.
⑤ Harvesting
After bagging, the fruit begins to turn red in 30-50 days, and can be harvested when about 90% mature. When harvesting, use pruning shears to cut from the base of the fruiting branch together with the fruit bag, place into baskets, and send them uniformly to the packing site.
5. Fruit grading and packaging
① Grading
After screening out rotten fruits, diseased fruits, cracked fruits, and deformed fruits, grade according to conditions. Grade by single fruit weight: superior fruit single fruit weight >110 g; first-grade fruit single fruit weight 90-110 g; second-grade fruit single fruit weight 75-90 g; below-standard fruit single fruit weight<75 克。
② Packaging
After the fruits are sorted and graded, wrap them with polyethylene cling film. After wrapping, attach labels and put on foam net bags, then box and transport according to grade.
III. What are the common cultivated varieties of wax apple?
1. Black Diamond Wax Apple
Black Diamond Wax Apple is currently the main variety planted in Hainan, China and Taiwan, China. It originated in Taiwan, China and was introduced for planting in 2000, with a cultivation history of nearly 20 years. Its fruit is extremely large compared with other native varieties, with a single weight reaching about 15 g. The fruit is bell-shaped, dark red to purplish red, extremely rich in nutrients, and highly favored by consumers on the market.
2. Black Pearl Wax Apple
Black Pearl Wax Apple is an improved variety. Because it is planted in coastal areas, where the local soil has high salinity, and combined with the sea breeze blowing from the sea surface, the wax apple fruits grown are smaller, while the exterior color is darker, purplish red, and the fruit ridges on the skin are obvious. The fruit has luster and is waxy, the flesh is rice-white, the spongy tissue is relatively little, and the flesh is crisp, refreshing, and juicy.
3. Big Leaf Red Wax Apple
Big Leaf Red Wax Apple originated only in Malaysia. Its exterior color is brilliant, bright red. When smelled near the fruit, it has a delicate fragrance, and after biting into it, it brings a crisp, refreshing, and cool feeling. It quenches thirst and reduces internal heat, and is most suitable for eating in hot weather.
4. China Red Wax Apple
China Red Wax Apple, as the name suggests, is a variety obtained through breeding after introduction, developed by grafting Black Diamond and Big Leaf Red varieties. It is now a unique variety in Hainan, China. It can flower and fruit all year round, absorbs the advantages of Black Diamond and Big Leaf Red, and its fruit is large and excellent, but the shell can weigh as much as 250-300 g. Its skin is bright red, and its taste is clear and sweet, crisp and juicy.
5. Milk Wax Apple
Milk Wax Apple may be relatively unfamiliar to us. It was introduced to the inland from Taiwan, China in 2005 and is relatively common in Taiwan, China. Its characteristic is that it is an organic food, and in Sanya it has a relatively good price and is a new local specialty. During cultivation, only biological organic fertilizer is used, and no chemical fertilizer or agricultural machinery fertilizer is ever applied. It is grown using nutrients made from bacterial strains and raw materials such as milk, eggs, fish meal, and fish bones.