How much is loquat per jin in 2018 and its flowering, ripening and market time when grown in the north

Loquat tastes delicious and contains various nutrients such as fructose, glucose, iron, calcium and vitamins A, B and C. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that the loquat fruit has the effects of moistening the lungs, relieving cough and quenching thirst, and most people can eat it. Tangqi Ruantiao Baisha from Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang, Suzhou Dongshan (Zhaozhong Baisha loquat) and Baokeng Jiefangzhong from Putian, Fujian, are the three major loquat producing areas in China. In recent years, with the improvement of living standards, people's demand for nutritious and healthy food has also grown higher and higher, and more and more people are growing loquats. So, how much is loquat per jin in 2018? Can loquat trees be grown in the north? When does loquat flower, ripen and reach the market? How is it grown?

How much is loquat per jin in 2018?

From the figure below we can see that the recent loquat price is around 11-22 yuan/jin.

When does loquat flower, ripen and reach the market?

Unlike most fruit trees, loquat flowers in autumn or early winter, and its fruit ripens from spring to early summer, earlier than other fruits, so it is called “the only one among fruit trees that possesses the qi of all four seasons”. The loquat flower is white or pale yellow, has five petals, is about 2 cm in diameter, and grows in clusters of five to ten blossoms, and can serve as a honey source crop.

Can loquat trees be grown in the north?

Loquat likes light, is slightly shade-tolerant, prefers a warm climate and fertile, moist, well-drained soil, is slightly cold-tolerant but not tolerant of severe cold, and grows slowly. It can grow well in areas with an average temperature above 12-15, where the winter temperature does not drop below -5°C, and where the flowering and young fruit stages do not go below 0°C. The suitable cultivation area is the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and areas to the south. Fertile soil is best. It is mostly grown in Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Taiwan, China and other places.

Growing loquat in the north is also possible, but it is best done in a greenhouse. This is because open-field cultivation grows slowly and the plants do not survive easily.

Key points for growing loquat in a greenhouse

1. Apply sufficient base fertilizer

Loquat greatly likes fertilizer, but its root system is very intolerant of fertilizer, and contact with chemical fertilizer or even organic fertilizer may damage the roots, and the tender white roots will then turn black and brown. When transplanting a loquat tree, the planting hole should first be 80 cm deep, and its width and length should also be at least 80 cm. Digging such a deep hole is to apply 30-40 jin of fermented chicken manure and plant ash at a height of 50-70 cm at the bottom, spread a layer of soil over the top 30 cm, and then plant the loquat seedling in the soil. This both meets the nutritional needs and avoids damage to the roots. Doing so solves the problem of topdressing the young tree in the first two years, because the fertilizer is below, its fertilizer supply is lasting and long-acting, and it creates a loose, breathable and fertile state at a deep level, so that during the process of root growth recovery, the roots can be attracted downward by the fertilizer below. After two years, topdressing should also be done by digging holes beyond the drip line of the canopy, and contact between roots and fertilizer should be avoided as much as possible.

Loquat trees are afraid of waterlogging, especially waterlogging at the roots. If the roots are soaked and rot, no matter how well a loquat tree has grown, it will not survive.

2. Loquat fruit should be bagged

Loquat fruit in northern greenhouses must be bagged. If the fruit is not bagged, it is prone to sour skin disease, with many spots on it. Now the fruit develops yellow skin when exposed to light, and if the time is longer, it will cover the entire fruit skin surface, feeling like tree bark, like the feel of a kiwifruit, and the feel when held is not very good, affecting the commercial quality of the loquat.

Bagging starts after fruit thinning, when the loquat fruit is only the size of a peanut. When bagging, enclose 2-3 leaves at the bottom of the fruit cluster so as to prop up the fruit bag. Two ventilation holes should be left at the top of the bag. Unlike bagged fruit in the north, loquat does not need the color-turning period of removing the bag in advance. Until harvest, the loquat must stay inside the fruit bag.

3. Prune branches

Spring pruning is carried out in February-March together with fruit thinning, mainly removing weak branches, densely growing branches and leggy branches, increasing the amount of spring shoots, and reducing alternate bearing. Summer pruning is carried out after harvest, mainly removing dense branches, slender weak branches and diseased and pest-damaged branches to improve light, and for excessively tall plants, cutting back the central leader and opening the top. Also cut back some branches that have spread outward, so as to maintain a distance of 0.8-1 m between rows, keep plants from crossing too much, and remove the fruit stalk or the fruit axis of fruiting branches to promote summer shoots and achieve high yields every year. Pruning autumn shoots can concentrate nutrients into flower clusters with a good foundation, and at the same time allow the tree to accumulate more nutrients, improve the tree's cold resistance, and also store sufficient nutrients for fruiting the next year.