What are the common mistakes in summer pruning of kiwifruit?
When growing kiwifruit, pruning is essential. Especially after summer arrives, proper summer pruning can effectively improve the yield and quality of kiwifruit. However, many growers do not have a correct pruning method, which causes the growth of kiwifruit to be affected to a greater or lesser extent, and there are also many mistakes. So today, the editor will introduce to you the common mistakes in summer pruning of kiwifruit. Let's take a look together!
1. Pruning too heavily
Pruning mainly has a relatively large impact on male trees. When pruning male trees, many fruit growers cut off 4/5 of the canopy after the male trees bloom. Moreover, they not only reduce the canopy but also hollow out the fruit trees, causing the growth vigor of the male trees to decline sharply, and in severe cases they may even die. Even if they survive, the quality of the pollen provided by the trees is very low. Therefore, when pruning male trees, we can at most prune ordinary branches and twigs, and mainly use reduction pruning, cutting off some weak-growing branches in the inner canopy to improve air and light penetration and prevent them from tangling with each other.
2. Cutting off all vegetative branches
When planting, many growers think that if vegetative branches do not bear fruit, they only consume more nutrients and must be cut off in time. This is especially so when phenomena such as size differences, leaf drop and poor nutrition appear. In fact, the vegetative branches of kiwifruit trees must be kept at a certain proportion on the fruit tree. If a large number of them are pruned, it will have a great impact on the growth of the kiwifruit tree. This is because most vegetative branches are important branches for photosynthesis in kiwifruit trees. We can properly thin out some overly dense branches, but we must also retain a certain number, carry out pinching, and simply control their growth rate.
3. Too few mother branches
The main vines and inner canopy branches of kiwifruit trees are the main targets for cultivating fruiting branches the next year. During summer pruning, the growth of branches outside the fruit must be controlled, so the inner canopy branches still need to carry out photosynthesis to ensure the leaf-to-fruit ratio. If pruning only retains the reserve fruiting mother branches for the next year, then it will definitely not be able to meet the leaf number requirements of the fruit tree, and it will have a great impact on photosynthesis and the accumulation of photosynthetic products. Therefore, when retaining fruiting mother branches, we should keep about 35% more fruiting mother branches, so as to meet the leaf area requirements for the canopy to synthesize nutrients.
4. Improper timing of pinching
In order to inhibit the growth vigor of the main vines and some vigorous inner canopy branches, we should use pinching during pruning to shift the growth vigor. Reasonable pinching can effectively improve the budbreak rate, survival rate and fruit set rate of the fruiting mother branches for the next year. However, if pinching is done too late, it will hinder the sprouting of secondary branches, which will have a great impact on the cultivation of reserve branches. Therefore, we should carry out pinching before flowering, and never after flowering, otherwise the reservation of fruiting mother branches will be affected and the fruiting rate of the next year will be reduced. Then it should also be done reasonably according to the growth vigor of the branches. Pinching can only be used on some vigorous branches, and other branches must not be pinched.
The above is a brief introduction to the common mistakes in summer pruning of kiwifruit. In addition, we also need to note that we must not use the method of cutting off leaves to prevent wind damage. Instead, we should prevent wind damage by tying branches and adjusting the tree structure. Otherwise, it will affect the nutrient supply to the fruit and instead affect the yield, so everyone must pay more attention. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you for your reading and support.