Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for Preserving Lemon Flowers and Fruits

Lemon trees bloom profusely, and flower and fruit drop is relatively serious, especially the two physiological fruit drops from April to June, which causes a huge impact on yield. Therefore, measures to preserve flowers and fruits must be taken. So how should lemons be handled to preserve flowers and fruits? Let's take a look.

1. Cultivate strong fruiting mother branches

The nutritional level of the tree body is an important factor affecting lemon fruit set. When nutrition is adequate, flower buds are easily formed; when branches are poorly nourished, flower bud differentiation is poor or a large number of incomplete flowers are formed, which will drop heavily at the bud and flowering stages. Therefore, plants in good nutritional condition are the foundation for cultivating strong mother branches, and strong mother branches are mainly cultivated from autumn shoots, spring shoots, and summer shoots.

2. Strengthen fertilizer and water management

In some regions, winters are long with drought and low temperatures. When spring temperatures gradually rise, lemons begin to resume normal growth, and at this time fertilizer should be applied promptly to promote flower bud differentiation. Fertilization should mainly use decomposed farmyard manure, diluted with water into a thin liquid fertilizer. Be sure not to apply high-concentration fertilizer, so as not to damage the roots and affect the sprouting of new roots. At the same time, quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer should be supplemented promptly, but the application amount of nitrogen fertilizer should be controlled to avoid excessive vegetative growth of branches and leaves, which would affect flowering and budding and is not conducive to preserving flowers and fruits. In some regions, the flowering and fruiting period coincides with the spring rainy season. At this time, attention should be paid to timely drainage to avoid water accumulation that causes root suffocation, affects the growth of new roots, and causes a large number of flower and fruit drops, which is also not conducive to preserving flowers and fruits. Conversely, in cases of severe spring drought, timely irrigation should be carried out to maintain soil moisture.

3. Flower thinning

Fruiting lemon trees often have the problem of a large flower quantity and a low fruit-setting rate. Generally speaking, a lemon tree with a large number of flowers can reach 10,000 flowers per tree, with a large proportion of leafless inflorescences, less leaf area, and a serious imbalance in the flower-to-leaf ratio, resulting in an imbalance between the tree's nutrient supply and demand. If adverse weather occurs during the flowering period, it can easily cause serious flower and fruit drop. Flower clusters and flower buds can be systematically thinned and retained to reduce unnecessary nutrient consumption by the tree, effectively regulate the flower-to-leaf ratio, relatively increase the leaf area of the tree, and create a good environment for flower and fruit development, so that the flowers develop well and grow robustly, achieving the goal of strengthening flowers and fruits, increasing the fruit-setting rate, and achieving high and stable yields.

The above is an introduction to lemon flower and fruit preservation techniques. We hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.