How to manage citrus well in winter? These technical key points you need to master
Citrus is a very popular fruit. Unlike other fruit trees, citrus is an evergreen fruit tree with no obvious dormant period, and its harvest period is also concentrated in autumn and winter, so seasonal cultivation is a very important part of year-round management and is directly related to the tree vigor and yield of the following year. So how do you manage citrus well in winter? Let's take a look.
1. Harvest in time
Some citrus is meant to be picked in winter, but some fruit growers, in order to keep the fruit fresh, never pick it and only harvest it for market when spring arrives. However, when too much fruit remains on the tree, it also consumes the tree's nutrients, which is not conducive to the recovery of tree vigor, makes the branches highly susceptible to freezing, and the new shoots that emerge are also relatively weak. Moreover, picking too late is not a good thing either, as it causes the fruit quality to decline.
2. Nationwide orchard cleaning
After harvesting, winter orchard cleaning is relatively important, because the sources of pests and diseases that harm citrus all hide in dead branches, fallen leaves, weeds and dropped fruit to overwinter. Therefore, a comprehensive orchard cleaning needs to be carried out once, gathering diseased and insect-damaged branches, dried branches, fallen leaves, dropped fruit and weeds for centralized treatment, which can be done by burning or deep burial. This can greatly reduce the base number of pests and diseases and reduce the degree of pest and disease occurrence in the coming year.
3. Protect the green leaves through winter
Citrus is an evergreen fruit tree throughout the year. When the winter temperature is relatively low, it enters a dormant period, and at this time the tree's nutrients are mainly concentrated in the green leaves. Therefore, protecting the green leaves through winter is actually protecting the citrus tree's nutrients from being lost during overwintering. Protecting the green leaves can start with fertilization, cold protection, hilling soil and so on, with the purpose of protecting the green leaves so they overwinter safely.
4. Do a good job of pre-bud pruning
After harvesting, some pruning is needed before spring budding. In areas with freeze damage, it can be done in mid-February. When pruning, young trees should be pruned lightly, mainly to cultivate 3-4 main branches distributed evenly, and secondary main branches should be reasonably arranged on the main branches. For fruiting trees, the purpose is to create a high-yield tree shape with good ventilation and light penetration and three-dimensional fruiting. The pruning technique of "one opening, two thinning, three retraction" can be used.
5. Do a good job of fertilization
After fruiting, citrus consumes a relatively large amount of nutrients, so after harvesting, fertilizer should be applied in time to promote nutrient accumulation in the tree and lay the foundation for flower bud differentiation and flowering and fruiting in the coming year. The fertilization after fruit harvest is also called overwintering fertilizer, base fertilizer, recovery fertilizer, postpartum fertilizer, etc. The best application time is in late autumn and early winter. Later, when the plant enters the dormant period, the root system will no longer rapidly absorb nutrients, and the fertilization effect will be poor. The fertilizer should be mainly organic fertilizer, combined with biological fertilizer.
The above introduction on how to manage citrus well in winter is hoped to help you. To learn more related knowledge, please stay tuned to us.