A Complete Guide to Longan Fertilization Timing and Methods
Longan is a fruit that many people enjoy eating, and it is grown on a large area in China. When growing longan, fertilization work is very important. Reasonable fertilization is key to meeting the growth needs of longan and is an important measure for ensuring longan yield and quality. So how should longan be fertilized? Below, the editor brings you longan fertilization and timing. Let's take a look!
1. Post-fruit fertilizer
Applying post-fruit fertilizer is very important. Around August to September each year, which is generally the longan harvest period, we should pay attention to fertilizing once as soon as possible after picking the fruit. This avoids the fruit tree losing a large amount of nutrients with the harvest and ensures the tree can recover its vigor as quickly as possible. It encourages the longan tree to sprout autumn shoots as soon as possible and enhances its growth capacity. This fertilization is mainly based on high-quality farmyard manure, such as decomposed cake fertilizer and soil manure, combined with an appropriate amount of quick-acting fertilizer. The amount applied this time should remain more than half of the whole year's total.
2. Pre-flowering fertilizer
After applying post-fruit fertilizer, the next point to note is applying pre-flowering fertilizer well. The pre-flowering fertilizer is generally applied in January to February, which, as the name suggests, is before flowering. The main purpose is to ensure strong and vigorous growth of the flower spikes and enhance the development capacity of the floral organs. This fertilization is mainly based on nitrogen fertilizer, combined with an appropriate amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer. However, be careful to control the amount of nitrogen fertilizer to avoid excessive vegetative growth caused by too much nitrogen. Then in early to mid-April, apply fertilizer to promote shoots and strengthen spikes. This encourages the emergence of summer shoots in the longan tree, enhances the growth capacity of the flower spikes, and increases the fruit-setting rate, and the amount of potassium fertilizer should be appropriately increased.
3. Fruit-strengthening and shoot-promoting fertilizer
Applying fruit-strengthening and shoot-promoting fertilizer also cannot be ignored. This is the main fertilization period for ensuring longan fruit yield and quality, and it should generally be applied around mid-to-late June each year, when the young fruit begins to swell. The main purpose of fertilization at this stage is to ensure rapid fruit development, increase the sprouting rate of summer shoots, and ensure their growth is full and vigorous. This fertilization is still mainly based on nitrogen fertilizer, combined with an appropriate amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, to ensure the nutritional needs of longan fruit expansion and summer shoot sprouting are met.
4. Fertilization during the full-bearing period
In addition to the above fertilizations, early to mid-July to August is a key period for the rapid growth of longan fruit flesh. At this time, the longan root system has relatively strong growth capacity, and its nutrient absorption capacity is also relatively vigorous. Therefore, we should apply decomposed manure, or increase the application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, which can effectively reduce fruit drop and increase yield. At the same time, it can also alleviate the alternate bearing phenomenon of longan trees. If fertilizer sources are limited, then fertilization should mainly focus on the tree's heading stage as well as the summer shoot growth and fruit expansion periods.
The above is a brief introduction to longan fertilization and timing. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!