When Do Furong Plums Ripen? Benefits, Uses and Cultivation Techniques

Furong plum is a type of plum, rich in sugar, protein, vitamin C and various mineral elements such as calcium, phosphorus and iron. It has a sweet-and-sour taste and can be eaten fresh or processed into dried fruit. So, when do Furong plums ripen? What are their benefits and uses? Cultivation techniques included!

1. When Do Furong Plums Ripen?

Furong plums generally come on the market from mid-July to early August each year. Ripe Furong plums have purple-red skin covered with a white bloom, and the flesh is dark red, firm in texture and pleasantly sweet-and-sour.

2. What Are the Benefits and Uses of Furong Plums?

1. Clearing the liver and promoting diuresis

Fresh plum flesh contains various amino acids, such as glutamine, serine, glycine and proline. Eating plums directly has a certain therapeutic effect on cirrhotic ascites.

2. Relieving cough and reducing phlegm

The abundant vitamins and beneficial components in plums have the effect of relieving cough and expelling phlegm. So when people have a cold, cough and phlegm, they can eat plums as an auxiliary treatment.

3. Promoting digestion

Plums have the function of promoting digestion. Plums can promote the secretion of gastric acid and gastric digestive enzymes and increase gastrointestinal peristalsis. Patients with insufficient gastric acid, post-meal bloating and constipation can get good relief by regularly eating plums.

4. Beauty and skin care

Ancient books record that eating plums has good effects on tinea versicolor and dark facial spots, so it has a beauty-enhancing function.

5. Relieving constipation

Plum kernels contain amygdalin and a large amount of fatty oil, which has a significant diuretic and blood-pressure-lowering effect, and can speed up intestinal peristalsis and promote the excretion of dry stool.

3. Cultivation Techniques for Furong Plums

1. Plot selection

The soil should be sandy soil that does not easily accumulate water and has a slightly deeper soil layer. Try to choose places with relatively high terrain, effective sun exposure and relatively good soil fertility.

2. Planting

Plant from late autumn to spring before the seedlings sprout. Plant 400 to 600 plants per hectare. Before planting, apply sufficient base fertilizer in the planting holes, and after backfilling soil, leave the mound about 20 cm to 30 cm above the ground. After planting, water thoroughly to settle the roots.

3. Pruning techniques

When the trunk grows to 50 to 60 cm, the trunk can be headed. Buds below a trunk height of 30 cm should be removed. When new shoots have sprouted to about 2 cm, choose 4-5 relatively wide-angled, robust new shoots as the main branches.

The canopy adopts a natural open-center shape or a natural round-headed shape. Pruning during the winter dormant period mainly removes diseased and insect-damaged branches, dead branches, overlapping branches, overly dense branches and crossing branches. Pruning during the spring and summer growing period focuses on thinning out useless water sprouts and adventitious buds. Measures to protect flowers and fruits and to thin flowers and fruits are adopted to regulate the annual yield to 15000 kg/hm to 30000 kg/hm.

4. Fertilizer and water management

Before planting, the soil must be deeply plowed and improved to ensure sufficient base fertilizer, and hole expansion should be carried out the following year, which is also beneficial to the growth of new roots. Appropriate intercropping is also possible, but avoid planting tall crops. A method combining growing grass with clean cultivation can be adopted to let it grow naturally and prevent water loss. During key periods when it needs water and fertilizer, remove the surrounding weeds so as to resolve competition with them.

In addition, during the cultivation of Furong plums, the use of pesticides, chemical fertilizers and the like must comply with the relevant national regulations and must not pollute the environment.