How to Improve the Survival Rate of Chestnut Seedlings and Reasonably Prepare Pollinating Trees

Seedling selection: seedlings with well-developed roots and no disease should be selected. Site selection: choose sandy soil with flat terrain, deep soil layer, convenient drainage and low groundwater level. Varieties: select good varieties and plant them in March in spring. Density: reasonable dense planting, about 60 plants per mu in mountainous area and 40 plants per mu in plain. Pollination: prepare 10% pollination trees in the chestnut orchard to help them pollinate.

1. Methods to improve the survival rate of chestnut seedlings

1. Select seedlings

The seedlings with well-developed roots and no diseases and insect pests are selected as far as possible, and the planting time is generally in the first ten days of March in spring. After planting, it is necessary to graft them, which is helpful to improve the survival rate of chestnut seedlings.

2. Select the place

We should choose to plant in the areas near the mountains where the terrain is flat and the soil layer is deep, and the soil requires sandy soil with relatively low groundwater level and convenient drainage, and should not be planted in saline-alkali soil, where the soil is wet and prone to waterlogging and strong wind.

3. Variety selection

Before planting, we should select excellent local varieties, such as Chenguo No. 1 and Guanche No. 2, and we can also introduce Jinfeng, Shifeng, Qingmao soft thorns, the End of Heat Hong and Haifeng, and make a reasonable mix of early, middle and late varieties.

4. Reasonable pollination

Chinese chestnut mainly rely on the wind to spread pollen, because chestnut trees have the phenomenon of female and male flowers maturing and self-fruiting, if a single variety of pollination will lead to poor pollination and empty buds, so 10% pollination trees must be prepared in the newly built chestnut orchard.

5. Reasonable density

Reasonable close planting is beneficial to increase its yield, about 40 plants per mu in plain chestnut orchard and 60 plants per mu in mountain chestnut orchard. It is planned that the dense planting chestnut orchard is about 110 plants per mu, and thinning can be carried out in the future.

Points for attention in grafting of Castanea mollissima

1. Scion selection

After the scions stored in cellars and porcelain jars are taken out, they are selected to remove dehydration, few buds and broken ones. Generally, the buds of better scions are bright and full, there are no signs of loss, and the endothelium of branches is bright green.

2. Grafting tools

The plastic cloth used in grafting must be newly purchased, odorless and clean, and cut it into three-finger-wide strips. Pruning tools include pruning shears, saws and sharp knives, and straps can be made of cloth or plastic straps.

3. Grafting time

Grafting can not be carried out in rainy weather and low temperature weather. We should look at the weather forecast in advance before grafting. If Rain Water infiltrates into the joint of rootstocks and scions during grafting, the survival rate will be reduced, and grafting will be carried out in sunny days with high temperature. The survival rate is higher.

4. Grafting method

The main results are as follows: (1) it is better to choose the branches around 1cm for grafting, and the thickest is not more than 1.5cm.

(2) first cut the rootstock flat, and then cut the scion into a Mal-shaped cutting surface, which is about 6-10cm.

(3) then put the cut scion into the mouth, choose the smooth side of the rootstock, gently cut off the epidermis and reveal the tender skin.

(4) the length and width of the cutting surface are slightly larger than that of the scion surface, and the skin should be cut off from the top to the bottom when inserting, so as to prevent the scion skin from being removed during insertion.

5. Post-care

After grafting, the plastic strip should be bundled with a little bud tip, and the bracket should be bound to prevent the scion from being broken by wind, and the length of the scaffold is longer than that of the scion 30cm. In order to remove the sprouting on the rootstock in time, it is necessary to strengthen fertilizer and water management and control of diseases and insect pests in the later stage.