Suitable Cultivation Environment and Management of Hawthorn

Hawthorn, (Crataegus pinnatifida Bunge), also known as mountain fruit, mountain red, Rosaceae Hawthorn, deciduous trees, up to 6 meters high. It is distributed in Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and other places.

Ecological conditions needed for Hawthorn cultivation:

1. Temperature Hawthorn has a wide range of adaptation to temperature. Hawthorn can be planted in areas with an annual average temperature of 4.7-16 ℃, and 12-15 ℃ is the most suitable development area. The highest temperature that Hawthorn can endure is 43.3 ℃, and it can endure 40 ℃ for a long time. The climatic conditions are different in different places, and there are the most suitable local cultivation types or varieties. Different varieties have different requirements for accumulated temperature, the lowest is 2000 ℃, the highest is 7000 ℃, the annual growth period is 180-220 days, the average daily temperature for sprouting and sprouting is 13 ℃, the fruit development needs 20-28 ℃, and the optimum temperature is 25-27 ℃.

two。 Water Hawthorn is more drought-tolerant and adaptable. Hawthorn is more drought-tolerant than apples and pears. In some arid areas, apples and pears cannot be planted, but Hawthorn grows well and is more drought-tolerant than peaches. However, drought will seriously affect the growth and development of fruit, make the fruit smaller, drop fruit seriously, and reduce the yield. In the early stage of growth, there is drought, a large number of flowers and fruits, especially drought will even cause the death of the tree. When the soil water content is 9.34%, it is Hawthorn safe water content, and when the soil water content is 7.9%, it is found to wilt; the lethal humidity is 5.8%, and generally grows well in areas with annual rainfall of 500-700mm. Hawthorn is also more resistant to waterlogging, in rainy years or seasons, even if stagnant water for a week, can still grow normally, but not resistant to the sudden attack of the storm, because the root system of Hawthorn is shallow, often the crown tilts or falls the tree phenomenon.

3. The light requirement of Hawthorn crown is very strict, and the light has a great influence on the fruit. In the natural growth state or extensive management of Hawthorn orchard, the obvious performance for the external results, and easy to appear large and small year phenomenon. The results of using light energy more than 7 hours a day are the most, 7-5 hours are good, 5-3 hours can not set fruit, and direct light less than 3 hours a day can not set fruit or set fruit very little.

Planting

The new root of Hawthorn occurs earlier in spring, and it is suitable to be planted in autumn. The row spacing is 3m in barren soil and 4m in fertile soil and flat terrain. In order to increase the fruit setting rate, two or three varieties should be mixed with each other when planting. When planting, each tree was treated with soil miscellaneous fertilizer 100kg, urea 15kg, calcium superphosphate 20kg, potassium sulfate 10kg.

Shaping and pruning

According to the growth characteristics of Hawthorn branches, the tree shape of open stratification, natural round head of multi-main branches or natural happy shape was used for shaping. Because the stem of Hawthorn tree is weak, it is easy to be dry and crown, so the cutting direction of the cutting bud or the extension branch of the central stem can be used to control and adjust. When the central stem is seriously inclined and difficult to cultivate, it can also comply with its growth to remove the central stem and change it into a natural happy tree. The whole tree retains 3 or 4 main branches with a base angle of 45 °~ 50 °, and then the secondary main branches are properly cultivated on each main branch to occupy space. When using the natural round head shaping of multi-main branches, according to the natural growth of the branches, the main branches can be properly dispersed and arranged at the interval of about 30cm, and extended to the four outwards, and a total of 6-7 main branches were cultivated in the whole tree.

In the full fruiting period, the Hawthorn tree mainly rejuvenated the fruiting mother branches for several consecutive years, prevented the fruit parts from moving out, stabilized the yield and maintained a good growth trend. Especially for the branches with many fruits and drooping branches, they should retract more heavily on the branches of 3 to 5 years old. When the phenomenon of big and small years occurs due to excessive fruiting, too many fruiting mother branches should be removed to keep the ratio of mother branches to developed branches 2 ∶ 1 or 1 ∶ 1. Pre-pruning can also be carried out at the budding stage to remove inflorescences from some weak branches and promote flower bud differentiation. When the canopy is seriously closed, some of the branches are thinned or retracted at first, and some of the developed branches are thinned at the same time.

Soil, fertilizer and water management and others

Soil management. Deep ripening of soil is a basic measure in the technology of increasing production. Deep ripening can improve soil, increase soil permeability and promote tree growth.

Fertilizer and water management. Base fertilizer should be applied early in autumn, and topdressing can be applied according to specific conditions in several periods such as sprouting and spreading leaves, flowering and fruiting, fruit expansion and so on. Base fertilizer was applied in time after fruit harvest at the end of autumn to supplement tree nutrition. The base fertilizer was mainly organic fertilizer, and organic fertilizer 4000~5000kg was applied per 667m2. The amount of chemical fertilizer was determined according to the tree condition. Topdressing and foliar boron spraying (0.5% boric acid solution) in spring can significantly increase fruit setting rate and promote shoot growth. On the other hand, the big year tree should strengthen topdressing in the later stage (August to September) to promote flower bud differentiation. In case of fruit drop caused by drought, irrigation or loosening soil and covering grass should be carried out to alleviate the drought.

In other ways. Sometimes serious flower and fruit drop occurs in Hawthorn production, which affects the yield. The reasons include weak trees, poor pollination and fertilization, dry soil, lack of light and so on. Corresponding measures should be taken according to different conditions. For the fruit drop or flowers caused by poor pollination and fertilization, gibberellin solution with 50mg concentration can be sprayed from the early flowering stage to the full flowering stage, with emphasis on spraying flower clusters, the fruit setting rate can be increased by more than 1% and 2 times, and the fruit can be colored and matured ahead of time.