Planting techniques of blueberries in South China

As a new fruit industry, blueberry cultivation has developed rapidly in southern China in recent years. Blueberry has been vigorously promoted as a new tree species to adjust agricultural planting structure in the provinces of the Yangtze River Basin, Yunguichuan and Guangdong and Guangxi in South China. But generally speaking, blueberries are grown in the north. Today, the editor will talk to you about the planting technology of blueberries in the south.

I. selection of varieties

The blueberry varieties suitable for southern producing areas can be divided into two categories: rabbit eye and Nangao clump.

The mature period of rabbit eye varieties is from mid-June to mid-August, which is the full fruit period of open field production of blueberries in the north. Because of its poor taste, it has no advantage in the national market competition compared with the varieties of blueberries in the north. However, rabbit-eyed blueberry has relatively loose requirements on soil conditions, easy cultivation and simple management, so it is still a variety type worthy of recommendation in southern producing areas. At present, the more stable and recommended varieties are "brilliant" and "Baldvin".

Nangao Cong varieties have early maturity, high market price and strong market competitiveness. At present, the most mature varieties are "Sharp Blue" and "O'Neill" (early maturity), "Misty" (medium maturity), "Brigita" and "Regosi" (late maturity). Among them, "Bilexi", as a variety with very low cold and temperature requirements, should be recommended in the southern region, especially in Hainan and South China.

2. Planting density

The suitable row spacing of high clump blueberry plant is (1.0-1.5) m × (2.0-3.0) m, and the row spacing of rabbit eye blueberry plant is usually 1.5 m (2.0-2.5) m. In the south of our country, we can choose the appropriate density according to the actual business objectives.

III. Shaping and pruning of blueberries

Blueberry is a tufted shrub for many years, its shaping and pruning is different from that of large fruit trees, and the pruning methods of tall blueberries and rabbit-eyed blueberries are also different, so they should be treated differently.

The main task of pruning tall blueberries is to adjust the fruit potential of the current year and the next year. The main purpose of young tree shaping and pruning is to maintain the balance between aboveground and underground parts and promote the formation of tree crown as soon as possible. Generally speaking, the flower buds are mainly removed in the first to the second year after planting, and the weak branchlets, disease and insect branches are mainly removed in the third year to keep the crown upright so that the fruit leaves the ground after fruiting, and the yield of the plant is controlled at about 1 kg in the third year. Generally speaking, the amount of pruning is not large 3-4 years before planting.