In which areas of our country is lateritic red soil distributed? What is suitable for growing?

Lateritic red soil is a zonal soil formed by strong iron-rich aluminization in the humid and hot climate of the south subtropics. The intensity of iron-rich aluminization process, soil nutrients and acidity are between red soil and latosol. Many people want to know the distribution area of lateritic red soil and what crops are suitable for planting.

Lateritic red soil has high clay content and heavy texture, but due to the structure formed by iron oxide and alumina colloid, the soil permeability is relatively good, and the water retention phenomenon is not serious; due to the high degree of weathering, the soil is strongly acidic, pH 5.0or so, and plant nutrients are poor. Lateritic red soil is an evergreen seasonal rain forest, mainly including lotus tree, banyan tree, du Ying and so on.

In which areas of our country is lateritic red soil distributed?

Lateritic red soil in China is distributed on both sides of the Tropic of Cancer (south of Nanling to the northern section of Leizhou Peninsula), with low latitude, high mountain barriers between north and northwest, and warm and humid air from the ocean in summer. Dry and cold air masses from inland are mostly blocked by high mountains in winter, thus forming excellent climatic conditions of warm winter and hot summer, humid and rainy, which is a rare natural greenhouse in the same climatic zone.

In the south subtropical monsoon climate region, the average annual temperature is 19-22 ℃, the coldest monthly average temperature is 10-15 ℃, the hottest monthly mean temperature is 21.7-28.5 ℃, and the accumulated temperature of ≥ 10 ℃ is mostly 6500-8450 ℃. Annual precipitation 1000-2600 mm; annual evaporation 1376-2000 mm. The frost-free period is 350 days. The dry and wet seasons are distinct, generally the rainy season from March to September and the dry season from October to February. The annual dryness is 1.32-0.37. Because the distribution area of lateritic red soil spans three latitudes and the topography is complex, the regional difference of climate is obvious.

The primary vegetation in lateritic red soil region is subtropical monsoon forest, which consists of not only tropical rain forest, but also more subtropical plant species and genera. The current trend of vegetation structure in lateritic red soil region is the increase of tropical species from north to south and from east to west. In the hilly terraces along the coast of Guangdong and Fujian, the original vegetation has been destroyed and can only be seen in well-preserved fengshui forests and nature reserves. the main tree species are: Castanopsis kawakamii, Castanopsis kawakamii, red scale peach, thick-shell cinnamon, hard-shell cinnamon, a variety of du Ying, a variety of holly, Huangqi, Huangtong, hairy Rubia, olive and so on, and scattered parrot wood, a variety of alfalfa trees, meat trees, dog bone wood, Moshi mountain pepper and so on. Under the forest shrubs are Luo umbrella tree, nine-section wood, crucian carp gall, a variety of wood ginger, May tea, cypress, rough-leaf wood and so on. The herb layer mainly includes shade-tolerant and humid-tolerant and dwarf single-leaf crescent fern, light bamboo leaf, Huashan ginger, dog ridge fern, golden hairy dog, rosette fern, wind tail fern, grass coral, golden chestnut orchid, sea taro, plantain and so on.

There are various types of parent materials in lateritic red soil. The characteristics of soil development and fertility are deeply affected by the parent material. The general trend is that from east to west, the composition of magmatic rocks decreases, while that of sedimentary rocks increases.

What is suitable for planting in lateritic red soil?

The fruit trees suitable for planting in lateritic red soil are longan, litchi, sugar cane, peach, banana, mango, etc., as well as medicinal materials, such as Shouwu, Eucommia, Ganoderma lucidum, Panax notoginseng and so on. Field crops are grown twice to three times a year, which is the producing area of winter vegetables in our country.

The geographical location of lateritic red soil has superior bioclimatic conditions. in addition to the existing cultivated land should still strengthen fertilization and protective planting measures, a large area of hilly lateritic red soil resources have the advantage of developing tropical cash crops and have great production potential. In the development and utilization, we should proceed from the overall situation, carry out regional planting, focus on tropical and subtropical fruits, and establish all kinds of high-quality fruit commodity bases according to different ecological environment and soil conditions. top products will be put on the international market as soon as possible.

Focus on solving the two major problems of drought and thin barren in soil improvement. Lateritic soil often has serious erosion, thin soil, poor forest site conditions, less biological accumulation and lower fertility than the former two subtypes. Mountain closure for forest cultivation, vegetation restoration and soil erosion control should be adopted in development and utilization.

On this basis, build barren and drought-tolerant fuel forests such as Masson pine, big-leaf Acacia, black pine and so on. In some areas with deep soil, we can reclaim orchards and develop fruits such as bayberry, Yugan and pineapple, but we should strengthen the construction of soil and water conservation projects, build high-standard fish-scale pits and horizontal terraces, cooperate with the interplanting of young fruit trees, and popularize no-tillage method. increase ground cover to prevent soil and water loss; increase the application of organic fertilizer and mineral fertilizer to adjust the balance of soil nutrients.