High-yield cultivation techniques of Feizixiao Litchi

Feizixiao is a variety of litchi, alias Luotangpu, jade purse. Du Mu, a poet in the late Tang Dynasty, wrote: "as soon as you ride the concubine of the world of mortals, no one knows that it is litchi." This is how Feizixiao got its name. The variety has large fruit, thick meat, beautiful color, small kernel, sweet taste and excellent quality and flavor. In Guangdong and other regions, this variety is one of the mid-early-maturing and high-quality varieties.

Variety characteristics

Feizixiao litchi was originally an old variety in Guangdong (called Lao Feizixiao), which generally has some shortcomings such as low yield, unstable yield and poor stress resistance. Feizixiao, which we are actively promoting, is a variety selected from an excellent single mother tree through more than ten years of production and scientific research practice in Guangdong Province Litchi Science Popularization Base (called Xinfeizixiao). This variety has good qualities such as early fruiting, high yield, good yield stability, good quality and high benefit. It is the most potential litchi variety in Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan. Its main characteristics are as follows:

1. Growth characteristics

① has strong growth, open crown, thick and long branches and strong erect.

The main root of ② is well developed and the root system is huge.

Under the condition that the leaves of ③ are long and oval and the young trees have sufficient fertilizer and water, they can draw 6-7 shoots in a year.

④ has large inflorescences, long flower branches and many flowers.

2. Result characteristics

① bears fruit early and generally bears fruit in the third year (seedlings), which can be put into production 4-5 years earlier than the existing local black leaves and orchid bamboo.

The yield of ② is high, there are 3-4 female flowers in the whole flowering period, and the general female flowers account for 30-40% of the total flowers; they are more adaptable to adverse climate and have a high probability of fruit setting. According to the data of the popular science base of litchi in Guangdong Province, it was planted in May 1987 and put into production in 1989. the average annual yield per mu reached more than 863kg from 1989 to 1993, and achieved high and stable yield every year.

③ has excellent quality, large fruit and small stone, thick and crisp meat, sweet taste, and the edible rate is 76.4-80%.

The price of ④ is good, and the general market price is 2-3 times higher than other litchi varieties.

⑤ is easy to manage, and through cultivation techniques such as dwarfing, close planting, retraction and pruning, the plant height is generally controlled at about 2.5m, which is not only convenient for the daily management of litchi trees, but also reduce the production cost.

Promote shoot control

Promote shoot control, that is, attack autumn shoot to control winter shoot. Because Feizixiao litchi has developed root system and strong growth, it can smoke 5-6 shoots throughout the year. Generally, 30-50cm is retracted and pruned within 15-20 days after fruit harvesting. If there is enough fertilizer and water after retraction, secondary shoots can be produced, and the last autumn shoots are released from the end of September to the beginning of October. Mature from the end of October to the first ten days of November, such autumn shoots are the basis for high yield as the mother branch of cinnamon fruit has a high flower formation rate in the coming year.

1. Circular cutting and shoot control

① cycle cutting time: after retraction and pruning, the shoots are generally more uniform and neat, and the non-uniform shoots extracted earlier or later can be controlled by manual sprouting. When the second autumn shoot is released from the end of September to the beginning of October, it can be cut in batches when it is fully ripe from the end of October to the beginning of November.

② circular cutting tool: in this experimental base, the woodworking cutter (paper cutter) is used to grind off the tip of the new knife.

③ ring cutting method: generally, the whole circle cutting is carried out on the straight part where the main pole of the fruit tree is 20-30cm above the ground. The ring cutting depth should be controlled between the bark and phloem without harming the xylem of the stem.

2. Drug control

① spraying time: the spraying time was the same as the cycle cutting time when the second autumn shoot was completely mature.

Varieties of ② drugs: the more commonly used drugs are ethidil, paclobutrazol and so on. The dosage should be determined according to the growth of the tree and the weather and temperature when spraying. According to the comparison of the experiments in the base, the effect of drug shoot control in dwarfing and densely planted orchards is not as good as that of artificial ring cutting.

Promote flowers and protect fruits

1. Postpone florescence and improve quality

Through several years of production and scientific research practice, the fruit setting rate of young Feizixiao litchi is the highest in the second batch of flowers. Therefore, when the first flower ear is erased in early February, the florescence can be postponed, the length of inflorescence can be shortened and the female flower ratio can be increased. Ex.: after the second spike was produced from late February to early March, excessive inflorescences and short truncated spikes (usually leaving 15 × 15cm) were removed to reduce the nutrient consumption of the tree and improve the quality of the spike.

2. focus on flowering period and improve fruit setting rate.

If the flowering climate is normal, when the inflorescence is in full bloom in mid-April, the second batch of flowers is the most ideal; in case of adverse climate (such as Rain Water, high humidity, high temperature, etc.), resulting in a very low fruit setting rate, if you want to have a certain yield in that year, the key is to focus on the third and fourth batches of flowers. This situation was encountered in the hillside experimental fruit field in 2000, and the main measures were as follows: ① carried out disinfection and sterilization in time to reduce the source of disease. ② is combined with fertilizer, because after the second mother flower, the tree has consumed a lot of nutrients, so it is necessary to regulate the tree nutrients, adopt underground re-application of compound fertilizer, spray plant nutrient solution and other quick-acting foliar fertilizer on the tree, promote the third and fourth batches of flowers to bloom from the end of April to early May, and the fruit setting rate of these flowers can still reach more than 80%, laying the foundation for stable yield and high yield in that year.