Science and Technology Daily reporter Guo Guozhong correspondent Yu Lu Zhang Yun
At present, it is the time when the "net red" fruit Wuxi peach is on the market. However, when the reporter of Science and Technology Daily came to the planting base of Yangshan Town, Huishan District, Wuxi City, he found that due to the serious reduction in peach production this year, not only the price increased, but also a peach of more than half a kilogram was difficult to find.
Zhao Yiren, secretary general of the Yangshan Peach Farmers Association and senior agronomist, also said in an interview with reporters before, "Preliminary statistics show that 70% of the area of Peaches in Yangshan Water has decreased this year, of which 50% of the peach farmers' peach orchards have reduced production by 30% to 40%, and some peach farmers have reduced production by more than half."
What are the main factors that cause peach trees to fall fruit in large areas? After entering the peach ripening period, what measures should be taken to prevent it?
On July 19, a reporter from Science and Technology Daily interviewed relevant experts.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="15" > has never reduced production as much as this year</h1>
At present, Wuxi Yangshan Town has about 35,000 mu of peaches, with more than 20 varieties, and the peach industry economy has reached more than 1.5 billion yuan. Early maturing varieties begin to be marketed in mid-to-late June every year until the market closes around mid-August.
The reporter walked into the peach orchard and saw that the fruit hanging on the peach tree was indeed not as good as in previous years, and the ground in the orchard was full of peaches of different sizes, some of which had rotted.
Local growers said bitterly, "Many peach trees are 7 years old, and some time ago there was a large area of fruit fall, and some have grown to three or four." "Although the price has been much higher this year, it has been greatly damaged in general due to the low production." "I've been growing peaches for 16 years, and I've had big and small years in the past, and I haven't had such a serious reduction in production as this year."
The reporter learned that the white phoenix peaches listed in the previous period were about 80 yuan in a box of 6 in previous years, and this year, excluding postal costs, 6 white phoenix peaches will be sold for more than 120 yuan. At present, although the output of listed Lakeview peaches is higher than that of early lake peaches, the price is still high, and many peach orchards are not supplied on the same day.
The reporter visited some markets in Wuxi and Changzhou and also found that this year, due to the shortage of peaches, dealers could not get the goods, resulting in unstable market prices, and even peaches were no longer sold by box, but directly sold only.
For example, in the stall of Wuxi Shangmadun Vegetable Market, a Medium Lake Peach of about 7 or so, the lowest price is 20 yuan, and each of the 5 or so sells for 18 yuan.
What is more noteworthy is that there are many "Li ghost peaches" in the market, using foreign peaches to impersonate Wuxi Yangshan peaches and harm consumers.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" > there are a variety of factors that occur in large-scale yield reductions
</h1>
As for the reasons for the reduction in production, the relevant local departments believe that the main reason is that the climate is abnormal in the early spring of this year, and it has encountered successive "blows" such as low temperature, even rain, frost, etc., resulting in stunted flower bud development, damage to young embryos, low fruit set rate, and after the fruit is ripe, due to rain, the fruit fall is serious, and there are many deformed fruits. At the same time, Yangshan has caught up with the "tree cycle", such as the old trees in the Yangshan White Phoenix variety that are about 10 years old have reduced their production by 40-60%.
Relevant experts told reporters that the large-scale fruiting of peach trees in Yangshan Town, Wuxi, did not occur this year, but began a few years ago. There are many factors that cause fruit loss, which cannot be completely attributed to the climate, and the high incidence of disease and insect harm is also an important reason, but it has not attracted enough attention before, and some preventive measures may not have kept up in time.
Associate Professor Ling Yuping of the College of Horticulture and Plant Protection of Yangzhou University introduced that the first reason for the fruit falling during the period before ripening is the characteristics of the variety, called "pre-harvest fruit falling"; the second reason is climatic factors, long-term drought, sudden rain, easy to fall fruit; the third reason is the harm of diseases and insects, especially heartworms, brown rot and so on.
"Peach trees especially like water, but they are particularly afraid of 'waterlogging', and peach trees flood for 24 hours to fall leaves and 48 hours to die trees. Because the root respiration of peach trees is particularly strong, it needs enough oxygen, and once flooded, the root system cannot grow without oxygen, resulting in fruit falling on the ground. Ling Yuping said.
In Ling Yuping's view, the soil in Yangshan area is largely cohesive, the soil ventilation conditions are not very good, and sudden rain after continuous drought or sudden drought after continuous rain can easily lead to uneven soil moisture, which in turn will also lead to fruit fall.
Ling Yuping suggested that when there is a lot of rain in summer, the groundwater level in Taoyuan rises, and farmers should open ditches and drain water in time to reduce the groundwater level. The entire park and the field should do a good job of supporting the ditch, pay attention to the overall humidity status of the park and the basic situation of the soil. When trenching, it is necessary to open deeper to form a relative slope, and in the plain area, the roots of peach trees should be "ridged", which can be 50 cm higher than the flat ground.
In addition, in order to accurately understand the specific situation of the groundwater level, farmers can measure it themselves. Dig a mud pit with a depth of more than one meter and five meters on the flat ground, cover it with plastic film, measure the height of the water level in the pit after three days, judge the level of the water level, and do a good job of drainage in time.
Ling Yuping also reminded that if there are germs in the roots of the peach tree, farmers can check whether there are no nodular protrusions in the roots of the peach tree. If nodular protrusions are found, the diagnosis of "root cancer" can be confirmed. This disease spreads quickly, there is no cure at present, to find a tree to dig one tree, and after digging out, it must be burned immediately, otherwise the entire peach orchard may die. If it is another germ, it is enough to prescribe the right medicine in time.
In addition, some consumers report that sometimes the peaches they buy back are acidic and are worried about the use of pesticides or hormones in the peach cultivation process.
Ling Yuping said that this is due to the peach is not tolerant to storage, once fully ripe can not be transported, taste the sour taste is most likely because the peach fruit is not fully ripe, so the sweetness did not come up, and the sour taste did not decrease.
(Photo by Wang Yining)
Editor: Wang Yu
Review: Julie