1 Pruning technology

1.1 Spring pruning

Spring pruning of Chinese toon belongs to styling pruning and is generally carried out simultaneously with the harvesting of toon buds. Starting from the second year after toon cultivation, remove the top buds of the two-year-old treetops, and 2 to 3 new buds will sprout that year. If the trunk height is appropriate, you can keep the new buds, which will become 2 to 3 side branches after lignification; if the trunk height is too high, you can top off the new buds (do not pick all the buds) to encourage the lower buds to sprout new buds. Keep 2 to 3 germinated new shoots at the desired location, which will become side branches after lignification. After the third year, new buds will grow on the tops of the three side branches.

When pruning, remove the top buds of the three side branches. In that year, each side branch will sprout 2 to 3 new side buds, which will form after lignification. New side branches. After forming in this way, each tree will have 6 to 9 backbone branches. This type of tree has a tall trunk, large branches, thick canopy, good ventilation and lighting, a large harvesting area, and a relatively stable yield.

1.2 Summer pruning

Since the yield and quality of toona are mainly determined by the number of terminal buds, high yield can only be achieved if there are more branches and terminal buds per unit area, so it is necessary to perform necessary maintenance on the toona tree. Shape and prune in summer to encourage more branches. Summer pruning is generally carried out around 15:00 on a sunny day from July to August, which is beneficial to wound healing, and pruning on cloudy days should be avoided. On the pruned toon tree, branches that grow too strong or too high are topping or shortened to promote the germination of side buds to form new branches and to rejuvenate the weaker parts, forming more short side branches with full terminal buds.

1.3 Winter pruning

Winter pruning is best done during the dormant period of early winter (or late autumn) and early spring. Thin out overly dense branches, overly weak branches, diseased branches, dead branches and old perennial branches that are one year old. The pruning knife and ax should be sharp. When pruning, the tree should be cut close to the trunk from bottom to top. The incision should be smooth and the wound should be small. Do not move it raw or strain the bark, which will affect the growth and development of the tree.

1.4 Rejuvenation

After 7 to 8 years of harvesting, when the buds move to the outer layer of the crown, the growth becomes weak, and the new buds are few and thin, it means that the tree head has aged. It's time for an update. Head changing is usually done when picking buds in spring. Method: Cut off the branches from the third year to leave stubble, that is, cut off all the branches that grew after the third year. Note that the length of branch stubble in the third year should be 20 to 30cm to promote new branches, keep the tree shape intact, and the tree body strong. New shoots should grow on each stubble trunk in the year after the head change, but excessive pruning will cause poor tree growth. If there is not enough stubble, new shoots will often grow on the trunk branches in the second year, causing the tree to deteriorate. Some rejuvenation leaves only the main trunk, which will cause many branches to regenerate. Excessive pruning can also cause the death of the tree.