Now is the time to plant fruit trees. To ensure a good yield of fruits, it is crucial to start with high-quality seedlings and plant them correctly. Planting fruit seedlings improperly can lead to poor results. To obtain high-quality fruits, it is essential to collect seedlings or cuttings of the desired variety. The recent cedar strike has caused many fruit trees to be easily uprooted, mainly due to inexperience. Most nurseries are currently not producing quality seedlings, focusing solely on commercial aspects. Even if they are produced, they are often not properly pruned, resulting in trees with few roots that easily fall in storms. The future growth of fruit trees depends on the planting process, from digging holes to planting the crops. Failure to follow these guidelines not only affects the plant’s growth but also the yield. Therefore, careful attention is needed at every step.
The holes for mango grafting should be smaller than those for guava, but larger than those for paper lemons. For large trees like mango, jam, jackfruit, dewa, etc., the size of the hole should be 90 cm on all sides. For medium trees like guava, batabilebu, kamala, taikar, jamrul, etc., the hole size should be 75 cm on all sides. For small plants like paper lemon, karamcha, lukluki, banana, papaya, etc., the hole size should be 45 cm on all sides. When digging the hole, the topsoil should be kept on one side of the hole and the bottom soil on the other side. Organic manure should be mixed first. After keeping it like this for 4 to 5 days, chemical fertilizers should be mixed 3 to 4 days before planting. The soil mixed with this fertilizer should be rotated at this time.
Planting Time:
Fruit tree seedlings can be planted before the monsoon (April – May), at the beginning of the monsoon (June), and at the end of the monsoon (August). However, if the land is well-drained and sandy loam, planting can also be done during the monsoon (July) without rainy days. It is better not to plant during winter, as new roots of forage do not grow as expected. Afternoon is the best time to plant seedlings or cuttings.
Planting Method:
There are several rules for planting saplings, such as how much to bury in the soil, whether to cut any branches or leaves while planting, or whether to buy the sapling from the nursery and plant it or not. If planted following some general rules, they will do well, like:
– Do not plant in the garden immediately after grafting. Doing so can cause the plant to die from planting injury and split the graft. It is better to plant it at least a few months after grafting.
– Before planting, the soil of the garden should be leveled with a plow and a ladder.
– The distance must be fixed and designed before planting. This should be done in the summer.
– At least 15 days before planting, make a hole and fill the soil with manure. 5-10 kg cow dung manure, 100-150 gm urea, 150-250 gm TSP, and 75-150 gm MOP manure should be mixed with soil per hole.
– Hardening should be done by collecting seedlings or cuttings a few days before planting. For this, the leaves should be shed by keeping the seedlings in a shaded place for a few days. Sometimes the root ball and the plant should be sprinkled with light water. It reduces the risk of post-planting death of the tree.
– Care should be taken during planting so that the soil ball at the base of the sapling is not broken.
– If there are seedlings in soil tubs or polybags, the soil should be softened with some water. Then the tub should be softened by rolling it on the ground and rolling the polybag or rolling it with the palms of both hands. By holding the root of the seedling in the tub or polybag by hand and holding the entire seedling or the pen upside down, pull the tub or polybag upwards or tap the edge of the tub on a hard place slowly, the soil ball will come out and it should be buried in the hole. However, in the case of polybag planting, the whole ball of soil can be brought out by cutting one side of the polybag with a knife or blade or by gently breaking the four sides of the soil tub and placing it in the hole.
– At the time of planting in the pit, the root of the plant should be kept outside in tubs or polybags as long as there is soil at the roots or outside. It is not right to bury more than this or keep it on top.
– Excess leaves should be pruned at the time of planting. But this has to be done carefully, so that the sapling is not injured. After planting the seedling pen, the root soil should be slightly pressed and sprinkled with water.
– If the sapling is large, a stake should be buried 10-15 cm away from the tree and tied lightly with twine to keep it straight and strong. Tight tying often stunts crop growth. These poles protect the plants from being uprooted by strong winds.
– Fencing or cages should be arranged if necessary for the protection of livestock.
– The plant does not need to be fertilized until new buds or leaves appear.
– However, at this time, water irrigation should be done at the base of the plant as needed.
