How to choose star anise seeds? What are the methods of raising seedlings?

Star anise is one of the seasonings often used in people's life, and the market demand is also good, so what are the varieties of star anise? How to choose star anise seeds? What are the methods of raising seedlings?

How to select star anise seeds?

1. In terms of appearance

The real star anise is brownish brown, and the corners are neat and often half-open, revealing the seeds inside. False star anise is often yellowish in color, with irregular corners and hooked tips.

two。 From the taste to the best

Authentic star anise tastes spicy and smells good, but it doesn't have a numb mouth; fake star anise tastes light, with a smell similar to grapefruit leaves, camphor and pine needles, with a numb tongue.

Second, what are the methods of raising seedlings of star anise?

1. Seedling raising method

1.1 seed collection

When a large number of fruits are ripe in October, the mature trees with strong growth, no diseases and insect pests, full fruit and good quality are selected. when the fruit changes from green to yellow, a large number of mature fruit petals are not cracked, bamboo hooks and other auxiliary tools are used to pull down the fruit branches, pick the fruit, remove the small fruit, achene and irregular fruit, and choose the suitable fruit to plant. The selected fresh fruit must be treated with seeds immediately.

1.2 seed treatment

The seed fruit will be spread out indoors to dry, often turn over, wait for the fruit to crack to remove the impurity, collect seeds and sow. When drying seeds, do not break the seed coat and expose the seeds to the hot sun, and do not place them in a place of air circulation, otherwise the seeds will lose their ability to germinate, so it is best to sow seeds as they are picked. If the seeds cannot be sown at the time of seed collection, the following methods can be used to store seeds. One is the seed mixing and storage method of yellow mud, which is mixed with fresh yellow mud without impurities, mixed with appropriate amount of water, and then stirred with the seeds, so that the seeds are wrapped in mud into particles and placed in a cool and moist place indoors, covered with a layer of wet papyrus to moisturize, uncover the wet paper every 3 to 5 days, let the seeds breathable, and spray clean water on the paper surface in case of drying to maintain a certain degree of humidity. Second, using the wet sand layer storage method, the seeds and wet sand are stored in layers and placed in a cool and ventilated place indoors, often keeping the sand layer moist. With the above two methods, star anise seeds can be stored and sown in the following spring. In addition, if possible, fresh fruits or seeds can also be stored in cold storage. Fresh fruits or seeds can be put into fresh bags and stored in 0: 2 ℃ cold storage. Seeds can still germinate after one year of storage.

1.3 sowing time

In Guangxi producing areas, there is generally no frost or less frost in winter, which can be picked and sown immediately, or sown in November-December; if there is frost, it should be finished by mid-March at the latest. When sowing after March, the germination rate of seeds is very low.

1.4 sowing method

Strip sowing is often used in production to facilitate management, preferably with picking and sowing, and should be finished by mid-March at the latest. Stored seeds should be germinated with wet sand for 5-7 days before sowing. On the prepared seedbed, open a sowing ditch with a depth of 3 cm to 4 cm according to the row spacing of 15 cm, and sow 1 seed every 3 cm to 4 cm. After sowing, cover the seeds with sifted clean yellow mud fine soil or turf ash, and cover the border with thatch or straw to keep warm, moisturize and prevent Rain Water from scouring. It usually uses 6 to 8 kilograms per mu.

1.5 Seedling stage management

After 50% of the seeds germinated and unearthed, the cover grass was removed, and a shading shed was built in time after emergence, with a height of 1.5-2 meters, making the transmittance up to 30%-40%. When the seedling height is 5-8 cm and has 3-4 true leaves, interseedling and replenish seedlings are carried out, and nitrogen fertilizer is applied once in combination with weeding and weeding. Star anise seedlings are in the peak growth period from June to September, and foliar fertilizer is applied twice a month and foliar fertilizer is sprayed twice a month to promote seedling growth. In the middle and late December, mature farm manure was applied once and mixed with appropriate amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer to enhance the cold resistance of seedlings in winter. In the seedling stage, weeding should be timely ploughed to avoid soil consolidation and weeds, and timely irrigation to keep the soil moist. Strong seedlings with a height of 1 meter and a ground diameter of more than 1.2 cm for 2-3 years can be planted in the nursery.

two。 Grafting method: star anise grafted seedlings have the advantages of keeping good characters of mother tree, blooming and fruiting earlier, promoting branching and inducing crown dwarfing.

2.1 grafting time

It can be grafted from February to September.

2.2 scion and rootstock selection

The scion selected the annual fruiting mother branch of the middle and upper part of the crown, sturdy growth, full bud eyes and no diseases and insect pests as the scion. Rootstocks should select one-or two-year-old seedlings collected from star anise trees of safflower or light safflower as rootstocks, preferably using robust seedlings with a diameter of more than 0.7 cm 15 cm 20 cm above the ground as rootstocks.

2.3 grafting method

Choose cloudy or sunny days with temperatures above 15 ℃ before 10:00 and after 4 p.m., never grafting in high temperatures at noon and rainy days. Generally, the cutting method or top bud grafting method should be used for grafting in spring, pulling branch grafting method or T-shaped bud grafting method should be adopted in summer from May to June, and T-shaped bud grafting method should be adopted for grafting from August to September in autumn.

2.4 Management after grafting

Before and after grafting, the seedling bed should be kept moist. In case of dry weather, water should be irrigated in time, and stagnant water should be drained in the rainy season. After 15-20 days, the survival condition should be checked, and the dead ones should be repaired immediately. After surviving, the cover and shearing stock should be loosened. After about 40-60 days, the grafted shoots can be unbound after they are ripe for the first time. When the grafted seedlings grow to about 20 cm, they can be upright and fixed. Wipe the buds in time, leaving only one strong branch germinating on the scion, and the rest (including those on the rootstock) will be wiped out in time. Ploughing, weeding and fertilizing once a month, mainly nitrogen fertilizer in the early stage and appropriate amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer in the later stage, and timely prevention and control of diseases and insect pests. One year after grafting, when the plant is more than 0.5 meters high and the ground diameter is more than 0.7 centimeters, it can be planted in the nursery. (source: China Agricultural Press)

When farmers buy star anise in the market, they must pay attention to distinguish between true and false. It is understood that false star anise contains toxic substances, which will cause poisoning after consumption. The common false star anise is red fennel, maple bark and star anise.

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