Cultivation techniques of catechu

Catechu, alias catechu ointment, catechu, black catechu, for the legume plant catechu, for heat, Sheng Jin, hemostasis, the main treatment of lung heat cough, hemoptysis, diarrhea, infantile indigestion; external use to treat ulcers for a long time, skin eczema, mouth sores, tonsillitis. It is distributed in the south of Yunnan and is cultivated in Hainan Island. Morphological characteristics deciduous trees, 6-13 meters high. Branchlets slender, spiny. The leaves are double-pinnately compound leaves, alternate; there are spinous needles at the base of the leaf axis, flattened; there are 10-20 pairs of pinnae on the leaf axis; 30-50 pairs of leaflets on each pinna, leaflets strip, both sides are sparsely hairy. Flowering from August to September, racemes axillary, calyx tubular at base, divided distally, sparsely hairy; petals 5, long lanceolate, yellow or white; stamens numerous, protruding beyond Corolla; pistil 1, superior ovary, long ovate. The pod is flat and thin, with 6 cm long pedicel and 1 cm wide pedicel, with 7 seeds.

First, sowing seeds

It is a tropical positive tree species, which likes warm and humid environment and is not cold-resistant, so it is suitable to be cultivated on sunny sloping land.

Catechu should be broadcast live and sown at the beginning of the rainy season. On the selected ground, dig a pit with a depth of 45 cm and a width of 60 cm according to the row spacing of 240 cm * 300 cm, apply sufficient base fertilizer, and then fill an appropriate amount of fine soil, then sow 5-6 seeds in each pit, cover the soil after sowing, and affect the emergence of seedlings if the seeds are covered. Waiting for seedling height of 10 cm should be divided into batches of seedlings, weak to stay strong, lack of seedlings to make up. Finally, it is appropriate to keep one plant in each pit.

II. Field management

1. Weeding and loosening the soil: weeding and loosening the soil 2 or 3 times a year, first shovel out the weeds near the plant and loosen the soil. Then shovel all the weeds around and cover them near the plant, which can increase soil fertility and help to resist drought and protect seedlings.

2. Increase topdressing: in order to make catechu grow rapidly and put into production ahead of time, topdressing should be applied. When weeding from July to August, dig a hole near the plant, fill the weeds into the pit, and then apply 0.75 kg of superphosphate or sulfate 1.5 kg per plant to cooperate with the grass mixture. (

3. Pruning and setting up pillars: children's strips mainly use stem heartwood. If there are too many branches, the heartwood yield will be affected, and the branches should be pruned. Young trees with drooping top branches should be propped up to make them grow normally.

III. Harvesting and processing

Catechu can be cut down and processed after growing for 15 years. Because the older the age, the more heartwood, the greater the paste yield, so it can be harvested and processed in time according to the growth situation and the national acquisition plan.

It should be harvested in winter. The mature plants are cut down by roots, bark and white wood are removed, red and yellow heartwood is cut into pieces, boiled and filtered, the filtrate is concentrated into syrup, poured into a special model, made into 25cm square pieces, cooled and dried.

Fourth, keep the seed

The seeds mature in March and should be harvested in time. If the seeds are not picked out, the pods will fall. Picking method: use bamboo pole to knock off and collect, sun for 1 ~ 2 days, pod cracking, peel off seeds, choose large and full seeds as seeds, store them in cloth bags and hang them in a ventilated and dry place for sowing. When the seeds are harvested in the same year, they should be sown in the same year. If the seeds are sown in the next year, the germination rate will be significantly reduced.