In fact, you can earn more in your orchard and interplant these traditional Chinese medicine.

The planting mode of interplanting or transplanting crops in the later stage of the previous crop growth is also called intercropping and serial planting. Intercropping focuses on intensive utilization of light and heat water resources in time, increasing multiple cropping index and total annual yield, which is a planting method of intensive utilization of time. Chinese herbal medicine, as a kind of "crop", is often interplanted with fruit trees. So, what kind of fruit tree is suitable for interplanting with what kind of traditional Chinese medicine? What do we need to pay attention to when interplanting traditional Chinese medicine and fruit trees?

Principles to be followed in interplanting traditional Chinese Medicinal Materials in Orchard

Practice has proved that not all Chinese herbal medicines can be interplanted in the middle of the orchard, and must be strictly selected, arranged reasonably, and seek harm and profit, otherwise it will have a negative impact, or even "lose both sides". The general principle is:

First of all, a reasonable field structure should be formed according to the biological characteristics of different fruit trees and traditional Chinese medicine. For example, the selected varieties of traditional Chinese medicine should be negative-tolerant and shallow-rooted; secondly, the allocation proportion should be appropriate, adhere to the principle of fruit trees and complementary advantages; third, it is necessary to interplant local special and authentic medicinal materials; fourth, it is necessary to strengthen field management, promote mutual benefit and control contradictions to ensure a double bumper harvest. At the same time, we should also pay attention to not spreading diseases and insect pests to each other, and the Chinese herbal medicines planted will not be the intermediate hosts of fruit tree diseases and insect pests.

There is successful experience in interplanting fruit and medicine in many places in China, such as Jingxing County, Hebei Province, interplanting turmeric, Atractylodes macrocephala and chrysanthemum, etc.; Daxing County, Beijing, interplanting chrysanthemum, perilla, achyranthes bidentata and psoralen in pear orchards; Yin County, Zhejiang Province, planting Salvia miltiorrhiza under pear trees Interplanting Gastrodia elata and Ligusticum chuanxiong in pomelo orchard in Jintang County, Sichuan Province is a successful example of scientific and rational use of fruit forest space and environmental advantages for three-dimensional development.

Intercropping Model between Young Fruit trees and traditional Chinese Medicine

After fruit trees are planted, it usually takes 2 to 3 years to form a crown before they have a certain degree of shade. During this period, reasonable interplanting of traditional Chinese medicine varieties with low stalks, smaller plant types and more liking the sun can achieve the purpose of raising growth in a short time and increasing income. For example, from the first to the third year, Platycodon grandiflorum, Radix Isatidis, honeysuckle, dandelion, saffron, Asarum, turmeric and other varieties were interplanted in the row spacing of 2 meters to 3 meters; from the third to the fifth year, with the gradual increase of the crown of fruit trees, a more shady environment has been formed in the row spacing of 2 meters to 3 meters, so it is necessary to plant varieties of Chinese herbal medicines that like shade, such as Pinellia ternata, Zihu, Tiannanxing, Huanglian, burdock, Cassia, Lonicera, Atractylodes, and so on. For example, fruit farmers in Emeishan City, Sichuan Province planted Ligusticum chuanxiong among fruit trees, and fruit farmers in Huayuan Town of Santai County planted Ophiopogon in citrus orchards.

It is worth noting that continuous cropping of most Chinese medicinal materials is not suitable for continuous cropping. First, continuous cropping is prone to diseases and pests, such as white silk disease and root rot. Second, continuous cropping is easy to cause lack of certain trace elements, affecting the normal growth of fruit trees and Chinese herbal medicines. Therefore, the stubble should be changed every year or every other year, and the stubble suitable for the growth of traditional Chinese medicine should be selected. In addition, intercropping requires higher water and fertilizer conditions for tillage management than monoculture, so attention should be paid to the cultivation of soil fertility.

Interplanting Model of mature Fruit trees and traditional Chinese Medicine

After 5 years of fruit tree growth, a shady environment has been formed within the row spacing, and the transmittance is generally less than 30%, which provides natural growth conditions for Chinese herbal medicines that need to grow in this environment. For example, Gastrodia elata, which is planted in autumn or spring, prefers cool, shady and wet soil water content, which requires a larger ecological environment, which is a better fruit-medicine intercropping model. In the early stage of growth, the leaves of deciduous fruit trees have fallen, and the scattered light can be obtained in Tianma hole, which increases the temperature, so that the primary corm formed by Gastrodia elata seed germination can establish a nutritional relationship with Armillaria mellea in advance, grow and develop normally, and form a robust new flax. In the middle stage of growth, with the gradual increase of air temperature, fruit trees have formed dense branches and leaves to shade and cool Gastrodia elata. At the same time, a large amount of oxygen is released for Gastrodia elata growth through leaf photosynthesis, which provides a cool, humid, sufficient oxygen and suitable temperature environment for Gastrodia elata growth. In the later stage of growth, Gastrodia elata gradually entered dormancy, and a large number of fallen leaves of fruit trees provided conditions for Gastrodia elata to survive the winter safely.

At present, the fruit-medicine intercropping model has been popularized and applied in many adult orchards in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Anhui and other provinces. Coptis chinensis, Panax notoginseng, Ginseng and Ganoderma lucidum are suitable for interplanting in adult fruit forests.

Warm hint: the reasonable interplanting of traditional Chinese medicine in the orchard can not only improve the soil fertility and improve the community environment, but also inhibit the growth of weeds, play the role of "grass cover" and achieve a bumper harvest of fruit and medicine. However, not all traditional Chinese medicine and all fruit trees are suitable for interplanting, so when planting, drug farmers and fruit growers should first understand whether they are suitable for interplanting, and learn to master interplanting techniques.