How to grow snow lotus?

Snow lotus fruit is a perennial herb of the genus Compositae, native to the Andes of South America. It is a traditional root food for local Indians. Residents of the Andes grow this plant as a root vegetable to eat. It can also be eaten as a fruit. It was introduced to China in 2008 and was first planted in Yunnan Province. Let's take a look at how to grow snow lotus fruit.

Planting conditions of snow lotus fruit

Saussurea involucrata has been successfully introduced and cultivated in Yunnan, Fujian, Hainan, Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Shandong, Henan and Hebei. It is especially suitable for growing on sandy soil between 1000 and 2300 meters above sea level. It likes light and moist soil, and requires terraces, terraces and gentle slopes that are irrigated and will not be flooded. The growth period is about 200 days, the growth temperature is 20: 30 ℃, the growth is stagnant below 15 ℃, and the cold is not tolerant. The stem withered and died in frost.

Seedling raising technique of Saussurea involucrata

1. Seed selection and purchase: when planting snow lotus fruit, you should choose good bulbs or seedlings, requiring seed buds to be full and intact, red in color, oil-green and strong, no disease and no damage.

2. Planting time: snow lotus fruit should be cut and planted with seed bulb. After cutting, the seed ball should have 3 or 4 buds, and the direct seeding should be before April 15. It is better to sow seeds with plastic film mulching at the end of March, and if there are conditions to build a small arch shed, the time can also be advanced. Seedling raising in nutrition bowl should be carried out in the first and middle of March, and after entering the frost-breaking period, it should be transplanted to the field and watered in time. The earlier the planting, the higher the yield, and the yield of snow lotus fruit planted from May to June decreased obviously.

3. Soil preparation and ridging: choose sandy loam with convenient drainage and irrigation, not low-lying sandy loam. The ditches were opened at a row spacing of 0.81m, and 2000 kg of fully mature human and animal manure and 20 kg of compound fertilizer were applied once per mu. Then ridge (also called soil moisture), and then cultivate the soil when ploughing, in order to increase the diurnal temperature difference of the soil and promote the expansion of the fruit.

Planting techniques of Saussurea Fruit

1. Seedling transplanting: after the root buds germinated in late February, the root buds were cut open, with 1-2 buds in each piece, wrapped in plant ash and bagged to raise seedlings, watered through and covered with film, waiting for long roots to emerge and uncover the film. Do not water more at the seedling stage, as long as you keep the soil moist. In late March and early April, the seedlings can be transplanted when they grow to about 10 cm high, and when transplanting, they are fully watered with fixed roots. It can also be sown directly in the field by direct seeding.

2. Planting density: 1000 to 1200 plants per mu, according to plant spacing of 0.6 meters, row spacing of 1 meter, planting in the air between rows. Ploughing and ridging can be planted according to specifications, or planting pits can be dug. The planting pits are 50cm × 50cm and 40cm deep. After 30 cm of soil cover, the rotten agricultural fertilizer is 3kg / hole and the high-quality compound fertilizer is 0.15kg / hole. After mixing well with the upper soil, the seedlings are planted in the pit.

3. Mid-term management: timely watering of Saussurea fruit after transplanting to ensure the survival rate. After entering the rainy season, it is necessary to dig a good drainage ditch, do not flood, waterlogging. Do a good job of weeding in the middle of ploughing, weeding and ridging while weeding. In principle, chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not applied during the whole growth period, and weak seedlings can be poured clear dung water and biogas manure. In the prosperous period of July and August, if the branches grow excessively and there are too many branches, they should be combined with soil cultivation for pruning and beating the overdense branches, beating them deeply in the early stage and only hitting the top in the later stage, so as to control the vigorous growth of the aboveground parts and retain about 10 or 12 strong branches.

4. Late management: the snow lotus fruit enters the flowering stage in September, with five yellow sunflowers on each branch. After the flowers fail, they enter the mature stage, and after all the flowers fail, they can be harvested one after another.

5. Timely mining: the symbol of the ripening of the underground fruit of Saussurea involucrata is the withering of bunched yellow flowers from the stem tip around October, which can be picked and dug at this time. It should be excavated and stored indoors or in the cellar before freezing. It can be preserved like sweet potatoes, and the stalks can be used as high-quality feed. Leaves, flowers and fruits have high nutritional value and can be dried to make tea or sold. Planting about 1000 plants per mu, the general yield per plant is about 3 kg, and the highest yield per plant can reach 10 kg.

6. Seed retention technique: cut off the upper part of the fruit after picking, dry the wound, soak it with 75% potassium permanganate solution for 2 minutes, fish it out, put the bud eye up, store it in a warm and cool place with wet sand, and plant it in a warm and cool place. In February of the second year, when the sand seed bud grows to about 4cm, it can be planted (each place should be based on the local temperature).