Practical cultivation techniques of heading red chicory

Red chicory is a perennial herb of the family Compositae, which originated from Central Asia and North Africa along the Mediterranean coast. It is widely cultivated in Europe and the United States, with bright colors and rich nutrients, and its taste is much more bitter than softening chicory.

Heading red chicory is a semi-cold-tolerant vegetable, which likes cold, cool and humid climate. Its product is a red leaf ball. The yield of heading red chicory is generally 1000-2000 kg per mu, the single ball weight is 0.25-0.5 kg, and the maximum is 2 kg.

During the growth period of heading red chicory, higher temperature is needed from seedling stage to rosette stage to facilitate seedling emergence and rapid growth; during heading stage, a large temperature difference is needed, and the sunshine at lower night temperature (below 15 ℃) is short and strong. During the heading period, it is easy to bolt and blossom under high temperature (daily average temperature above 23 ℃), especially high night temperature (above 20 ℃), and affect the color of leaf ball, so heading red chicory is suitable for planting in summer and autumn. Due to the influence of temperature, the planting in winter is smaller and the yield is low. A certain yield can be obtained by planting in spring, but some plants will bolt if they are not planted properly.

I. cultivation season and cultivation methods

1. Autumn open-field cultivation: autumn open-field cultivation is the main cultivation method of heading red chicory. Early and medium-mature varieties, such as autumn, India, etc., are generally sown in mid-July, planted in mid-August, and harvested in October. If you sow too early, you will set the ball early. due to the high temperature, the color of the leaf ball is often not red, so the heading period should be from late September to October.

two。 Cultivation in solar greenhouse in winter: sowing in August, planting in September, and harvested from January to February of the following year.

2. Cultivation techniques

1. Soil preparation, fertilization and bed making: it is appropriate to choose loam soil with loose soil and rich organic matter, and more straw and cow dung should be applied to the protected land where vegetables have been planted for many years to reduce salt damage. The amount of fertilizer needed for heading red chicory is medium, and 2000-4000 kg of rotten organic fertilizer and 50 kg of superphosphate can be applied per mu to mix well with the soil and level the ground to make a flat bed with a width of 1.3 meters and a length of 8-10 meters.

two。 Seedling raising: according to different cultivation seasons, different facilities and methods are adopted to ensure that the temperature is 24 ℃ ~ 28 ℃ in the daytime and more than 15 ℃ at night. In general, Zuoshi emerged 4 days after sowing and became seedlings in about 30 days. The amount of seed used is about 20 grams per mu.

3. Planting: the seedlings can be planted with 5-7 leaves, and the row spacing varies according to varieties and cultivation seasons. the row spacing of early-maturing varieties is 33 cm square and that of middle-late-maturing varieties is 40 cm square. Because of the suitable conditions and strong plants in autumn, they should be sparsely planted.

4. Management after planting: the management of open field cultivation in autumn is relatively simple, watering fixed planting water after planting, watering slow seedling water after 5-7 days, ploughing and weeding once after slow seedling water; in order to promote leaf growth at rosette stage, nitrogen fertilizer should be applied properly once, urea 10 kg per mu; water and fertilizer management should be strengthened during heading period, watering and fertilizing once every 10 days depending on weather conditions, 10 kg nitrogen and potash fertilizer per mu each time. In the later stage, nitrogen and potassium should be applied according to the ratio of 1 ∶ 2.

5. Harvest: early-maturing varieties are generally harvested 60 days after planting, after the leaf bulbs are compacted. Early harvest, the leaf ball is relatively loose, can not meet the commodity requirements, and affect the yield; delayed harvest, there will be rotten ball or bolting and lose the commodity.

III. Storage

The storage life of heading red chicory can be up to 1-2 months under the condition of 0 ℃ and 90% relative humidity. Wrap each leaf ball in paper and put it in the basket, which can prolong the storage life, or put the leaf ball in the basket with a layer of paper. In the process of storage, it should be checked and cleaned every 15 days. If there are rotten leaves and balls, they should be cleaned in time.