Cultivation techniques of sweet tea

I. growth characteristics

Sweet tea sprouts when the temperature is more than 13 ℃ from February to March, and new strips grow on the persistent roots. The plant state of sweet tea is clump type, the crown is narrow, and there are many upright plants. In July, the temperature in the high altitude mountain area was about 25 ℃, and when the temperature in the low altitude area was about 30 ℃, the plant stopped growing upward, the branches and leaves were basically shaped, and began to turn to the period of leaf nutrient accumulation and sugar transformation. After November, when the temperature dropped to 13-14 ℃, the leaves gradually turned yellow, then withered and fell off, most of the leaf axils of the lateral branches began to form overwintering mixed buds, and the plants went into hibernation.

The new shoots germinated on the persistent roots in that year grew lateral branches from April to May, and in February of the following year, the overwintering buds on the lateral branches germinated, sprouted new shoots, grew new leaves, and bloomed one after another. The flowering period is from March to April. The fruit ripens in June, showing orange red or red, and the fruit is sweet.

Sweet tea is perennial, but the branches on the ground can only live for 2-3 years. Sweet tea is propagated and renewed by the way that its perennial roots germinate new plants every spring to prolong its life. Therefore, sweet tea only needs to be planted once, there will be more and more plants, the area will expand year by year, and it can be harvested continuously for many years.

II. Land selection and preparation

Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places can be planted. However, when selecting a specific site, it depends on whether the local climate and geographical conditions are in line with the above-mentioned ecological environment.

Choose the sloping land to the west and east, where the sunshine time is not too long and the soil layer is thicker. Ploughing through the winter to make the soil weathered and loose, in order to reduce overwintering pests. Ploughing and raking farmland in January, there is no need to make a whole bed, and a drainage ditch with a depth of 30 cm and a width of 50 cm is opened along the slope. The distance between ditches depends on slope and rainfall, so as to ensure that there is no stagnant water in the planting area. After the ground is finished, the hole is dug according to the row spacing of 150 cm × 150 cm. The hole is 30 cm wide and 30 cm deep.

III. Mode of reproduction

1. Propagate in separate plants. From March to April, the young plants germinated on the branch root of the mother plant were dug up for transplantation. At this time, the leaves of the young plants have not yet expanded, but they have fibrous roots. When digging, it is necessary to ensure that the young plant has a branch root about 10 cm long and a more complete fibrous root. The number of new plants obtained by this method is 3-5 times that of the mother plant.

two。 Reproduce by dividing roots. When the temperature rises in spring, many protruding white adventitious buds appear on the roots. Dig out this branch root, cut it into root segments according to the length of 10 to 15 centimeters, insert it obliquely or buried flat in the sand bed, drench it with water and moisturize. The root segment can grow into young plants after half a month.

3. Seeds reproduce. Harvest when the fruit is orange-red or red, take out the seeds and cover them with sand. Or sowed into the seedbed, the row spacing is 20 cm, the plant spacing is 5-7 cm. Weed after sowing. After the seeds grow 2 leaves, they are transferred into a nutrition bag to raise seedlings. Nutritious soil is made of rotten farm manure mixed with soil and turf ash. Watering and applying slightly less concentrated fertilizer at the seedling stage.

IV. Planting methods

Dig a pit according to the row spacing of 1.5 meters × 1.5 meters, and apply base fertilizer based on farm manure in the pit, 10 kg per pit. Then return to the soil and mix well with fertilizer, the pit soil is 20 cm higher than the ground. After the young plants are implanted, they are compacted and drenched with water. Seed propagation seedlings will not be planted in the field until May.

V. Field management

1. Ploughing and weeding. Ploughing and weeding 4 times in the first year after planting, once a month. Medium ploughing should be shallow, so as not to harm the root system. The 2-year-old plants were ploughed and weeded twice a year, the first in early May and the second from the end of June to the beginning of July.

two。 Top dressing. Seedling topdressing 3 times in the same year, it is best to apply thick human and animal manure water, 1.5 kg per plant, combined with ploughing and weeding. 2-year-old plants were topdressing human and animal feces twice a year, 3 kg each time. If there is a lack of farm fertilizer, it can be dry applied with compound fertilizer, but it must be used for the last time to ensure the quality of sweet tea. If nitrogen fertilizer such as urea or ammonium sulfate is applied, it is easy to lighten the leaf flavor and reduce the sweetness of sweet tea.

3. Sprinkle with water. Except that it must be drenched with water when planting, it can grow normally only by Rain Water.

4. Pick the top buds. Because the current year's plants have only primary lateral branches, and perennial plants have only secondary lateral branches, the plants are in a state of few branches and sparse leaves. In order to increase the yield, it is necessary to pick the top buds to grow more lateral branches. Practice: when the lateral buds germinate from late April to early May, remove the terminal buds from the old main branches to promote the rapid growth of lateral buds and form lateral branches. at the same time, it can weaken the growth momentum of the main branches and control the height of the main branches at about 1.7 meters. For more than 2-year-old branches, when the first lateral branch is 1.2 meters long, take the same method to remove the terminal bud of the lateral branch, so as to promote the secondary lateral branch to occur more frequently. Through bud picking treatment, the yield was increased.

Most of the sweet tea producing areas are in the colder mountain areas, and there are no serious diseases and insect pests.

VI. Harvesting and processing

1. Harvest. In a clump of sweet tea, there are plants germinating from the branch roots in the same year, as well as plants of 2 years or more, so the mature time of the leaves is different. It should be harvested twice, the first is from June to July, the leaves of more than 2-year-old plants have matured, and the sugar content has reached the peak, so they can be harvested first; the leaves of young plants can not be harvested until October, and the second harvest can be carried out at this time. It is usually picked by hand.

two。 Processing. The leaves are fried in a pan and dried in the sun. It can also be sold directly after drying and pressing the package, and the manufacturer will carry out the second processing according to its @ # @ 136 packaging @ mode.