How to plant licorice

Licorice, alias sweet grass root, sweet licorice, sweet root, powder grass and so on. It is a perennial herb of the genus Glycyrrhiza Leguminosae, which is used in medicine with roots and rhizomes. It has the functions of clearing heat and detoxification, moistening lung passive phlegm, tonifying spleen and qi, relieving cough and resolving phlegm, high and various drugs. For detoxification of sore, cough and sore, weakness of spleen and stomach, deficiency of qi and lack of blood, cold, stomachache, limb pain, jaundice, periodontal disease and so on.

I. cultivation techniques

(1) Land selection and land preparation should choose sandy soil or sand-covered land with deep soil layer. The tuyere should be avoided when selecting the site. After selecting the land, turn the soil 40 cm deep, level it down and rake it fine, and then make a bed for backup.

(2) sowing is divided into direct seeding and seedling raising and transplanting. ① live broadcast can be sown from April to June every year. In areas without irrigation, it is best to sow seeds in the rainy season. Sow seeds with a seeder or rice on the ground where the base fertilizer is fully applied. The line spacing is 50 cm and the depth is 3 cm. The sowing rate per mu of land with irrigation conditions is 60.8 kg, and the sowing rate of dry land or land with poor soil moisture can be increased appropriately. The seedlings emerged about 1-2 weeks after sowing. ② seedling transplanting is to first raise seedlings in the nursery for one year, and then transfer the seedlings to the field the next year. The sowing method is the same as that of direct seeding, with a line spacing of 50 cm. Transplanting is generally carried out at the end of autumn, and the one-year-old seedlings are planted according to the row spacing of 50 × 15 cm on the ground where the basal fertilizer is well applied. 20,000 plants can be planted per mu.

(3) in the first year of field management and pest control, licorice should pay attention to weed control, timely spraying herbicides (refined grass grams) to weed, properly loosening the soil, paying attention to pulling large weeds, and topdressing twice during the growing period. Pay attention to drainage in the rainy season.

If rust, brown spot, powdery mildew, leafhopper and other diseases and insect pests occur, pesticides should be sprayed in time.

2. 3 ~ 4 years after harvesting and processing seeds, 1 ~ 2 years after transplanting can be dug. When digging, you should dig deep along the growth direction of the root system. After digging out, shake the soil and cool in the sun. When it is semi-dry, it is bundled into small handfuls according to different grades and dried in the sun to form the finished licorice. Generally, the yield of 3-year-old licorice can reach 600 kilograms per mu, and the yield of 2-year-old licorice can reach 500 kilograms per mu.

Third, market and benefit analysis licorice has a wide range of uses. It is mainly used in medicine, chemical industry, tobacco, daily chemical industry and other fields. Glycyrrhizic acid as a sweetener is about 300 times sweeter than sucrose and has the function of low calorie health care. Western developed countries have used it as a food additive. Some countries use licorice as a raw material for health care and makeup according to the antioxidants contained in it. Licorice is also exported to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States.

Due to the large market demand and the decrease of wild resources year by year, the price of licorice has risen from 2.5 yuan / kg in 1992 to 911 yuan / kg at present. According to the market price of 9 yuan / kg, the output value of 2-year-old licorice per mu can reach 4500 yuan, and the net income can reach 3500 yuan. It can be seen that there are great prospects for planting licorice.