How to Grow the Japanese Burdock (Niu Dali): Choose a Good Variety, Plant in Either Spring or Autumn

SummaryVarieties: For spring sowing, choose early-to-mid maturing varieties; for autumn sowing, choose mid-to-late maturing varieties. Soil: It is best to choose deep, well-drained, loose and fertile sandy soil for planting. Land preparation: Apply base fertilizer and build ridges to prevent the trench from collapsing when it rains, which would cause the burdock to become deformed. Sowing: Seed propagation is mainly used, and the row spacing must be well controlled when sowing. Thinning: Remove inferior seedlings and overly vigorous seedlings, leaving seedlings of uniform size. Management: Cultivate and weed, and apply timely and reasonable topdressing to achieve high yield and good quality.

Niu Dali, also called pig's trotter hat, golden bell root and mountain lotus root, is a common Chinese medicinal herb. Artificial cultivation has now been achieved, and the growing method generally uses open-field cultivation. It can be planted in both spring and autumn. In spring, planting is generally from March to mid-May, and if plastic film is used, it can be planted in March. If grown in the open field, it can generally only be planted after the frost has ended. The autumn cultivation time is generally from October to early November, and around November 10 an arched plastic film is generally put in place. Now let us look at the specific growing method for Niu Dali!

1. Choosing Varieties

At present there are many varieties of Niu Dali for cultivation, generally chosen according to the planting season. If sowing in spring, early-to-mid maturing varieties are mostly used, such as Yanagawa Riso, Matsunaka Wase, Hata Wase, Watanabe Wase or the large long-root white-fleshed burdock. If autumn sowing is chosen, mid-to-late maturing varieties are generally used, such as Yanagawa Riso, the large long-root white-fleshed burdock or Nogawa.

2. Soil Selection

Niu Dali is a deep-rooted plant with relatively high soil requirements. It is more suitable for planting in deep, well-drained, loose and fertile sandy soil. Generally, alluvial soil from large rivers, where the upper and lower soil layers are uniform, is very suitable for growing Niu Dali. It should also be noted that the planting site must not be a plot whose previous crop was a non-Asteraceae plant, and plots that have not grown burdock for at least 2-3 years are best. In addition, plots whose previous crops were beans, sweet potato, peanut or corn should not be chosen for planting.

3. Land Preparation

After the previous crop is harvested, deep plowing and sun-drying of the soil should be carried out in time. Before deep plowing, 75kg of cake fertilizer, more than 5000kg of high-quality decomposed farmyard manure and about 50kg of ammonium bicarbonate can be applied per mu. Then use a burdock machine to trench in rows 70 cm wide, with a depth preferably of about 1 m. Generally, after trenching with a burdock machine, a ridge about 40-50 cm wide and about 25 cm high is naturally formed. At this point, the two sides of the ridge can be pressed firm with the feet, or patted firm along both sides of the ridge with a shovel, to prevent the trench from collapsing when it rains and causing the burdock to become deformed.

4. Sowing

Niu Dali is mainly propagated by seed. When the pods have all turned yellow but have not yet split open, they can be picked, sun-dried, then the pods removed and bad seeds discarded. Before sowing, the seeds to be sown should be disinfected. The seeds can be soaked in warm water at 55°C for about 10-15 minutes, then taken out and soaked for about another 7 hours. After the seeds have fully absorbed water, an appropriate amount of fine sand is added and stirred evenly. After mixing, sprinkle a layer of fine sand on top, and once the seeds show white, sowing can begin. When sowing, the row spacing should be controlled at about 25 cm. The trench dug must not be too deep. After sowing the seeds, a thin layer of sieved soil should also be spread over the seeds. The sowing rate is about 0.6 kg per mu, and the density should be controlled at about 40,000-60,000 plants.

5. Thinning and Final Spacing of Seedlings

The first thinning after planting is generally when 1-2 true leaves appear, and the second when 2-3 true leaves appear, with final spacing set at 7-10 cm between plants. When setting the final spacing, mainly remove inferior seedlings and overly vigorous seedlings, leaving seedlings of uniform size. For early harvest and market sale, the spacing of retained seedlings should be somewhat larger; for late harvest and market sale, it can be appropriately denser, so as to avoid too large a spacing, which would make the burdock's taproot too thick and affect appearance and quality.

6. Post-Sowing Management

1. Cultivation and Weeding

Niu Dali grows relatively slowly in the early stage of cultivation, and there are many weeds especially at the seedling stage, so cultivation and weeding must be carried out in time. Generally, manual weeding or spraying herbicide can be used to remove weeds between the ridges. When spraying herbicide, be careful to spray only under calm wind conditions, and do not let the herbicide drift onto the Niu Dali plants, otherwise it will cause serious consequences for the later growth of Niu Dali. Watering and fertilizing are very important for Niu Dali seeds just after sowing. The seeds must be kept sufficiently moist. When fertilizing, the fertilizer concentration must not be too high, to prevent burning the seeds. Generally, seedlings can emerge within 2 weeks after sowing.

2. Topdressing

Throughout the entire growing period, Niu Dali mainly receives 3 topdressings. The first is when the plants are 30-40 cm tall, mainly by opening a trench on top of the ridge and applying urea, with about 10kg of fertilizer applied per mu. The second is during vigorous growth of the plants, applied together with watering by scattering it in the furrows, with about 8-10kg of urea applied per mu. The last is after the fleshy root has expanded, when 10kg of diammonium phosphate and 5kg of potassium sulfate can be used for topdressing. It is best to first make holes with a steel bar, then apply the fertilizer 10-20 cm deep, and finally seal the holes tightly, so as to promote rapid growth of the fleshy root and achieve high yield and high quality.