How to Grow Houttuynia cordata? A Detailed Guide to Houttuynia cordata Planting Methods
As living standards improve, more and more people are paying attention to health and wellness, and a growing number of people even like to use traditional Chinese medicine to regulate their bodies and maintain their health. Houttuynia cordata is fairly common in daily life and is even eaten as a vegetable, but it is also a kind of herbal medicine! Now let's learn together with the editor how Houttuynia cordata is grown!
Houttuynia cordata Planting Methods
1. Propagation methods. Division, stem cuttings and rhizome propagation can all be used. For division propagation, in late March to April, dig up the mother plant, divide it, and either transplant the divisions onto a sandy seedbed to raise seedlings, or transplant them directly. For stem cutting propagation, in spring and summer, cut healthy, pest- and disease-free branches as cuttings, cut them into 12-15 cm lengths, and insert them into a sandy loam seedbed at a row spacing of 16×10 cm or 14×10 cm. Water after inserting, provide shade, and transplant the seedlings for field planting once they have rooted. For rhizome propagation, which can be done in February to March, dig out white, thick rhizomes, cut them into small sections with more than 2 axillary buds, and either raise seedlings in shallow furrows on a seedbed or in the field, or plant them directly.
2. Land preparation and planting. Choose fertile, loose, well-drained, wind-sheltered, sunny sandy loam or soil rich in organic matter for cultivation. After deep plowing and loosening the soil, make raised beds 1.5-1.6 m wide, 30 cm high, with a furrow bottom width of 20 cm. Apply 3000-4000 kg of farmyard manure per mu as a base fertilizer, open shallow furrows or dig holes at a plant spacing of 14×20 cm for planting, water after planting, and keep the soil moist.
How to Grow Houttuynia cordata
When growing Houttuynia cordata, choose conditions with natural shade (half shade, half sun) and loose, fertile potting soil. It can be planted in all four seasons, but plantings in winter, spring and early summer can be harvested in the same year, and the best sowing time is generally around the Beginning of Spring. In the flower pot, open furrows in the same direction for row planting, with furrows 8-10 cm deep and 13-15 cm wide, and row spacing of 20-25 cm. Place Houttuynia cordata seed rhizomes in the furrows, laying two parallel rows per furrow, with the stem sections spaced 5-8 cm apart, placed continuously end to end. The seed stems should be laid evenly, then covered with soil, and after planting keep them warm and moist. If planting in the high-temperature summer season, there must be 3 nodes to ensure that the middle node can sprout and take root.
If planting before winter, you should also cover with plastic film or newspaper to facilitate normal growth and development in winter and early spring and obtain a high yield.
Daily Management of Houttuynia cordata
After field planting, if the seedlings encounter drought, water in the morning and evening to moisten the bed soil. From seedling survival until the rows close, cultivate and weed and apply topdressing 2-3 times, mainly with nitrogen fertilizer. Each time you weed, combine it with topdressing, applying 20-30 g of urea per sq m, first diluted and then more concentrated. After each harvest, apply nitrogen-based topdressing mainly to promote plant sprouting.
After harvesting in autumn, mainly apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, and earth up the soil to help it overwinter and lay a good foundation for sprouting the following year. In dry seasons, irrigate in a timely manner; in the rainy season, drain promptly, and avoid long-term water accumulation in the flower pot.
Weeds should be removed promptly, and shallow cultivating and loosening of the soil should be carried out in a timely manner; along with loosening the soil, spread an appropriate amount of decomposed organic fertilizer between the plants and rows. For plants whose aboveground stems and leaves grow too vigorously, pinch off the growing tips to inhibit height growth and promote the development of side branches.
Market Prospects for Houttuynia cordata
Houttuynia cordata is widely distributed in the southern provinces and regions of China, and is also found in parts of the northwest, north China and Xizang. In recent years, influenced by the trends of “returning to nature” and “medicine and food from the same source”, the folk practice of digging up Houttuynia cordata for sale and eating it as a distinctive wild mountain vegetable has gradually flourished. Wild resources fall short of demand, and market prices are relatively high.
In addition, Houttuynia cordata is also a traditional medicinal plant. It is pungent and cold in nature and flavor, and has effects such as clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing swelling and discharging pus, and promoting urination and treating strangury. It can be used to treat lung abscess and ulcers, cough and asthma due to lung heat, heat dysentery and heat strangury, edema, athlete's foot, urinary tract infections, excessive vaginal discharge, and carbuncles, swellings and sores. Therefore, in traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, Houttuynia cordata often becomes the main herb for diseases related to the lungs and the urinary system.
Houttuynia cordata can be used as a wild vegetable for industrialized production and in-depth development and utilization, and can also be used as a pharmaceutical raw material to be processed into Western medicine injections or Chinese patent medicines, so it currently has fairly ideal market prospects.
From the above content, I believe everyone has gained a certain understanding of Houttuynia cordata. There are many ways to eat Houttuynia cordata; it can not only be eaten as a cold salad, but also used in soups, steamed and boiled, and can even be directly steeped in water, and it is suitable for all ages.