Planting Season for Balloon Flower: High-Yield Cultivation Techniques for the Medicinal Herb Balloon Flower
Many people know that the balloon flower is extremely beautiful and eye-catching, a flower with very high ornamental value. In fact, the balloon flower also has high edible value and medicinal value; its stem is used as medicine, so it can truly be called a treasure from head to toe! Below, the editor will introduce to you the cultivation techniques for balloon flower!
Planting Season for Balloon Flower
Winter sowing or spring sowing: winter sowing is done from November to January of the following year, and spring sowing is done from March to April. Winter sowing is preferable, and broadcasting is generally used. When sowing, mix the seeds evenly with moist fine sandy soil (ratio: 0.3 kg of seeds mixed with 1 pot of soil) and scatter over the seedbed surface, then lightly sweep once with a broom until the seeds are no longer visible, and press down slightly. In the following spring, the seedlings emerge early and evenly. For spring sowing, to ensure even emergence, the seeds must be treated, or the bed must be covered with grass after sowing to retain moisture (treatment method: soak the seeds in 30°C warm water, soak for 8 hours, remove, wrap in a wet cloth, place in a spot at 25-30°C, cover with a wet hemp cloth on top to promote germination, and rinse with warm water once a day. After about 5 days, once the seeds begin to sprout, they can be sown). The sowing method is the same as for winter sowing, keeping the soil moist at all times; seedlings generally emerge in about 15 days. The seeding rate is 2.5 kg per mu.
High-Yield Cultivation Techniques for the Medicinal Herb Balloon Flower
1. Carefully prepare the land and apply sufficient base fertilizer. Choose a sunny slope with deep soil or level ground with good drainage, plow deeply 25-30 cm, break up the soil and level it finely, and make beds at 150-170 cm. The bed furrows are 30-35 cm wide, and on the bed, open horizontal furrows 6 cm deep with a furrow-center spacing of 20-25 cm; apply phosphate fertilizer in the furrows as base fertilizer, 20-25 kg per mu of superphosphate.
2. Sow at the right time. Balloon flower can be sown in autumn, winter, or spring, but sowing in autumn from September to October and in spring from December to April of the following year is best; sown at this time, seedlings emerge evenly, grow quickly, and yields are high. Use drilling, with a sowing width of 10 cm; after sowing, cover with a layer of plant ash and fine soil, then cover with a thin layer of grass to maintain soil moisture and temperature, and remove the covering grass after the seedlings emerge. Use 400 grams of seeds per mu.
3. Field management. When seedlings are 2 cm tall, thin them appropriately and thin out seedlings. When seedlings are 3-4 cm tall, finalize the spacing. Keep 1 strong seedling at a spacing of 10-14 cm. Replanting and thinning are carried out at the same time. During the seedling stage of balloon flower, weed 1-2 times, and apply additional fertilizer, using 1000 kg of clear manure water or 7 kg of urea per mu. When seedlings are 6.7 cm tall, apply fertilizer once more, with the fertilizer-water concentration increased by 20% compared with the first application.
Growth Habits
It prefers a cool climate, is cold-tolerant, and likes sunlight. It is best cultivated in hilly areas below 1100 m elevation, in semi-shaded, semi-sunny sandy loam, and grows better in neutral sandy loam rich in phosphorus and potassium. Seed viability is 1 year; storage at low temperature can extend seed viability. Dry storage of seeds at 0-4°C for 18 months increases the germination rate by 3.5-4 times compared with storage at room temperature. The seed germination rate is 70%; at a temperature of 18-25°C with sufficient moisture, seedlings emerge 15 d after sowing.
Field Management
Dry-sown seeds need about 25 days to emerge, and pre-germinated sown seeds also need about 10 days to emerge. After the young seedlings emerge, remove weeds promptly; if the seedlings are too dense, thin them in good time, preferably at 10-12 plants per 100 square cm, keeping one plant at intervals of 5 cm for thinning (about 60,000 plants per mu), and loosen the soil as well. Weeding should also be carried out in good time in the later stages. In addition, the balloon flower has a long flowering period, which consumes a large amount of nutrients and affects root growth; except for fields kept for seed production, remove flowers and fruits in good time to improve root yield and quality.
As described above, to grow balloon flower well, you must understand its planting time, growing environment, soil texture, and so on. Balloon flower can generally be planted in both spring and winter, so if you want to grow balloon flower, it is best to choose these two seasons for planting!