How to Grow Water Spinach? A Detailed Guide to Scientific Cultivation Techniques

Water spinach itself is a vegetable that matures in summer and can be harvested until late autumn at the longest. However, with the development of greenhouse technology, water spinach can now be eaten all year round. Of course, the market demand for water spinach is the key factor behind this phenomenon, and the increase in the number of growers is also an important factor that keeps water spinach active on the market.

Scientific Cultivation Techniques for Water Spinach

1. Sowing and Raising Seedlings: Use vine seedling cultivation. Take seed vines selected and retained the previous year that have safely overwintered under protection, sprout them, and then insert them into the seedling bed. Prepare the field into beds at a width of 1.5 m with furrows 20-25 cm wide, apply sufficient base fertilizer, and sow by broadcasting over the entire bed, using 150-200 kg of seed vines per mu of seedbed. After sowing, cover with plastic film to keep warm and moist, and remove the film once the seedlings emerge. When the seedlings are about 30 cm tall, break off the vines to encourage adventitious roots to form downward at the nodes and side branches to grow upward, then use the successively produced side branches of a certain size for cuttings to establish the crop.

2. Fertilizing and Transplanting: Water spinach is not strict about soil conditions, and it is best to choose low-lying, moist and fertile clay loam for cultivation. The base fertilizer should mainly be organic fertilizer and phosphate fertilizer, and a certain amount of plant ash can be broadcast. The cultivation spacing is 30-35 cm between rows and 15-20 cm between hills. In addition, during the growing period, you can pick about 15 cm of the top shoots and use them again for cutting propagation. As long as the soil moisture in the cutting field is suitable, the cuttings will quickly grow adventitious roots and send out new shoots.

3. Field Management: In the early stage, cultivate and loosen the soil in time to raise soil temperature. During the plant growth period, the demand for fertilizer and water is high, so water frequently and water heavily (dry air and insufficient soil moisture can easily lead to increased fiber in water spinach, affecting yield and quality), and apply topdressing together with watering. After the first harvest, apply 15 kg of urea or 20 kg of diammonium phosphate per mu, with the topdressing applied along with irrigation. After that, topdress once about every 20 days, applying 3-5 kg of urea per mu. When autumn temperatures turn cooler, cultivate and weed in time, and pay attention to controlling pests such as red spider mites. In addition, for parts where side branches are too numerous and the branches are crowded and thin and weak, thin out the branches so that the branches grow evenly, with good ventilation and light transmission, improving product quality.

4. Harvesting Techniques: Timely harvesting is the key to high yield and good quality in water spinach. In production, it can generally be harvested when the seedlings are about 25-35 cm tall. At the first and second harvests, leave enough of 2-3 nodes at the stem base to facilitate new buds sprouting after harvest, promote side branches, and strive for high yield. After 3-4 harvests, carry out one heavy harvest of the plants, that is, leave only 1-2 nodes at the stem base, to prevent too many side branches from developing, which would lead to weak and slow growth.

Planting Time for Water Spinach

Water spinach is usually planted from April to July each year. It likes sufficient light, but is also fairly adaptable to dense planting, and is not strict about soil conditions. However, because it likes fertilizer and water, soil that is relatively sticky and heavy and has strong water- and fertilizer-holding capacity is still best. Its leaf tips and shoots grow in large amounts and rapidly, so it needs a large amount of fertilizer, has strong fertilizer tolerance, and has a particularly large demand for nitrogen fertilizer.

Growing Conditions for Water Spinach

1. Temperature: Water spinach likes warmth and fears cold. The optimum temperature for seed germination is 20-35`C, and the optimum temperature for stem and leaf growth is 25-30°C. Below 15°C growth is slow, and below 10°C growth stops. It is not tolerant of frost; when frost occurs, the stems and leaves die. It can tolerate high temperatures of 35-40°C, and still grows vigorously in the hot midsummer season. In areas with a long frost-free period and high temperatures, it can be planted in spring, summer, and autumn.

2. Humidity: Water spinach likes water and grows well under relatively high air humidity and soil moisture. Under high-temperature and dry conditions, growth is slow and quality and yield decline.

3. Light: Water spinach is a short-day plant and flowers and sets seed under short-day conditions. The seedling stage likes sufficient light; when light is insufficient, the seedlings are weak and prone to excessive vegetative growth.

4. Soil: Water spinach can be grown continuously and likes fertile soil rich in organic matter. As the plant's leaves and shoots grow in large amounts and rapidly, it has relatively high fertilizer requirements. In the seedling stage, the demand for nitrogen fertilizer and potassium fertilizer is relatively large, and the absorption ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium is 3:1:5. In the later growth stage (at harvest), the absorption ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium is 4:1:8. Therefore, topdressing should be balanced, with appropriately more nitrogen fertilizer.

Yield per Mu of Water Spinach

Conventional cultivation of vine vegetable is generally "propagated in autumn, stored in winter, planted in spring, harvested in summer," with relatively low benefits. Off-season cultivation of vine vegetable, that is, using warm cellars in winter, can allow vine vegetable to begin harvesting and going to market as early as the Spring Festival every year, 4 months earlier than conventional cultivation, and it can be harvested continuously until the end of November. This not only enriches the supply of fresh vegetables on the market, but also allows high benefits to be obtained through seasonal price differences. Warm-cellar off-season cultivation of vine vegetable generally yields 3000-3500 kg per mu, with an output value as high as about 6000 yuan per mu.

Of course, the yield per mu of water spinach cannot hold back people's wisdom. In the Luojiagang River channel in Jiaochuan Street, vegetable grower Yan Guangfu succeeded in an experiment of growing water spinach in the river channel. Compared with soil cultivation, the yield of hydroponic water spinach is not inferior: "May to October is the peak season. When the weather is hot, it can mature and be harvested in one round in a week. Over a year, the average yield per mu can reach more than 8000 jin."

Besides growing water spinach for one's own consumption, the ultimate goal is to enter the market and obtain profit. Generally speaking, the yield per mu of water spinach is quite good, but the specific profit also depends on the market conditions for water spinach, so the market is also very important for growers.