Detailed Guide to Chinese Toon Cultivation Techniques: Planting Methods and Management Key Points
Since ancient times, Chinese toon (Toona sinensis) has become a delicacy on people's dining tables, possessing rich nutritional value and certain therapeutic effects. Growing Chinese toon has also become a popular choice, and its cultivation has relatively high environmental requirements and cultivation techniques. Below, let us take a look at the knowledge of growing Chinese toon.
Cultivation Techniques of Chinese Toon
Chinese toon sprouts are a woody vegetable with very high nutritional value. Chinese toon can be propagated by seed, or by division or cuttings. Chinese toon is mostly grown in open fields, and the most widely applied method is the dwarfed close-planting cultivation technique, which allows direct sowing or seedling transplanting. The row spacing is 50cm, and the plant spacing is 10-15cm. It can also be planted in clumps, with a row spacing of 200cm, a clump spacing of 100cm, and 3-5 plants per hole. When the seedlings reach nearly 200cm in height, the terminal shoot is removed to encourage lateral branches to sprout and form three tiers of scaffold branches, with the spacing between each tier being about 40, 60 and 70cm respectively. This method gives stable yields and strong cold and drought resistance. To improve planting benefits, Chinese toon can be cultivated under protected conditions. Protected cultivation requires dwarfing and shaping of the plants. A reasonable planting density per mu is 2000-6000 plants. For plants of the current year, when the seedlings grow to 4-6 true leaves in early May, they can be transplanted at a wide-narrow row spacing, with wide rows of 80cm, narrow rows of 50cm, and plant spacing of 16-50cm; in early July, when the seedlings reach 40-50cm in height, the growing tips are pinched off to promote dwarfed cultivation, and the tips are pinched again in mid-August. The timing of tip pinching for each individual plant needs to be handled flexibly. For plants more than two years old, the top dominance can be broken by stumping to promote branching and achieve dwarfing. Generally, stumping in late June is suitable, achieving the effects of dwarfing, clumping, multiple branches and plump terminal buds. Chinese toon is suitable for growing in neutral or weakly alkaline soil. Chinese toon is a tree species that likes moisture but dislikes waterlogging, so standing water should be drained promptly after rain.
Environmental Requirements for Growing Chinese Toon
1. Temperature
Chinese toon is relatively sensitive to temperature and can be cultivated in areas with an average annual temperature of 8-20°C. Its suitable growth temperature is 16-25°C, and the most suitable growth temperature is 20-25°C. The Chinese toon tree is relatively tolerant of low temperatures; mature trees can withstand prolonged low temperatures of -20°C, but one-year-old Chinese toon seedlings have poor cold tolerance, and the trunk can freeze to death at -10°C, while the cold tolerance of root suckers is the same as that of large trees. When the average daily temperature reaches 10°C, the Chinese toon tree can sprout buds.
2. Light
The Chinese toon tree both likes light and avoids it. Liking light means that sufficient light can yield higher production. Avoiding light means that the Chinese toon trunk is accustomed to strong direct sunlight; prolonged exposure to direct sunlight easily leads to leaning trunks and sunscald damage.
3. Soil
The Chinese toon tree prefers deep, fertile calcareous soil. It grows most luxuriantly on green sandy soil and loamy soil.
4. Water
The Chinese toon tree likes moisture and dislikes waterlogging. Under conditions of waterlogging for about 7 days, the mortality rate of Chinese toon trees under 4 years old reaches 100%, but when it is too dry, its growth amount drops significantly. The Chinese toon tree has a well-developed root system and a certain drought resistance; excessive moisture is more unfavorable to Chinese toon growth than drought.
Overwintering Protection Measures for Chinese Toon
Using plastic greenhouses to protect Chinese toon for overwintering cultivation: after leaf fall in autumn, dig out the transplanted Chinese toon plants together with their roots, tie every 50 plants into one bundle, pour mud slurry over the roots, and heel them in at a shady spot. The method: in mid-to-late November, dig a trench 50-60 cm deep and 50 cm wide behind a house, stand the bundled plants upright at an angle in the trench, fill the roots with soil, and water thoroughly once, to the extent that it seeps to the bottom of the trench; afterward keep it moist, and after about 15 days of low temperature, they pass through the dormant period. Then plant them in the prepared greenhouse (row and plant spacing as above). Inside the greenhouse, maintain the temperature at 18-24°C during the day and 12-14°C at night; after 40-50 days, the first batch of toon sprouts can be harvested and marketed. Protected cultivation requires strengthened fertilizer and water management to increase toon sprout yields.
Field Management of Chinese Toon
1. Fertilizer and Water
After planting and establishment, apply fertilizer and water promptly, combined with intertillage and weeding, to promote rapid growth of the seedlings.
2. Pest and Disease Control
The pests of Chinese toon include Chinese toon caterpillars, nettle moths, cloud-spotted longhorn beetles, etc.; during the larval stage, an 800-fold trichlorfon solution can be sprayed to kill them, and during the adult stage, a 1500-fold dimethoate solution can be used for control. Diseases include leaf rust and powdery mildew, which can be controlled with a 500-fold triadimefon solution. Clean the field in winter to reduce the overwintering base of pests and diseases.
3. Pruning
Each year after the spring harvest of toon sprouts ends, from mid-to-late June to early July, prune the main trunk at 20 cm above the ground (behead it) to encourage lateral buds to sprout into new branches. From late July to early August, pinch the tips according to the vigor of the new branches; those with strong vigor can be tip-pinched earlier, and conversely, tip-pinching can be delayed, combined with fertilizer and water management, to promote the formation of plump terminal buds. The growth period of Chinese toon sprouts is short, so they should be eaten early, fresh and tender; there is a saying that "toon sprouts before the rain are as tender as silk, toon sprouts after the rain are like wood". The harvest standard is preferably purple-red bud color and bud length of 10-15 cm. When harvesting, pick the terminal buds first and then the lateral buds; if the terminal buds are not harvested, the lower lateral buds are difficult to grow or grow poorly. When picking buds, gently break them off by hand at the base of the leaf stalk, tie them into small bundles of 100-200 grams, put them in plastic bags and seal them to prevent water loss and wilting, and improve market quality. Each year, toon sprouts can be harvested 3-4 times, with a yield of 400-500 kg.
After reading the above cultivation techniques and related knowledge of Chinese toon, have you already mastered the skills? Growing Chinese toon definitely requires choosing reasonable and scientific methods. Only then can the healthy growth of Chinese toon be ensured, and only then can the economic value of Chinese toon be obtained.