Detailed Explanation of Mint Planting Techniques and Management Methods
Mint is one of the commonly used traditional Chinese medicines in China. It is a pungent, cooling diaphoretic and antipyretic medicine, used to treat influenza, headache, red eyes, fever, sore throat, swollen and painful gums, and other conditions. For external use, it can treat neuralgia, skin itching, rashes, eczema, and so on. It is commonly used as a tea in place of mint, clearing the heart and brightening the eyes. Now let's take a look at the planting techniques for mint.
1. Mint rhizome propagation:
It is best to plant at the end of winter during the Great Cold period. First, spread farmyard manure over the selected land, about 1500 kg per mu, and plow it into the soil as base fertilizer, with a plowing depth of about 0.8—1 chi, then break up the soil finely, rake it level, and open 4-chi-wide beds with 8-cun-deep drainage ditches. Then, select robust, plump, white rhizomes, cut them into sections of about 8 cun, and each section must retain a new bud at its tip. Open furrow sowing trenches on the prepared beds, with a trench depth of 6 cun and a trench spacing of 0.8—1 chi. At a plant spacing of 6—8 cun, place the cut sections upright in the furrow sowing trenches, taking care that the tip of each section must be exposed above the soil by more than 1 cun. After placing each trench, cover with soil and press firmly, then open the second planting trench. After planting, water immediately or irrigate by flooding. After about half a month, they will take root and begin to sprout new shoots. Use 75 kg of seed per mu.
2. Mint cutting propagation:
Generally in May—June, select thick and strong aboveground stems, remove the tips, cut them into 8-cun-long sections, and insert them diagonally on the prepared beds at a plant spacing of 6 cun and a row spacing of 8 cun. Irrigate promptly and keep the soil moist regularly. They will survive in about 15 days. This method has a low survival rate, and both yield and quality are inferior to rhizome propagation. Therefore, it is generally not used.
3. Mint field management:
From seedling emergence until the rows close, weeds should be removed regularly. If drought occurs, irrigate at the proper time to keep the soil moist. If the soil becomes compacted, loosen it at any time. When the seedlings grow to 5—6 cun, the first fertilizer application can be made, using 8 kg of urea and 1500 kg of night soil per mu, combined with irrigation to aid absorption. By the Start of Summer solar term, the first mint harvest can be made.
Immediately after harvest, apply fertilizer, spreading 12 kg of urea per mu beneath the plants, then irrigate and weed. When the new seedlings grow to 3—4 cun high, apply finely crushed oil cake again and water at the proper time (if it is the rainy season, watering may be omitted). Around the Start of Autumn, harvest the second mint crop. After harvest, still follow the above method and appropriately increase fertilizer application. After the descent of frost, harvest the third crop. At this time, farmyard manure should be applied to protect the perennial roots through winter, making it easier for them to sprout in early spring the following year.