Key Technical Points for Winter Greenhouse Cultivation and Management of Celery

Celery, also known as qin, early celery, fragrant celery, puqin, medicinal celery, wild coriander, is a biennial or annual herbaceous plant in the genus Apium of the family Apiaceae. It originated in the marshy areas along the Mediterranean coast and is now widely cultivated throughout the world. Celery belongs to the family Apiaceae. There are two types, water celery and dry celery, with similar functions, though dry celery is better for medicinal use. Dry celery has a stronger aroma, hence it is also called “fragrant celery.

Celery cultivation in China began in the Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2000 years. At first it was grown only as an ornamental plant, and later as a food crop. Through continuous domestication and breeding, the slender-petiole celery cultivar type was formed, namely benqin (Chinese celery). Benqin is widely distributed throughout China, and Zunhua in Hebei, Weixian and Huantai in Shandong, Shangqiu in Henan, and Jining in Inner Mongolia are all famous production areas for celery. The ancient Greeks and Romans used it for seasoning, and ancient China also used it for medicine. The form of ancient celery was similar to today's wild celery (smallage). By the late 18th century, celery had been bred to form large, juicy, fleshy, upright petioles. The edible part is its petiole. Celery is characterized by being stringy, but some less-stringy varieties have been bred, the most famous being Pascal. During the European Renaissance, celery was usually boiled as a vegetable or used as an ingredient in soups and vegetable stews; in the United States, raw celery is often used as an appetizer or in salads. The fruit (or seed) of celery is small and has an aroma similar to the plant, and can be used as a seasoning; it is especially used in soups and pickles. Celery seed contains about 2-3% essential oil, whose main components are d-limonene (C10H16, i.e. limonene) and selinene (C15H24). Celeriac (A.g. var. rapaceum) has an edible thick root, which can be eaten raw or cooked as a vegetable.

Winter Greenhouse Cultivation and Management Techniques for Celery

Growing celery in a greenhouse in winter effectively avoids the adverse effects of the natural environment on celery growth, giving high yield and good quality, with a yield of 2500-3500 kg per mu, 2-3 times higher than open-field cultivation. The variety used for raising strong seedlings is Hangzhou Sanyeqing celery. Choose greenhouse land where solanaceous vegetables were planted in the previous spring as the seedbed. After being rained on and sun-exposed, plow in early September, prepare the land and sow in mid-September. The seeding rate is 450 g per mu of field. No base fertilizer is applied at sowing. Level the bed surface, with a bed width of 1.5 m. After sowing, lay shade netting flat over the bed, water the bed surface thoroughly, and thereafter spray water according to soil moisture. Seedlings generally emerge in 13-14 days; thin them promptly after emergence. Autumn has many typhoons and rainstorms, so build a small arch shed well, and add an extra layer of shade netting during rainstorms to prevent rain from washing away the soil. Aphids often occur during the celery seedling stage, and can be controlled with 10% Yibianjing at 1200 times dilution. The standard for strong celery seedlings is a seedling age of about 30 days with 3-4 true leaves. Transplanting and planting: one month before transplanting, apply 1000-2000 kg of organic fertilizer per mu deeply in the greenhouse; one week before transplanting, while preparing the land, broadcast 70 kg of ternary compound fertilizer and 150 kg of phosphorus pentoxide per mu. Transplant in mid-to-late November. The day before transplanting, water the seedbed thoroughly to make it easier to lift the seedlings and reduce root damage. For a greenhouse 8 m wide, make 5 beds, with a bed width of 1.2 m, a ditch width of 0.2 m, a plant spacing of 8 cm, and a row spacing of 10 cm, giving 85000 planting holes per mu, with 1 plant per hole. The plant and row spacing can also be correspondingly enlarged, planting two plants per hole. After transplanting, water thoroughly in time. One month after transplanting, when the plants are 20 cm tall, broadcast 25 kg of ternary compound fertilizer per mu once, then water thoroughly once; during the growing period, water 2-3 times according to soil moisture. Greenhouse management: temperatures in November, both air and soil, decline day by day, so in early November, 10 days before transplanting, cover with the greenhouse film to raise the greenhouse temperature. Throughout the growing period, open both ends of the greenhouse for ventilation. If it is difficult to bring the crop to market before the Spring Festival, depending on the celery's growth, open the greenhouse during the day and keep it closed at night to retain heat and promote celery growth. Harvest and marketing: harvest and bring to market in mid-January.