How to cultivate mustard tuber for high yield? A detailed explanation of the key planting techniques
Mustard tuber, phylum Angiospermae, a family in the class Dicotyledoneae. Mostly herbaceous plants. Mustard tuber is a type of mustard, generally referring to the leafy mustard group, such as nine-head mustard, snow mustard (potherb mustard), pig-blood mustard, tofu-skin mustard, etc. Mustard tuber is a semi-dry, non-fermented salted vegetable, made by pickling stem mustard as the raw material, and is one of China's famous specialty products and one of the world's three great pickled vegetables (namely Fuling mustard tuber, French pickled cucumber, and German sweet-and-sour cabbage).
Mustard tuber is a variety of mustard. Mustard is often used to pickle salted and sour vegetables. Its fleshy stem pith is the raw material for Chongqing mustard tuber, belonging to the family Brassicaceae and the genus Brassica.
The outstanding features of Brassicaceae are: herbaceous, cruciform corolla, tetradynamous stamens, silique. There are many economic plants, including a variety of everyday edible vegetables. Brassica is herbaceous, bears long siliques, and has a yellow corolla. Chinese cabbage (B. pekinensis) originated in North China and is widely cultivated in various places; it is a major vegetable for the winter and spring seasons in Northeast and North China.
How to cultivate mustard tuber for high yield?
Mustard tuber can be grown using idle winter fields. Immediately after the late rice is harvested, prepare the land and plant; the growth period is 120-130 days, with an average yield of about 2,000 kg per mu, and high-yield plots reaching 2,500-3,000 kg, with an output value of about 2,000 yuan per mu. At the same time, each mu also returns about 1,500 kg of root, stem, and leaf residues to the field as green manure, increasing soil fertility and benefiting the yield of the following crop.
1. Select high-yield improved varieties. According to local climate and soil conditions, choose stem mustard with thick, large stems and relatively thick flesh as the seed. At present, the Caoyaozi mustard from Peiling County, Sichuan Province, has relatively high yield and relatively good quality. Mustard tuber is a cross-pollinated crop, with a natural outcrossing rate generally reaching 20%-50%. Not only do varieties become mixed through "cross-flowering" among themselves, they also "cross-pollinate" with other Brassicaceae crops. Generally, after 3-4 years of cultivation, varieties will degenerate, affecting yield and quality. For this reason, seed selection must be carried out every year, and at the seedling stage, the tuber-head swelling stage, the bolting stage, and the flowering and seed-setting stage, roguing and culling inferior plants should be carried out according to the original variety's characteristics, traits, yield performance, and disease resistance, retaining plants with the original excellent variety's characteristics and traits for production seed and propagation seed.
2. Raise seedlings at the right time. Aim to raise seedlings 25-30 days before transplanting. The seedbed is the foundation for cultivating strong seedlings. A plot with relatively deep soil, loose texture, rich organic matter, and convenient irrigation and drainage should be chosen as the seedling site. Before sowing and raising seedlings, plow deeply and sun-bleach the soil, then make flat beds 1.1-1.3 m wide. Sow 5 g of seed per 10 sq m of seedbed, generally enough to supply seedlings for 1 mu of field. Because the seeds are tiny, they should be mixed evenly with plant ash and fine sand, then broadcast in several passes. After sowing, cover the seed with fine broken soil and miscellaneous fertilizer, and cover the bed surface with rice straw to keep it moist. Remove the covering promptly when the cotyledons emerge 3-4 days after sowing. When the seedlings are about 4-5 cm tall, thin them and apply liquid fertilizer. Fifteen days after emergence, properly control water and fertilizer to promote strong seedlings.
3. Transplant in time. It is best to plant around "Minor Snow." Generally, after the late rice is harvested, plow and prepare the land promptly and make beds. The beds are 1 m wide, with 2 rows planted per bed, with a row spacing of 32 cm and a plant spacing of 30 cm, planting about 4,000 plants per mu. When transplanting, carry soil and fibrous roots, do not damage stems and leaves, prevent bent or broken roots, and water promptly to protect the seedlings.
4. Field management. After planting, water in the morning and evening to improve the survival rate of the young seedlings. After the seedlings survive, apply thin fertilizer frequently, watering with liquid fertilizer once every 8-10 days, and gradually increase the concentration of the liquid fertilizer as the seedlings grow. After "Start of Spring," the weather becomes warmer and mustard tuber development accelerates, so fertilization should be stepped up to promote tumor growth; apply 30 kg of compound fertilizer plus 7 kg of urea per mu in the middle of the bed. In the later stage, more quick-acting fertilizer should be applied to prevent premature bolting caused by nutrient deficiency, which leads to dispersed nutrients, increased water content, thicker skin fibers, a high rate of hollow hearts, a low processed vegetable rate, and poor quality. To ensure yield and quality, harvest should be carried out when the plants have just begun "topping out" (that is, budding); generally, early April is the suitable harvest period.