Key Technical Points for Standardized Cultivation and Management of Yellow Chives
By growing chive roots in a dark environment to produce a softened product lacking chlorophyll, yellow chives are obtained. As a premium health vegetable, yellow chives are deeply favored by consumers. Yellow chives belong to the Liliaceae family as a perennial herbaceous plant, with seeds and leaves used in medicine. They have effects such as strengthening the stomach, refreshing the mind, stopping sweating and astringing, tonifying the kidney and supporting yang, and securing essence. They are distributed throughout the country.
Therapeutic effects of yellow chives
Tonifying the kidney and warming yang: Yellow chives are warm in nature and pungent in taste, with the effect of tonifying the kidney and raising yang, so they can be used to treat conditions such as impotence, spermatorrhea, and premature ejaculation.
Benefiting the liver and strengthening the stomach: Yellow chives contain special components such as volatile essential oils and sulfides, giving off a unique pungent aroma that helps soothe and regulate liver qi, increase appetite, and enhance digestive function.
Promoting qi flow and regulating blood: The pungent odor of yellow chives has the effect of dispersing blood stasis and invigorating blood, promoting qi flow and relieving stagnation, and is suitable for conditions such as traumatic injuries, nausea, enteritis, vomiting blood, and chest pain.
Moistening the intestines and relieving constipation: Yellow chives contain large amounts of vitamins and crude fiber, which can wrap up hair, sand, metal filings, and even needles in the digestive tract and excrete them with stool. They are known as the "intestinal cleansing grass", treating constipation and preventing intestinal cancer.
Standardized cultivation and management techniques for yellow chives
I. Selecting excellent varieties
There are many chive varieties used for yellow chive cultivation. By leaf size, they are divided into 2 types: large-leaf and small-leaf; by early or late maturity, they are divided into early-maturing, mid-maturing, and late-maturing varieties. In recent years, we have introduced multiple varieties. Through experimental comparison, it is considered that "Xipu Chive" from Chengdu, Sichuan is good. This variety has advantages such as fast growth, high yield, cold resistance, fertilizer tolerance, and disease resistance. It has stronger tillering ability than ordinary chives, with wide, thick, and numerous leaves, tall seedlings, and thick, hard pseudostems that are not prone to lodging. It has few running roots and is not prone to floating clumps growing upward, and it also has fewer diseases and high yield. At present, it is a relatively ideal variety for softening cultivation in production.
II. Soil selection
Yellow chive cultivation has relatively high soil requirements. It is advisable to choose sandy loam with deep soil layers, high organic matter content, loose and breathable texture, good water and fertilizer retention, and both irrigation and drainage capacity.
III. Land preparation and bed making
Chives are a vegetable planted once and harvested for many years, and the soil is not plowed again afterward, so before planting, the soil must be deeply plowed to facilitate root development. Deep plowing to 25-30cm is best. After deep plowing, expose the soil to the sun for 3-5 days, break up large clods, and carefully prepare the land and make beds. Bed making should consider facilitating irrigation and drainage. For small plots, turtle-back-shaped beds about 10m wide running north-south can be made. For large plots, beds are not necessary; instead, a "cross" trench can be added in the center of the field, with surrounding trenches around the perimeter to facilitate drainage.
IV. Selecting suitable cultivation methods
Chives can be sown and planted in both spring and autumn each year, with spring being better, from mid-March to mid-April. Autumn is from late September to early October.
1. Direct seeding. Use 2kg of seed per 667 sq m. Before sowing, on the bed surface, open sowing trenches in an east-west direction at a row spacing of 73cm, with a flat bottom, 17-20cm deep, and a bottom width of about 17cm. Loosen the trench bottom, break up and level the soil, and sprinkle a thin layer of fine sand to fill soil voids, then sow. To make sowing uniform, seed burial depth consistent, and seedlings emerge neatly, a special sowing pressure board must also be made (a wooden board 1m long and 8-10cm wide, with one end raised and a rope tied to it). Place the wooden board in the sowing trench, with one person slowly dragging it in front and another gently pressing the board from behind, so that a straight, flat imprint appears in the trench. After dragging and pressing, sow the seeds evenly within the imprint. After sowing, immediately cover with a thin layer of fine sandy soil, with a thickness not exceeding 0.5cm, then apply fully decomposed human manure and urine at a concentration of 1 part human manure and urine to 2-3 parts clear water, using about 1000kg of the diluted human manure and urine per 667 sq m.
2. Division and transplanting. Prepare the seedlings separated from old clumps. About 4000-5000 plants are needed per 667 sq m. Open east-west row trenches 20-25cm deep, with a trench spacing of 30-35cm. Apply 2000-3000kg of decomposed farmyard manure per 667 sq m, or apply 1000-1500kg of organic compound fertilizer and 50kg of superphosphate. After thoroughly mixing the fertilizer with the soil, place the separated seedlings into the trenches and cover with soil, with a plant spacing of about 20cm, then water thoroughly to settle the roots.
V. Field management
1. Frequently apply light fertilizer and water and promptly clear field weeds. When chive seedlings grow to 7-10cm, topdress once with 20% concentration human manure and urine or biogas slurry (that is, 2 parts decomposed human manure and urine to 8 parts clear water). After about 15-20 days, topdress again, and thereafter topdress once every week at the same concentration as before. When chive seedlings grow to 30-50cm, topdress with 30% concentration human manure and urine (that is, 3 parts human manure and urine to 7 parts clear water), and at the same time add 0.5% urea to the manure water. If there is a long drought, irrigate by releasing water into the trenches, and after the bed surface has absorbed enough water, immediately topdress with 50% concentration human manure and urine plus 0.5% urea. If seedling vigor is weak, plant leaves are thin, and stem thickness and hardness are insufficient, appropriately topdress with organic compound fertilizer at 20-25kg per 667 sq m. Weeds in the field must be cleared promptly, with early and frequent removal, keeping the bed surface free of weeds.
2. Earthing up and cutting green. Earthing up is one of the main measures for softening the pseudostem, generally carried out in 2-3 rounds. Before each earthing up, apply 20-25kg/667 sq m of organic compound fertilizer, and the fertilizer should be applied on both sides of the chive rows. When 4-5 months after sowing (that is, division and transplanting) or after cutting the first crop of yellow chives, the pseudostem has grown to 15-20cm and the seedlings are about 50cm tall, carry out the first earthing up, mounding to 2cm below the lotus mouth. After about 7 days, carry out the second earthing up, this time mounding level with the lotus mouth. If the first and second earthing up were not done well, carry out a third earthing up, slightly exceeding the lotus mouth by 1cm. The lotus mouth is 2cm from the root. When earthing up, first use thin bamboo poles to lift and fix the chive leaves, then earth up, taking care not to damage roots, stems, or leaves. After the chive leaves have grown well, cut off the chive leaves 2cm or more above the lotus mouth, which is the so-called cutting green. Immediately after cutting green, topdress once with 50% concentration human manure and urine or biogas slurry. If there is too much spring rain and human manure and urine water or biogas slurry cannot be applied, Dali brand organic compound fertilizer granules can be used instead. The amount used is 1000-1500kg of human manure and urine water or biogas slurry per 667 sq m, or 100-150kg of granules.
3. Covering with straw curtains. After cutting green and topdressing, immediately cover with straw curtains. The straw curtains are made from bamboo tips about 2m long and rice straw. First, place small bundles of rice straw on both sides, arrange them neatly with straw tips facing straw tips, interweave plastic cord onto the bamboo tips, and then tightly tie the straw heads with two thin bamboo poles each 1-1.5cm in diameter to secure the support frame. Cover the straw curtains over the chive ridges in a triangular shape with a bottom width of 65cm and both side widths of 60-65cm. The thickness of the straw curtain should be such that light cannot pass through. The covering height should be higher rather than lower, otherwise it will affect the yield and quality of yellow chives. After covering with straw curtains, if there is drought and the temperature is above 30°C, spray water 1-2 times daily with a sprayer, just enough to wet the straw curtain without dripping, so as to lower the temperature inside the straw curtain and maintain a certain humidity.
4. Harvest yellow chives in time. When yellow chives grow to 65cm tall and the leaf tips begin to wilt, they can be harvested. The harvesting time depends on the season. In summer, when the temperature is above 30°C, they can be harvested 6-7 days after covering with the curtain; when the temperature is 25°C, they can be harvested 10-13 days after covering with the curtain; when the temperature is 18-20°C, harvest after about 20 days; in winter, below 12°C, it takes about 30 days to harvest. When harvesting, first uncover the straw curtain and push the yellow chive leaves to one side, then use a small hoe to gently dig away the soil on the other side of the chive ridge until the chive roots are exposed, then use a "7"-shaped knife to cut evenly with horizontal force, with a stubble height of 5-10cm being suitable. Tie the harvested yellow chives into bundles of 0.5-0.75kg, soak them in water for 1-2h, then tidy them with clean water. After cutting the yellow chives, air-dry the clumps for 1-2 days, then apply 60% concentration human and livestock manure water (or biogas slurry) on one side of the roots, preferably 2000-2500kg per 667 sq m, after which the field management for the next round of yellow chives can begin. Generally, yellow chives are cut 5 times within 2 years, with each yield above 2500kg/667 sq m. In order to increase yield, improve quality, avoid premature aging, and extend lifespan, it is better to harvest 2 times per year.
VI. Prevention and control of diseases, insects, and weeds
1. Diseases of yellow chives. The main diseases of yellow chives are gray mold, phytophthora blight, and verticillium wilt.
(1) Gray mold. It mainly damages leaves. Control method: The degree of susceptibility varies among varieties, so selecting disease-resistant varieties is one of the important measures for controlling this disease. If a small number of infected plants are found, spray with 50% Sumilex or 50% Iprodione 800-1000 times liquid, or use 50% carbendazim wettable powder 500 times liquid for control.
(2) Phytophthora blight. It can harm roots, stems, and leaves, especially the pseudostem, and the disease is more severe when humidity is high. Control method: Since phytophthora blight is more severe under high humidity conditions, drainage ditches should be opened well during land preparation, and attention should be paid to crop rotation or planting on land where yellow chives have not been grown. If diseased plants are found, spray with 50% metalaxyl-copper 600 times liquid or 64% oxadixyl-mancozeb 400 times liquid, spraying once every 10 days, preferably for 2-3 consecutive treatments.
(3) Verticillium wilt. It mainly harms leaves. After leaves are infected, the leaf tips gradually turn yellow, the leaves droop and yellow, and in severe cases the whole plant wilts, yellows, and dies. Control method: Detect diseased plants promptly. In the early stage of the disease, spray with 50% carbendazim 500 times liquid or 70% mancozeb 500 times liquid. At the same time, fertilization should be based mainly on farmyard manure and organic fertilizer to enhance the disease resistance of the plants.
2. Control of insect pests. The main insect pest of yellow chives is the chive late eye fungus gnat. The chive late eye fungus gnat, also known as the chive maggot, mainly gathers underground to damage tender stems. In spring and autumn, it damages the young stems of chives, causing rot, making the chive leaves wither and yellow and then die. Control method: When larvae are found causing damage, drench the roots with 75% phoxim 500 times liquid or 20% fenvalerate 2000 times liquid.
3. Main weeds and their control. The main weeds in chive fields include barnyardgrass, crabgrass, wild amaranth, dandelion, and plantain.
Weeding methods:
(1) Manual digging.
(2) Spraying herbicides. After sowing and watering thoroughly, 50% butachlor emulsifiable concentrate can be used, with 100-150mL per 667 sq m diluted with water and sprayed on the bed surface.