How to cultivate Ceylon spinach for high yield? A detailed guide to growing techniques
Ceylon spinach (scientific name: Gynura cusimbua), also known as chan cai, luokui, tofu vegetable, purple angle leaf, a plant of the genus Gynura, a perennial tall herb, 1.5-2 m tall. Flowering and fruiting period is September-October. Ceylon spinach is eaten as seedlings, tender shoots or tender leaves, with a soft, tender and smooth texture and high nutritional value. It can be used in soup dishes, stir-fried, blanched, cold-dressed, etc. It has a delicate fragrance and, when chewed, is as crisp and refreshing as eating wood ear, hence the name Ceylon spinach.
Ceylon spinach is an annual vine plant of the family Basellaceae. Its leaves are thick and fleshy, elastic, with an excellent taste, smooth and delicious, much like wood ear, hence the name Ceylon spinach. Ceylon spinach is also a high-quality, high-yield, safe and healthful green leafy pollution-free vegetable. It has wide adaptability, likes warmth, tolerates heat and waterlogging, and has low requirements for soil texture. Except for saline-alkali land, it can be planted anywhere. It can be cultivated in open fields or as a courtyard economic crop. So how should Ceylon spinach be cultivated to achieve high yield?
1. Sowing methods Ceylon spinach can be sown in spring, summer and autumn. For open-field planting, drilling is suitable; for courtyards, hill sowing is better. There are two sowing methods: one is sowing after germination, that is, soak the seeds in warm water for 3 days, remove and rinse them clean with clear water, place them in a container and cover with a wet towel, and under moisture-retaining and breathable conditions keep the seeds covered for 3 days to 4 days. When part of the seeds show white sprouts, lightly mix with dry plant ash to separate the seeds, then sow; the second is direct sowing, that is, seedlings emerge uniformly in 7 days to 10 days after germination, while direct sowing of dry seeds requires 10 days to 15 days for uniform seedling emergence. For drilling, the row spacing is 15 cm to 18 cm, the furrow depth is 3 cm to 4 cm, the bed width is 1.2 m to 1.4 m, and the soil covering thickness is 1.5 cm. Water after sowing and keep the soil moist for seedling emergence. For drilling, the seed rate is 2.3 kg to 3 kg per mu; for thinning and transplanting, the seed rate is 1.5 kg to 2 kg per mu.
2. Fertilization management For base fertilizer, decomposed farmyard manure and livestock and poultry manure are best. For topdressing, decomposed human and livestock manure or urea dissolved in water is applied. After harvesting 2 times to 3 times, apply topdressing once, and so on.
3. Pest and disease control Generally, Ceylon spinach does not need pesticide control. In special years, there is damage by cotton leafworm. If many tender leaf tips have small holes, a pyrethroid insecticide can be sprayed once at the 1st to 2nd instar stage; otherwise, no pesticide control is needed. There is also a common brown round spot disease, which also does not need chemical control. The main thing is to ensure sufficient fertilizer and water supply so that the plants grow vigorously, and to keep away from seed-production fields to avoid its occurrence. In addition, in open fields, a small number of plants may show seedling rot and basal stem rot; pulling out the diseased plants is enough for control. Continuous cropping of Ceylon spinach on sloping high land may also cause root-knot nematode disease; implementing crop rotation can reduce or avoid the disease.
4. Timely harvesting Ceylon spinach is mainly grown for its tender stems. When harvesting, pick tender stems with leaves for market. When the seedlings are 18 cm to 20 cm tall, thin them evenly, and at the same time pick and keep the tender stems and leaves of the standing plants for market together; afterward, when the axillary buds of the standing plants grow to 15 cm to 18 cm, harvest again, and repeat this many times until October. Generally, the yield per mu can reach 3500 kg to 4000 kg. The seeds mature when they turn from green to black in November.
How can the seed germination rate of Ceylon spinach be improved?
Because the seed shell of Ceylon spinach is thick and hard, sowing dry seeds often takes more than ten days for germination to occur gradually. To improve the germination rate, the following methods are generally used:
1) Sow after scratching the seed coat.
2) Soak the seeds to promote germination first, then sow. That is, soak the seeds in warm water at 25-30°C for 1-2 days, then germinate them at about 30°C, and sow after white sprouts appear; uniform seedlings can be achieved after one week.