How to Carry Out Fertilizer and Water Management When Growing Houttuynia cordata
I think everyone is familiar with Houttuynia cordata. In daily life we often see it and often use it; the most common use is steeping Houttuynia cordata in water to drink. According to what I have learned, Houttuynia cordata is very effective at treating coughs.
How to Carry Out Fertilizer and Water Management When Growing Houttuynia cordata
Houttuynia cordata likes moist soil and fears drought. After cuttings are inserted, water should be replenished once 3 to 4 days later to promote sprouting of the seed stems. In hot and dry seasons, especially, the soil moisture must be kept sufficient. After emergence, the soil should always be kept moist, and the soil moisture content should regularly be kept at 75%-80% of maximum water-holding capacity. Sprinkler irrigation or furrow irrigation is preferable; never use flooding irrigation, so as to avoid soil compaction.
When the seedlings reach 3 cm tall, topdressing should begin, applying dilute human feces and urine once every 15 days. In early summer, when stems and leaves grow vigorously, 50% decomposed human feces and urine can be splashed between the rows once every 15 days, with an application rate of 1500-2000 kg per 667 sq m. At the last topdressing, add 10 kg of urea so that the plants close their rows before drought arrives, which both shades and retains moisture and provides sufficient nutrients to supply the growth of the underground stems. After the rows close, soil topdressing is generally not carried out, but 0.1%-0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate can be used as a foliar topdressing once every 7 days, for a total of 2-3 times.
The Effects of Houttuynia cordata
Houttuynia cordata can be eaten raw or cooked. Eaten raw, it is usually mixed with chili as a cold dish. Because Houttuynia cordata is cold in nature and chili is hot in nature, combining the two allows them to complement each other and can also bring into play the function of Houttuynia cordata in regulating bacterial and viral infections. For wind-heat cold, herpes or urinary system infections, eating it raw is better.
Eaten cooked, it can generally be decocted directly with other medicines, or stir-fried with cured meat. This way of eating is milder and is also suitable for frail people to eat daily. For healthy people, eating Houttuynia cordata as a vegetable for health care is also very good. The most common way to eat it is as a cold dish, which suits most people. Houttuynia cordata is cold and cool in nature; for the elderly and frail, it can be stewed with chicken. Adding a little sesame oil also has a heart-soothing effect. When a woman after childbirth drinks chicken soup for the first time, adding some Houttuynia cordata can effectively prevent postpartum wind.
1. Anti-pathogenic microorganism effect, inhibiting Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae and Diplococcus pneumoniae.
2. Diuretic effect, dilating capillaries and increasing renal blood flow and urine secretion, so it is also used for frequent and painful urination in urinary tract infections.
3. Enhancing the immune system, improving the phagocytic action of white blood cells in patients with chronic bronchitis.
4. Anti-tumor effect, increasing CAMP in cancer cells and inhibiting Ehrlich ascites carcinoma.
Propagation Methods of Houttuynia cordata
The main propagation methods of Houttuynia cordata are division propagation, stem cutting propagation and rhizome propagation; rhizome propagation is usually adopted.
1. Division propagation: from late March to April, dig up the mother plants, divide them and transplant them into sandy soil seedbeds to raise seedlings, or transplant them directly.
2. Stem cutting propagation: in spring and summer, cut disease-free and pest-free vigorous branches as cuttings, cut them into 12-15 cm lengths, and insert them into sandy loam seedbeds, with row spacing of 16 cm × 10 cm or 14 cm × 10 cm. After insertion, water and shade them; after rooting, move the seedlings for field planting.
3. Rhizome propagation: can be carried out in February-March. Dig out white, thick rhizomes, cut them into small sections with more than 2 axillary buds, and open shallow furrows in seedbeds or the field to raise seedlings or plant them.
The Planting Prospects of Houttuynia cordata
Houttuynia cordata is widely distributed in the southern provinces and regions of China, and is also distributed in parts of the northwest, north China and Tibet. In recent years, influenced by the trends of “returning to nature” and “medicine and food from the same source”, the folk practice of digging Houttuynia cordata to sell and eat as a characteristic wild mountain vegetable has gradually flourished. Wild resources fall short of demand, and the market price is relatively high.
In addition, Houttuynia cordata is also a traditional medicinal plant. It is pungent and cold in nature and flavor, and has effects such as clearing heat and detoxifying, reducing swelling and discharging pus, and promoting diuresis and treating strangury. It can be used to treat lung abscess and ulcer, lung-heat cough and asthma, heat dysentery and heat strangury, edema, beriberi, urinary tract infection, excessive vaginal discharge, carbuncle swelling and sore toxin and other conditions. Therefore, in traditional Chinese medicine prescriptions, Houttuynia cordata often becomes the main medicine for related lung diseases and urinary system diseases.
Houttuynia cordata can be used as a wild vegetable for industrialized production and in-depth development and utilization, and can also be used as a pharmaceutical raw material to be processed into Western medicine injections or Chinese patent medicines, so it currently has a fairly ideal market prospect.
From the above analysis we can know that Houttuynia cordata has certain medicinal value, and its range of use is very common, so in daily life people's demand for it is quite large. In fact, Houttuynia cordata has very tenacious vitality; it does not belong to the kind of delicate and hard-to-grow thing. In the process of planting, it is enough to fertilize and water it reasonably.