Detailed Guide to Angelica dahurica Cultivation: Teaching You to Grow Angelica dahurica Well

Angelica dahurica is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Umbelliferae family, also known as fragrant Angelica dahurica and Jiubuxiang. Its root is used as medicine; it has the functions of dispelling disease and removing dampness, draining pus and promoting tissue regeneration, activating blood circulation and relieving pain. It mainly treats wind-cold common cold, headache, rhinitis, toothache, leukorrhea, painful boils and swollen toxins and other conditions, and can also be used as a spice.

Angelica dahurica requires deep plough layer, loose and fertile soil, well-drained, warm, sunny and relatively moist sandy loam. After the previous crop is harvested, plough and harrow in time to expose to the sun, make high beds 100-200 cm wide and 16-20 cm high, with furrow width 26-33 cm (use high beds in poorly drained places), and apply about 150 kg of compost and plant ash per hectare.

Angelica dahurica is propagated by seeds collected in the same year. Autumn sowing is generally adopted, from End of Heat to before Autumn Equinox, that is, sowing from early August to early September.

Angelica dahurica is suitable for direct seeding, and both hole sowing and drill sowing are acceptable. Before sowing, water the bed thoroughly; after the water seeps down, begin sowing. The seeds should have the seed wing membrane removed, then soaked in warm water (45°C) for 6 hours, taken out, wiped dry and sown. For hole sowing, open holes at a row spacing of about 33 cm and plant spacing of 16-20 cm, with hole depth 6-10 cm. After sowing, water, sprinkle water or cover with grass to keep the soil moist regularly. Seedlings emerge 10-20 days after sowing.

1. Intercropping. After Angelica dahurica is sown, vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, garlic sprouts, etc. can be planted between its rows; the intercrops must be harvested before the Beginning of Spring.

2. Field management

(1) Watering: In places with sufficient rain, watering may not be needed, but in arid and semi-arid areas, deep watering must be done before sowing, and the land should be ploughed to preserve moisture. If drought occurs after sowing and the soil moisture is poor, watering is necessary; about 4 waterings are enough for germination. After that, keep the soil moist regularly. Before Minor Snow, water thoroughly to prevent Angelica dahurica from dying of dryness in winter. In the second spring, water around Qingming, then water once every 10 days, and in summer water once every 5 days; during the dog days, even more attention should be paid to keeping sufficient moisture.

(2) Thinning: When the spring seedlings turn green and reach 6 cm high, carry out thinning, appropriately removing weak seedlings. When the seedlings are 13-16 cm high, keep 1-2 strong seedlings per hole; for drill sowing, keep one strong seedling about every 16 cm.

(3) Cultivation and weeding: Each time thinning is done, cultivation and weeding should be carried out. The first time is when the seedlings are 3 cm high, the second time when the seedlings are 6-10 cm high, and the third time at final singling; all require loosening the soil and weeding. After the plants close the rows, cultivation and weeding can no longer be carried out.

(4) Topdressing: Topdressing in the same year should be little and light. In the second year, topdress 1-2 times before the plants close the rows, combined with thinning and cultivation. The topdressing amount per hectare is 2250-3000 kg of cake fertilizer, and chemical fertilizer and human and animal manure and urine can also be used as substitutes. After the rainy season, foliar spraying of phosphate fertilizer also has a significant effect.

(5) Selecting and reserving good seeds: In the autumn of the second year after planting, when digging Angelica dahurica, select those with thick and strong main roots and no branching, and plant them centrally on fertile land at a row spacing of 80-100 cm and plant spacing of 30 cm. Strengthen field management and increase fertilizer application. In late June of the following year, the seeds will mature one after another, and at this time they should be collected as they mature.

3. Pest and disease control

(1) Leaf spot disease. Control methods: ① Remove diseased and residual tissues and burn them in a centralized manner. ② Spray with 1:1:100 Bordeaux mixture or 65% zineb wettable powder 400-500 times liquid.

(2) Yellow swallowtail butterfly. Control methods: ① Manually capture and kill larvae and pupae. ② Spray with 90% trichlorfon 800 times liquid, once every 5-7 days, for 3 consecutive times, or spray with Qingchongjun (each gram of bacterial powder contains 10 billion spores) 500 times liquid.

(3) Aphids. They belong to Homoptera, Aphidoidea. Adults and nymphs damage tender leaves and the top. For control methods, see Astragalus pest and disease control.

(4) Red spiders. Control methods: ① Clear the garden in winter, pick up and burn dead branches and fallen leaves, and after clearing the garden spray 1 degree Baume lime-sulfur mixture. ② From April, spray 0.2-0.3 degree Baume lime-sulfur mixture, once a week, for several consecutive times.

4. Harvesting and processing. Autumn-sown Angelica dahurica is harvested in late August of the second year when the leaves show a withering state. When the leaves turn yellow and withered, begin by digging up the roots, shaking off the soil, grading according to main and lateral roots and root size, drying in the sun, then packaging and storing in a dry and ventilated place. Each hectare can yield 3750-5250 kg of dried Angelica dahurica, and high-yield fields reach 7500 kg.