What should be noted before planting Sichuan lovage (Ligusticum chuanxiong)?
Sichuan lovage (Ligusticum chuanxiong) uses its root as medicine. People use it to make tea, which is mellow and tasty, cools and quenches thirst, and has effects such as dispelling wind and relieving pain, and promoting qi and blood circulation.
1. Cultivation method.
Sichuan lovage is propagated by stem. Before planting, the soil should be deeply plowed, and for every 667 sq m use 120 kg of phosphate fertilizer, mixed with 1500 kg of farmyard manure as base fertilizer, then harrow fine and level, and make beds. When planting, select healthy stem nodes of uniform size, uniform thickness, and free of pests and diseases as seed sprouts, remove the upper tip, cut into small pieces of about 3 cm, each piece with one node disk, with 1.6 cm extending on each end of the node disk. After cutting, place them in a sunny, wind-sheltered, moist place, and soak the seeds with a 1000-fold dilution of carbendazim. You can also spray with a 150-fold dilution of 25% wettable phoxim, or dip them in 1:10 garlic juice, to control underground pests such as cutworms. Then pile them up and cover with gunny sacks. After 3-5 days, when white sprouts emerge from the node disks, they can be planted.
It is best to plant Sichuan lovage from Major Heat to Start of Autumn (early July to early August). Dig holes at a row spacing of 33 cm and a plant spacing of 26 cm, with a hole depth of 3-7 cm. Place 1 to 2 seed sprouts in each hole, with the bud opening facing upward when planting, cover with about 3 cm of soil, and after planting water the planting holes with clear manure water.
2. Field management.
When the seedlings are 7 cm tall, hoe the seedlings once, and at the same time check the seedlings and fill in gaps. When they grow to 10 cm, water once with clear manure water. After that, about once a month, weed and loosen the soil once, and fertilize once every 30-40 days. Apply nitrogen fertilizer for the first topdressing, and apply compound fertilizer or human manure and urine for the rest, and spray chlormequat and insecticides and fungicides, weed frequently, and cultivate carefully. At the third fertilization, for every 667 sq m use 12.5 kg of chemical fertilizer (urea) and apply it with manure water, and at the same time dig away the soil around the plants, remove the lower old yellow foot leaves, and remove all excess branches, leaving 3-4 main stems per plant, so as to facilitate root tuber expansion and cultivate healthy Sichuan lovage seed stems. At the fourth fertilization, rapeseed cake and plant ash can be applied around the plants. After rain, drain water in time to prevent root rot. When flowering, remove the flower buds in time to promote root growth. After early autumn, when the main shoot's old leaves turn gray, cut it at 5 cm from the base to make new leaves grow, apply heavy fertilizer, and spray leaf fertilizer.
3. Pest and disease control.
The insect pests of Sichuan lovage are mainly cotton bollworm and stem node borers, etc. If insects are found, they can be sprayed with pesticides such as dichlorvos and 1605 for control until the pests are eliminated. The main disease is root tuber rot. When planting Sichuan lovage, select disease-free stems as seeds, and frequently drain water and loosen the soil to keep the field soil from hardening, which can prevent this disease. If disease is found, lime sulfur mixture diluted with water can be used to irrigate the seedlings.
4. Harvesting and processing
Generally harvested after the Summer Solstice. When digging, remove the stems and leaves, dig up the whole plant, shake off the mud and sand, and sun-dry it into a commercial product. If there is cloudy and rainy weather, it can be dried with smokeless firewood and then sold.