What Is the Best Season to Plant Honeysuckle? A Detailed Guide to the Optimal Time
When I was a child, I remember that the hills behind our home were covered with honeysuckle everywhere. When the honeysuckle bloomed, you could smell a faint fragrance from far away. Back then, I often went up the mountain with a few friends to pick honeysuckle. You could say honeysuckle accompanied me through my entire childhood. But now there is basically no honeysuckle left on the hills behind our home.
What season is best for planting honeysuckle
Honeysuckle can be planted in spring, winter, or late autumn, that is, between November and late March of the following year, but late autumn or early winter planting is best. To plant new honeysuckle, the first thing is to choose a good site. Honeysuckle is not strict about soil and moisture conditions; it can withstand drought, waterlogging, and poor soil. But as a highly efficient medicinal plant grown for the purpose of abundant flower production, it must be managed intensively. Research shows that honeysuckle likes sunlight and does not tolerate shade, so it should be planted on sunny, sandy loam soil that is relatively deep, fertile and loose, well aerated and drained, with a slope of less than 15 degrees. If irrigation is convenient and there is a water source, so much the better.
After choosing the site, plow the soil deeper than 30 cm and break up the clods. In our province, the planting density can be 2 m * 1 m or 1.5 m * 1 m, that is, 333 or 444 seedlings per mu. Before winter, dig planting trenches 80 cm wide and 80 cm deep, or dig planting holes 80 cm * 80 cm * 80 cm. Keep topsoil and subsoil separate, and build fish-scale pits that are higher on the outside and lower on the inside. Fill the bottom of the trench or hole with rice straw, corn stalks, or green weeds. Apply 4000-5000 kg of compost, 150-300 kg of calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer, and 3000-5000 kg of stalks or green weeds per mu, or apply 0.2-0.3 kg of rapeseed cake, or 0.15 kg of compound fertilizer, or 15 kg of farmyard manure per hole, and return the topsoil to the hole. Apply the base fertilizer appropriately deep and mix it evenly with the soil, then cover with soil. On sloped land, terrace preparation can be carried out with a bed width of 1.5 m.
When planting, first soak the seedlings in clean water for 8-10 hours, then dip the roots in mud slurry and plant. It is best to add 500-700 times diluted thiophanate-methyl or chlorothalonil and rooting powder at a concentration of 50 to 100 parts per million (that is, 1 gram of rooting powder mixed with 10-20 kg of water) to the mud slurry to increase the survival rate of the planted seedlings. When planting the seedlings, dig planting holes 30 cm * 30 cm * 30 cm, apply 0.5-0.75 kg of rapeseed cake or 0.25-0.5 kg of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium compound fertilizer per hole, mix evenly with soil, cover with 2-3 cm of soil on top, then spread out the seedling roots and plant them in the hole. Tread the soil firmly and water thoroughly with the settling water (water even on rainy days). After planting, the planting hole should form a small steamed-bun shape, and the planting depth should be such that about 10 cm of the main stem is exposed. To increase the survival rate of the seedlings, 2/3 of the leaves must be removed before or after planting. After they survive, shaping and pruning will turn the trailing vines into upright, small, single-stem shrubs. Increasing branching and expanding the crown can greatly increase yield.
Honeysuckle can be planted in spring, winter, or late autumn, that is, between November and late March of the following year, but late autumn or early winter planting is best. To plant new honeysuckle, the first thing is to choose a good site. Honeysuckle is not strict about soil and moisture conditions; it can withstand drought, waterlogging, and poor soil. But as a highly efficient medicinal plant grown for the purpose of abundant flower production, it must be managed intensively. Research shows that honeysuckle likes sunlight and does not tolerate shade, so it should be planted on sunny, sandy loam soil that is relatively deep, fertile and loose, well aerated and drained, with a slope of less than 15 degrees. If irrigation is convenient and there is a water source, so much the better.
The prospects and market price trends of honeysuckle
The treasure house of traditional Chinese medicine has made an indelible contribution to the reproduction and prosperity of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. With social development and scientific and technological progress, traditional Chinese medicine, with its outstanding efficacy and unique advantages, has received great attention from the international community. Many countries have invested substantial manpower and material resources in research and development, achieving remarkable results, and market demand for traditional Chinese medicine products has increased substantially year by year.
Honeysuckle is a traditional Chinese medicinal material. Its main function is to clear heat and remove toxins, and it has outstanding antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects. It is known as a “plant antibiotic.” As the abuse of chemical antibiotics brings serious consequences, demand for honeysuckle has surged. In particular, the occurrence and spread of SARS and H1N1 viral disease have brought huge market space for the medicinal use of honeysuckle. In addition, honeysuckle also contains a variety of antioxidant active ingredients, can lower blood lipids, and is used to prevent and treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. As China's population ages, market demand has further increased.
By raising the level of science and technology, strengthening efforts to develop new traditional Chinese medicines, and improving the quality standards of traditional Chinese medicine products, the international sales volume of traditional Chinese medicine products will also further increase. It is expected that within 5 years, the annual medicinal demand for honeysuckle can reach more than 20 million kg, thus laying the foundation for the development and expansion of the honeysuckle industry.
Problems facing the development of the honeysuckle industry
1. Insufficient investment in science and technology. The realization of the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine and the development of the traditional Chinese medicine economy ultimately depend on scientific and technological progress. As a characteristic industry with a long development history, honeysuckle has long suffered from insufficient scientific and technological investment, and a scientific and standardized technical system has not been formed.
2. Standardized planting is not progressing quickly. The existing planting area is basically the result of historical development, with wide regional distribution. Although the scale is relatively large, cultivation and management are extensive, and techniques for harvesting, processing, packaging, and storage are backward. This results in low honeysuckle yield, poor quality, uneven products, and a low rate of high-quality commercial goods.
3. Development of end products is not strong enough. The key to promoting the development of the honeysuckle industry is the technical content and market sales volume of end products. Only by increasing the development of end products can market space be expanded and the development of planting and processing be driven. Research on deep processing of honeysuckle clearly shows backward technology, non-standard techniques, and lagging development of serial products.
4. The various varieties have not been rationally developed and utilized. The plant resources of the genus Lonicera are relatively rich, with more than 40 medicinal varieties. Listing honeysuckle and mountain honeysuckle as two separate items reflects the rationality and scientific nature of medicinal use. Different species have their own advantages in comprehensive development and utilization due to differences in their components. Reasonable comprehensive development and utilization plans should be formulated according to the differences among specific species, so that existing species can be fully and rationally developed and utilized, creating applicable economic value.
The nutritional value and benefits of honeysuckle
1. Anti-pathogenic microorganism effects. It has a certain inhibitory effect on many pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, hemolytic streptococcus, Escherichia coli, dysentery bacillus, Vibrio cholerae, typhoid bacillus, paratyphoid bacillus, and others.
2. It has bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects on pneumococcus, meningococcus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Shigella dysenteriae, Streptococcus mutans, and others, and has inhibitory effects on influenza virus, orphan virus, herpes virus, and Leptospira.
3. Anti-inflammatory and detoxifying effects. It has a relatively strong effect on dispersing swelling and reducing abscesses for carbuncles, boils, intestinal abscesses, and lung abscesses, and has heat-clearing, detoxifying, and anti-inflammatory effects.
4. Effects of dispersing heat and dispelling pathogens. It has a certain effect on externally contracted wind-heat or the early stage of warm disease, with symptoms such as fever and headache, restlessness and little sleep, mental confusion and crimson tongue, and dry throat and mouth.
5. Effects of cooling blood and stopping dysentery. It has the effects of detoxifying, stopping dysentery, cooling blood, and soothing the throat for heat-toxin dysentery, dysentery with pus and blood, damp-warm pathogen obstructing the throat, and sore and swollen throat.
With the continuous shortage of wild resources today, wild honeysuckle is becoming less and less common. But everyone knows the benefits and effects of honeysuckle, so wild resources are far from enough to meet everyone's needs. Many people have noticed the shortage of honeysuckle resources on the market and have therefore set their sights on the honeysuckle market.