How to Grow Mugwort (Wormwood)? A Detailed Guide to the Planting Method
Mugwort is distributed in Mongolia, Korea, Russia and China. Its whole plant is used as medicine, with effects such as warming the meridians, removing dampness, dispelling cold and calming the fetus. It can also be used as a natural plant dye. So how do you grow mugwort?
1. Site selection and land preparation
It is best to choose a neutral soil with deep soil layers, good permeability and rich organic matter. Both sloping land and flat land can be used for planting, and it can also be planted in front of and behind houses or on marginal field corners. First carry out deep plowing, with a plowing depth of more than 30 cm.
2. Fertilization
When plowing and harrowing the land for preparation, you can apply enough decomposed organic farmyard manure at one time, 30-45 tonnes/hectare; or spread a layer of decomposed dilute human and livestock manure as base fertilizer. If there is no farmyard manure, you can also choose granular organic fertilizer specially for mugwort, and after deep plowing and before rotary harrowing, spread it evenly at about 750 kg/hectare.
3. Planting
For ordinary planting, the row and plant spacing is 45 cm × 30 cm; for dense planting, the row and plant spacing is 45 cm × 15 cm; for reasonably dense planting, the row and plant spacing is 45 cm × 20 cm. One plant per hole. On clay-heavy loess or black soil, the planting depth is 5-8 cm; on sandy soil or m the suitable planting depth is 8-10 cm.
4. Harvesting
The first harvest period for mugwort leaves is early June. When the weather is clear, harvest promptly, cutting the aboveground stems and branches with leaves, and separate the stems from the leaves. Spread them out in the sun to dry, or dry them at low temperature, then pack and store them. In early to mid-July, choose fine weather to harvest the second crop, and harvest the third crop around the time of frost, and carry out winter field management.
People also often put mugwort, acorus calamus, realgar, sandalwood, etc. into small cloth bags to make sachets, tie them with multicolored threads and wear them on the body. Folk belief holds that mugwort also has the effect of attracting blessings