How to grow Myoga ginger? A detailed guide to planting methods

Myoga ginger, also known as Yanghe and Minghe, is a food with very high nutritional value, widely distributed in areas south of the Qinling Mountains, and is currently widely used as medicine. So how do you grow Myoga ginger?

1. Site selection and land preparation

Choose a piece of yellow soil or red soil land with deep soil, good drainage and convenient transport, then plow deeply and apply sufficient base fertilizer. Of course, mountainous land is also acceptable. If the mountain slope is less than 15 degrees, carry out full-area land preparation; if the slope is greater than 15 degrees and less than 30 degrees, carry out strip land preparation; if the slope is greater than 30 degrees, carry out block land preparation.

2. Seedling selection

It is advisable to choose healthy, plump seedlings with a basal diameter of more than 1 cm and an age of 1 to 2 years.

3. Sowing

(1) Sowing time: during the period from Yushui to Qingming.

(2) Sowing method: sow the seedlings into holes about 30 cm deep at a row spacing and plant spacing of 3*2.5 m or 2.5*2.5 m, then backfill with topsoil and firm it layer by layer so that the rhizome roots spread out, tight below and loose above, with the soil covering 3 to 5 cm deeper than the original buried part of the mother bamboo.

(2) Sowing density: generally plant 80 to 100 plants per mu.

4. Management techniques after planting

(1) Loosening soil and weeding: loosen the soil and weed 3 times each year, with shallow loosening in February and deep loosening in June.

(2) Reasonable fertilization: 3 to 6 months after planting, fertilization can be carried out once. Generally, in June of the first year, apply 1000 kg of farmyard organic manure per mu, and in September apply 10 kg of special compound fertilizer for bamboo shoots per mu, mixing it into the soil while loosening the soil; in the second year, in February apply 10 kg of special compound fertilizer for bamboo shoots per mu, in June apply another 1000 kg of farmyard organic manure per mu, and in September apply 20 kg of special compound fertilizer for bamboo shoots per mu; in the third year, fertilization can be carried out according to the standard for established groves.

(3) Keep good mother bamboo: the emergence time of bitter bamboo shoots can be divided into the early stage, the peak stage and the late stage. Bamboo shoots emerging in the early and late stages should all be dug out for eating; for bamboo shoots emerging in the peak stage, mother bamboo should be selected and retained, keeping 400 robust shoots per mu each year. When harvesting bamboo shoots, start digging at 5 to 7 cm above the ground at the shoot tip, using special bamboo shoot harvesting tools, without damaging the bamboo rhizome and shoot buds.

5. Timely harvesting

Keep about 1200 mother bamboo evenly per mu of bitter bamboo grove; mother bamboo is retained for 3 years, and all those 4 years old or more are cut down. Every year after “Cold Dew”, cut down old bamboo more than 4 years old.