How to Grow Jinbuhuan (Panax notoginseng)? Detailed Guide to Planting Methods and Key Techniques

Jinbuhuan is also called Sanqi (Panax notoginseng). The world-famous Chinese patent medicines “Yunnan Baiyao” and “Pien Tze Huang” are made with Jinbuhuan as the main raw material. So how do you grow Jinbuhuan?

1. Site Selection

Choose gently sloping land with good drainage at a slope of 5-15 degrees, rich in organic matter, humus soil or sandy loam. For farmland, the previous crop should preferably be corn, peanuts or legumes; never use solanaceous crops as the previous crop. Once the plot is selected, leave it fallow for one to six months and plow it repeatedly to a depth of 15-20 cm to promote soil weathering. Where conditions permit, spread grass and burn the soil before plowing, or apply 100 kg of lime per mu for soil disinfection. On the last plowing, apply 5000 kg of fully decomposed farmyard manure and 50 kg of cake fertilizer per mu, level and till finely, and make beds. The beds should face south, with a bed width of 1.2-1.5 m, a bed spacing of 50-150 cm, bed length depending on the terrain, and a bed height of 30-40 cm. Surround the beds with bamboo poles or wooden sticks to prevent the bed soil from washing away and collapsing, and shape the bed surface like a tile back.

2. Sowing

1. Seed selection and seed treatment: Every year in October-November, select plump, mature, reddened fruits borne by 3-4 year old plants, pick them, place them in a bamboo sieve, rub off the fruit skin, wash clean, and dry the surface moisture. Disinfect by soaking the seeds for 10 minutes in a 400-fold dilution of 65% zineb, or a 1000-fold dilution of 50% thiophanate-methyl. Jinbuhuan seeds easily lose viability after drying, so they should be sown immediately after harvesting or preserved by stratification.

2. Sowing: Use a tool to mark rows, sow by dibbling at a row spacing of 6 cm × 5 cm, then evenly scatter a layer of mixed fertilizer (using decomposed farmyard manure or mixed with other fertilizers), and cover the bed surface with a layer of rice straw to keep the bed surface moist and suppress weed growth. Use 70,000-100,000 seeds per mu, equivalent to 10-12 kg of fruit. If after sowing and watering you cover with silver-gray plastic film, this can significantly increase yield and provide good water retention and fertilizer savings.

3. Seedling management and transplanting: During dry weather, water frequently; after rain, drain accumulated water promptly and weed regularly. Fertilize seedlings mainly with phosphorus fertilizer, usually 3 times: the first after seedlings emerge uniformly in March, and the next 2 in May and July respectively. The light transmittance of the seedling shade canopy should be adjusted according to changes in light intensity in different seasons. Sanqi seedlings are transplanted after one year, generally from December to January of the following year. Transplant by lifting seedlings, selecting seedlings and transplanting them immediately. When lifting roots, strictly avoid damaging the root strips and buds. When selecting seedlings, remove diseased, damaged and weak seedlings, and plant them by grade.

3. Field Management

1. Weeding and hilling: Jinbuhuan is a shallow-rooted plant, with roots mostly distributed in the top 15 cm of soil, so cultivation should be avoided to prevent root damage. After seedlings emerge, weeds on the bed surface should be removed promptly, and while weeding, if rhizomes and roots are found exposed above the ground, soil should be hilled up around them.

2. Watering and drainage: In dry seasons, water frequently to keep the bed surface moist. Water by sprinkling, not by splashing, otherwise the plants will lodge. In the rainy season, especially after heavy rain, remove accumulated water promptly to prevent root rot and other diseases.

3. Building shade frames and adjusting light transmittance: Jinbuhuan is shade-loving, and artificial cultivation requires shade frames, with a frame height of 1.5-1.8 m and side frames set up around the perimeter. Frame materials are obtained locally; generally wooden or cement prefabricated strips are used as frame posts, wire is stretched across the top as crossbeams, and then bamboo is woven into squares to lay over the top cover. The amount of light transmitted through the frame has a close effect on the growth and development of Jinbuhuan. Too little light makes the plants spindly, prone to pests and diseases, and produces few flowers and fruits.

4. Fertilizing Jinbuhuan should follow the principle of “many times, small amounts.” Generally, after seedlings sprout and emerge, broadcast plant ash 2-3 times, using 50-100 kg per mu, to promote strong seedling growth. In April-May, apply 1 application of mixed organic fertilizer (farmyard manure and plant ash at 2:1), using 2000 kg per mu; for seed-production plots, add 15 kg of superphosphate to promote plump fruit. After clearing the garden in winter, apply another 2000-3000 kg of mixed fertilizer per mu.

Jinbuhuan is suitable for a climate with warm winters and cool summers, and is not tolerant of severe cold or extreme heat, so it is grown in only a small number of places in the southwest.