Detailed Explanation of Sophora flavescens Planting Techniques and Management Methods

For planting Sophora flavescens, sandy soil with deep, fertile soil layers and good drainage is best, and the soil should be slightly acidic. Generally, sowing is done from mid-to-late March to early-to-late April. Before sowing, soak the seeds in warm water at 40-50°C for 10-12 hours. After sowing, cover with fine fertile soil mixed with plant ash. Afterward, carry out management tasks such as thinning seedlings, filling gaps, topdressing, weeding, and loosening the soil.

1. Land preparation: Sophora flavescens has low soil requirements and can generally grow on both sandy loam and clay loam, but sandy soil with deep, fertile soil layers and good drainage is best, and the soil is preferably slightly acidic. After selecting the land, plow it deeply and level it, remove residual tree roots, dead branches, stones, weeds, and other materials from the soil, apply sufficient base fertilizer before plowing, and make high beds 120 cm wide, with furrow width 30 cm, furrow depth 20 cm, the bed surface shaped like a tile back, and drainage ditches opened around the perimeter.

2. Sowing: Generally carried out from mid-to-late March to early-to-late April. Before sowing, soak the seeds in warm water at 40-50°C for 10-12 hours, take them out and dry them slightly, then open holes on the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 50-60 cm and plant spacing of 30-40 cm, with holes 4-5 cm deep, and sow 4-5 seeds per hole. After sowing, cover with fine fertile soil mixed with plant ash, 1.5 cm-2.0 cm thick, and seedlings emerge after 15-20 days. When the seedlings are 6-10 cm tall, thin them to a fixed stand, leaving 2-3 strong seedlings per hole.

3. Management: When the seedlings are 17-20 cm tall, carry out uniform thinning and gap filling, leaving 3-4 strong seedlings per hole. If there are missing seedlings, transplant young seedlings with soil on cloudy and rainy days. Apply topdressing 2 times each year. The first time is 10-20 days after fixing the stand, applying 22500 kg of human and livestock manure per hectare; the second time is before flowering, mainly with manure and barnyard manure. Before the rows close, weed and loosen the soil frequently, and loosen the soil shallowly to prevent damaging the roots. After the rows close, no more soil loosening is needed. When entering the flowering stage, except for plants retained for seed production, promptly remove the entire inflorescence with flower buds so that nutrients are concentrated.