Detailed Guide to Kudzu Root Planting Techniques and Field Management Methods
Land preparation: Choose a plot with a deep soil layer, fertile soil, and convenient drainage and irrigation, remove debris and disinfect it, then dig trenches and make beds.||Transplanting: Transplanting can be done on a sunny day after New Year's Day. After transplanting, apply phosphate fertilizer and compact the soil.||Tending: Timely replanting of missing seedlings, building trellises and training vines. At the same time, do a good job of water and fertilizer management and pest and disease control.
Tending work for kudzu root:
1. Replanting missing seedlings
Plant at a row spacing of 1 m and a plant spacing of 0.6 m, with 16,500 plants per hectare. After transplanting, check plant survival promptly and replant any missing seedlings as soon as possible. For replanting, it is best to use first-grade seedlings with root tubers. When seedlings are missing, the layering method can also be used by pressing the lower stem of a nearby seedling at the missing spot into the soil nearby, and after the stem grows new shoots, cut between the new shoot and the shoot at the stem tip.
2. Building trellises and training vines
Kudzu root is a climbing vine plant and needs trellises to support its climbing growth, minimizing contact between the vines and the ground, promoting root tuber expansion, and achieving high yield. When the vines grow to 50 cm, build trellises promptly and guide the vines. Keep 1-2 vines per plant, using 2 m long bamboo poles or wooden stakes to build a “”-shaped trellis. Prune and train the vines promptly, promptly removing lateral vines and old leaves below 1.5 m on the main vine, while allowing lateral branches above 1.5 m to grow freely. After the following spring, prune early, keeping 2-3 vines per plant to cultivate and form main vines, with no branch lateral vines retained within 1 m.
3. Soil, fertilizer, and water management
Carry out timely intertillage and weeding. Generally, 2-3 intertillage and weeding operations are sufficient depending on weed growth. Kudzu root has nitrogen-fixing ability and does not need too much fertilizer during growth. Carry out the first topdressing 20 days after planting, applying light water fertilizer, with 60-75 kg/ha of compound fertilizer, then apply once every 7-10 days thereafter to promote root growth; after March, apply 450 kg/ha of compound fertilizer every 30 days. Earth up and clear ditches, and drain accumulated water promptly. Kudzu root is a dryland crop with a well-developed root system and is drought-tolerant but not waterlogging-tolerant, so drainage must remain unobstructed during the rainy season.
Kudzu root enters dormancy every winter, and this is also the best period for harvesting.