A Detailed Guide to the Soilless Cultivation Techniques and Planting Time of Water Spinach

Water spinach is a common vegetable in China, fond of growing in warm and humid areas. It is relatively common in the south, and is also widely cultivated in the various provinces and cities of the Yangtze River basin. So what are the soilless cultivation techniques and timing for water spinach? Below, the Tudiliu website editors will slowly explain it to you.

I. Basic Information About Water Spinach

1. Origin and alternative names of water spinach

Water spinach is an annual herbaceous plant, also known as tongcaiweng, wengcai, tengtengcai, tongcai and so on. It is commonly cultivated in the central and southern provinces of China, and is relatively rare in the north. It is suited to growing in warm and humid climates and in fertile, moist soil. In addition, it is also partly distributed in tropical Asia, Africa and Oceania.

2. The value of water spinach

Water spinach is rich in crude fiber, vitamins and various other nutrients. When eaten, it helps promote gastrointestinal motility, relieve constipation and detoxify, and it is an alkaline food that can reduce the acidity of the intestinal tract, prevent imbalance of the intestinal flora, and is somewhat helpful in cancer prevention. Its effects in lowering cholesterol and triglycerides are also relatively obvious. In addition to its edible benefits, the stems and leaves of water spinach can also be used medicinally, with certain auxiliary effects in treating constipation, strangury with turbid urine, bloody stools, blood in the urine, hemorrhoids, carbuncles and swelling, fractures and injuries, and snake and insect bites.

II. Cultivation Time and Soilless Cultivation Techniques of Water Spinach

In addition to the common soil cultivation, water spinach can also be grown well with modern soilless cultivation techniques, so a detailed introduction is given below.

(1) Cultivation time of water spinach

1. At present, water spinach is cultivated in two ways: open-field and greenhouse cultivation, so the planting time differs. Generally, open-field sowing of water spinach can be carried out from April to July each year; if greenhouse cultivation is used, it is carried out between October and December.

2. In addition, the planting time of water spinach also varies in different regions. For example, in Guangzhou it is from December to February of the following year, in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River it is from April to October, in northern regions it is from April to July, and in Shenyang it can be sown in mid-April. Of course, the climate changes differently each year, so when planting, you can adjust according to the situation.

(2) Soilless cultivation techniques of water spinach

Because water spinach is an amphibious plant, it can be grown not only in the common soil cultivation but also in soilless cultivation. The type generally used for soilless cultivation is mostly water spinach (also called small-leaf type or large water spinach). The detailed soilless cultivation techniques are as follows:

1. Generally, a cultivation method that uses a substrate other than natural soil to provide crops with water, nutrients and oxygen is called soilless cultivation. Therefore, to cultivate water spinach, you must first prepare nutrient solution cultivation and establish suitable cultivation troughs. The size of the cultivation troughs is determined according to the actual site conditions.

2. Prepare the seedling substrate, divide it into plug trays, and after sowing, compact the substrate soil and water it thoroughly; before emergence, keep the substrate moist; after emergence, water and supplement with biogas slurry nutrient solution; after the seedlings grow 3-4 true leaves, prepare for transplanting and setting out.

3. Prepare floating boards, fill the cultivation troughs with biogas slurry nutrient solution, then select seedlings and fix them into the planting holes of the floating boards.

4. If floating cultivation is used, generally add the biogas slurry nutrient solution all at once or add it in stages, and replenish water once every 2-3 days.

5. Because nutrient solution is used to cultivate water spinach, once pests and diseases occur, they can easily spread through the flow of the nutrient solution, so during cultivation you must pay attention to attacks by pests and diseases such as anthracnose, soft rot and the water spinach cabbage caterpillar. Once discovered, they must be dealt with promptly.

The method of soilless cultivation of water spinach is relatively simple, and it can generally be done at home too. Friends who are interested may as well try growing some themselves.