A detailed guide to the 5 major cultivation and management techniques for medicinal chrysanthemums, essential for health preservation

Chrysanthemum has the effects of calming the liver and improving eyesight, dispersing wind and clearing heat, and relieving cough and pain. It is significantly effective in treating conditions such as headache and dizziness, red swollen eyes and pain, wind-heat common cold, and cough. So how should medicinal chrysanthemums be cultivated and managed? What are the key technical points?

1. Field plot preparation

Choose sandy loam soil that is fertile, flat, and well-drained for planting. If the soil is too sandy or too clayey, apply barnyard manure, compost, peat, or humus soil to improve it. Deep plow the land once in autumn and winter to promote soil weathering and decomposition of organic matter and reduce the pest and disease base. In late March, apply sufficient base fertilizer, deep plow 25 cm, carefully prepare the land, and after leveling make high beds with a bed width of 70-80 cm and height of 20-25 cm, and a ditch width of 30 cm and depth of 40 cm.

2. Timely planting

In May, take cuttings in a greenhouse to raise seedlings. In June, plant them with a row spacing of 45 cm and plant spacing of 35 cm, planting 3500-3800 plants per mu. Do not plant too deeply; 3-4 cm is best. After planting, irrigate once. Two to three weeks after planting, when the plants have 5-7 leaves, pinch off the growing tips while keeping 3-4 leaves; three to four weeks later, when the side branches have 4-5 leaves, pinch off the growing tips while keeping 2-3 leaves. Use the method of stretching lines along the bed edges and tying the plants, or set up poles and tie them for cultivation. During flowering, take care to prevent rain from falling on them; it is best to build a temporary shed when the chrysanthemums are budding to protect them from rain and wind. When the temperature is high and humidity is high, ventilate appropriately.

3. Fertilizer and water management

Apply sufficient base fertilizer, mainly organic fertilizer, applying 2000-2500 kg of decomposed barnyard manure or 100 kg of cake fertilizer per mu, applied deeply and mixed evenly with the soil. From May to July, apply decomposed dilute manure water 3-5 times. The first time is poured after planting the chrysanthemums, and then once after each pinching. Each time, use 100-150 kg of human excrement and urine per mu, diluted with water and poured on, while adding 0.3 kg of urea to every 100 kg of human excrement and urine.

From late August to early September, when the chrysanthemums are budding, apply 1000 kg of pig and cattle manure or 25 kg of nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium compound fertilizer per mu. In October, when the buds appear, spray once with a 0.2-0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution.

In the early growth stage, water management should mainly keep the soil alternately dry and moist. As the plants grow, appropriately control the amount of watering, especially during the flower bud differentiation stage, when moisture should be controlled as much as possible; do not water unless the plant leaves wilt. When the plants produce side buds or young buds appear, appropriately increase the amount of watering to prevent water shortage.

The number of waterings and the amount of water depend on the specific situation. Do not use flood irrigation, so as to avoid excessive soil moisture, which can cause the plants to suffocate and die. After watering, cultivate and weed in a timely manner to prevent soil compaction.

4. Pest and disease control

The main pests and diseases are leaf spot, downy mildew, rust, and aphids, longhorn beetles, and so on. Use 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 800 times dilution to control leaf spot, use 40% phosethyl-Al wettable powder at 250-300 times dilution or 25% metalaxyl wettable powder at 600-800 times dilution to control downy mildew, and use 15% triadimefon wettable powder at 1000 times dilution or 25% triadimefon wettable powder at 1500 times dilution to control rust. To control aphids, during the aphid occurrence period, spray with 10% imidacloprid wettable powder at 2000-4000 times dilution or 0.65% santonin aqueous solution at 300-400 times dilution.

5. Harvesting

In mid-to-late October, when 70% of the flowers are open, harvest on a sunny day after the dew has dried, and then harvest once every 6-7 days until harvesting ends at the end of November. Place the harvested flowers by grade, remove muddy flowers and flowers damaged by pests or disease, and do not include foreign matter.

Warm reminder: When brewing chrysanthemum tea, it is best to use a transparent glass cup, put in four or five pieces each time, and then brew with boiling water. If many people are drinking, you can use a transparent teapot, put in a small handful each time, pour in boiling water and steep for 2-3 minutes, then pour the tea into each person's transparent glass cup.