How to grow ivory vegetable? Master these 4 major planting and cultivation techniques
Ivory vegetable is also known as "dragon of the water" and "white lotus ginseng", which shows how much people love ivory vegetable. Whether used in soup or stir-fried, ivory vegetable is extremely delicious, refreshing and tasty. As market demand grows, the prospects for growing ivory vegetable are getting better and better, and more and more growers are taking it up. Below, the editor will briefly introduce the key points of ivory vegetable planting and cultivation techniques.
1. Selection of site, soil and water source
Rural and urban vegetable garden plots, fertile rice fields, shallow lakeside and riverside flats, or marshy muddy fields can all be used for cultivation. Water must be maintained year-round, with a water depth of 10-20 cm or more. Dry land and saline-alkali land cannot be used for planting. When growing in a greenhouse, as long as water can be sprayed year-round, a shallow tray of water is enough for cultivation.
2. Cultivation methods and planting season arrangement
Ivory vegetable has a fairly wide range of adaptability. It can be planted when the temperature is above 5°C, with the optimal temperature being 25-28°C. It can be introduced and cultivated in all four seasons. Before planting, the land should first be leveled and irrigated for soaking, then fully plowed and raked once or twice, and sufficient base fertilizer applied. When planting, insert the seedling roots into the mud to a depth of about 15 cm. Its plant and row spacing requirement is 1 m × 1 m, with 660 seedlings used per mu. After one planting per mu, harvesting can continue for 5-6 years. If used as seedlings for expanded sales, they can be allowed to grow freely, and young seedlings can then be continuously harvested in batches and shipped to various places for sale.
3. Fertilization
Ivory vegetable has an especially strong tolerance for fertilizer. General nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium chemical fertilizers are all suitable, but in order to maintain its natural green quality, organic fertilizer should be the main choice. Pig, cattle, human and horse manure can be fully composted before application, at 2000-3000 kg per mu. After harvesting, apply topdressing once every 10-15 days to ensure vigorous growth.
4. Harvesting and processing
Under suitable temperature conditions, harvesting can begin about 15-20 days after planting. In spring and summer, it can be harvested once every 5-10 days, and in winter once every 15-20 days. The edible part harvested from ivory vegetable is the lotus-root-like tuber portion, which spreads and grows in a crisscross pattern in the muddy field. When harvesting, workers should be gentle and careful, and must not trample or break the new shoots. They should follow the roots row by row and plant by plant, feeling their way slowly from the inside outward and from top to bottom. After harvesting, ivory vegetable should first be rinsed clean with water, then graded and sorted for sale.
If it cannot all be sold the same day, it can be packaged in fresh-keeping bags and transported for sale to various places. At 4-5°C, it can be stored for 5-10 days without spoiling. If vacuum packaging is possible, its fresh-keeping period can reach 20-30 days. In addition, ivory vegetable can also be deeply processed into high-grade canned goods, sweet-and-sour preserved fruit, dried vegetables, etc., and shipped for sale domestically and abroad, increasing foreign exchange earnings.