How to Grow Chives and Seed Prices: Experienced Growers Do It This Way

Chives are a perennial herbaceous vegetable that can be harvested every so often, making them especially popular. So how should farmers grow chives? What are the seed prices and growing methods?

1. Chive seed prices

The price of chive seeds is about 80 to 150 yuan per jin, varying with seed quality, variety, place of origin, market and so on. Chives are extremely adaptable, cold-resistant and heat-tolerant, and are cultivated everywhere across our country. In many areas of the south they can be produced year-round; in the north, although the aboveground part dies in winter and the underground part goes dormant, it will resume sprouting and growing after the surface soil thaws in spring. In production, seed propagation and division propagation are mostly used.

2. How are chives grown? What are the growing methods?

1. Planting time

Chives like a cool climate, and the most suitable temperature for seed germination is 15 to 25 degrees, so they are mostly planted in spring and autumn. In the north, sowing is mostly in April and from late August to early September; in the south, mostly from March to April and from September to October. Sowing at these times makes the seedlings emerge quickly and evenly, and they are less prone to disease.

2. Key points for sowing

Chives are a perennial vegetable, so to lay a foundation for high yield, sufficient base fertilizer must be applied before sowing, but the fertilizer must be well fermented, otherwise it easily causes pests and diseases. The sowing depth should generally be kept within 2 cm, and sowing should be suitably dense so that the yield will be higher. After sowing, water thoroughly, and before emergence, water again whenever the soil surface looks dry; seedlings will be fully emerged in about 15 days.

3. Daily management

Daily management of chives is fairly simple, basically just weeding and watering, but if you want them to grow fast and strong, the fertilizer must keep up. When the chives grow to a height of more than 10 cm, you can topdress them. The topdressing fertilizer should be mainly nitrogen fertilizer. I recommend soaking sesame oil residue in water, fermenting it, and mixing it into the chive patch when watering; this makes the chives grow not only quickly but also with a particularly strong flavor. Topdress once with each watering, and also topdress once with each harvest of chives. Sufficient fertilizer is the key of keys to chives growing stronger and stronger.

4. Key points for harvesting

Although chives are harvested by cutting, you must pay attention to the harvest interval. Generally it must not be less than one month; too short an interval is no different from killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, and is absolutely not advisable. Also, the last harvest of chives in autumn, that is, 20 days before the first frost, should be stopped to prepare the chives for winter dormancy.

Finally, many people ask what to do when the chives they grow always have yellow leaves. In fact, yellow leaves in chives have many different causes:

► Lack of trace elements. Chives with yellow leaves generally have not been given base application or foliar spraying of trace elements such as iron, copper and zinc, and the lack of these elements causes yellow leaves.

► Excessive application of nitrogen fertilizer, with an imbalanced ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, thereby inhibiting the absorption and use of trace elements and causing yellow leaves.

► Excessive application of fertilizer containing humic acid, which changes the soil's physical and chemical properties and makes it acidic, which is unfavorable for root development and growth; nutrient absorption and conversion are poor, and the leaves turn yellow due to malnutrition.

► Focusing only on chemical fertilizers and ignoring organic fertilizers, which reduces soil porosity and makes permeability poor; the roots cannot breathe properly, leading to malnutrition and yellow leaves.

► Watering blindly, with excessive humidity in the field, affecting root respiration and nutrient absorption and causing yellow leaves.

► Damage from pests and diseases, especially after damage by chive maggots, when the roots' absorption capacity decreases, the nutrient supply to the leaves is insufficient, and in severe cases the plants dry up and die.

Therefore, everyone should take targeted preventive measures early on.