How Often Is It Best to Take Gastrodia? Planting Methods and Side Effects Explained

Gastrodia is generally harvested in winter and spring. The winter-harvested one is called winter gastrodia and is of excellent quality; the spring-harvested one is called spring gastrodia and is not as good in quality as winter gastrodia. Many friends are unclear about how often it is best to take gastrodia, and many farmers have also started growing gastrodia, but improper methods lead to poor returns. So let me introduce you to the cultivation techniques for gastrodia.

Cultivation techniques for gastrodia

1. Site selection and land preparation

It is best to choose a gently sloping field or valley ditch with partial shade and partial sun, rich in organic matter, for planting. The soil should be loose loam, well-drained sandy loam or sandy soil, and virgin land is especially good. A soil pH of 5 to 6 is suitable. Avoid clay and waterlogged low-lying land, and avoid continuous cropping. In addition, air-raid shelters, mountain caves, basements and similar places can also be used to grow gastrodia.

2. Propagation methods

1. Tuber propagation: plant in winter or spring. Winter planting has a high inoculation rate and fast growth, and the time is November. Spring planting is in March to April. Before planting, a good fungal bed must be cultivated. Tree species suitable for the growth of Armillaria mellea are commonly Qinggang oak, Quercus aliena, cork oak, hairy chestnut and others in the Fagaceae family, with broadleaf trees that have thick bark, hard wood and strong rot resistance being best. Saw the selected wood into 40-50 cm long sticks and chop the bark into fish-scale notches. In the selected plot, 2-3 months before planting, dig a pit 25-30 cm deep and 60 cm wide, with length depending on the terrain. Loosen and level the soil at the bottom of the pit, spread a layer of dry leaves or humus soil, and place one layer of treated new wooden sticks alternating with wood bearing Armillaria mellea (commonly called fungal wood), with a distance of 6-7 cm between adjacent sticks. Broadleaf tree branches can be inserted in between, and humus soil should be used to fill the gaps to prevent contamination by foreign fungi, then cover with 3-4 cm of soil. Arrange the second layer in the same way, and cover with 10 cm of soil. Keep the pit moist, and cover with weeds to shade, cool and retain moisture so that Armillaria mellea grows normally, thus forming a fungal bed. Select tubers free of disease spots, freeze damage and rot as seed tubers, separate them by size, and plant them separately. When planting, place the seed gastrodia parallel in the trenches between the fungal sticks, close against the fungal sticks, fill the gaps with humus soil, and then cover with 3 cm of soil, so that the lower layer of fungal wood is not visible. Plant the second layer in the same way, finally cover with 10-15 cm of soil, and put a layer of leaves and weeds on top to keep the soil moist. During the overwintering period, thicken the covering soil to prevent freeze damage.

If artificial fungal beds and plastic bags are used for cultivation, the seed gastrodia used is robust white gastrodia and rice gastrodia. Because artificial temperature control is used, cultivation can be carried out from November to April of the following year.

2. Seed propagation: select gastrodia weighing more than 100 grams, and plant them as they are harvested according to the above method. During heading, prevent exposure to sunlight, and carry out artificial pollination when flowering. Pollination can be done around 10 o'clock on a sunny day, when the edge of the anther cap slightly shows the flower. After pollination, cover the fruit spike with a plastic bag. When a small amount of seeds spills from the lower fruits, harvest from bottom to top as they ripen. Because gastrodia seeds have a short lifespan, the harvested capsules should be sown promptly. When sowing, take out the upper layer of fungal wood from the fungal bed, scrape away the soil on the lower layer of fungal wood, scatter withered, moist fallen leaves on the lower layer of fungal wood, press them slightly flat, evenly scatter the seeds on the leaves, cover with a thin layer of moist fallen leaves, then sow the second layer of seeds, cover with 3 cm of soil, cover again with a layer of moist leaves, place the fungal wood into the soil layer, and finally cover with 10-15 cm of soil. If there are 10 pieces of fungal wood per pit, 8-10 capsules can be sown, and each capsule contains about 30,000 seeds. With proper planting, in the autumn of the second year part of the arrow gastrodia, white gastrodia, seed gastrodia and a large amount of rice gastrodia can be harvested, which can be used as seed tubers for tuber propagation.

3. Field management

After planting gastrodia, careful management is required, and people and livestock must be strictly forbidden from trampling it. Before overwintering, thicken the covering soil and add leaves to prevent freezing; during the high-temperature period from June to August, build a shed or intercrop tall-stem crops for shade. Before the rainy season arrives, clear the drainage ditches and promptly drain accumulated water to prevent tuber rot. In spring and autumn, it should receive necessary sunlight exposure to maintain a certain temperature.

4. Pest control

1. Root disorder disease

There are two causes of root disorder disease: first, foreign fungi infect the gastrodia and cause root disorder; second, excessive rain during the growing period causes root disorder in gastrodia.

Prevention and control methods: choose well-drained land to plant gastrodia. The fungal wood must not be infected by foreign fungi, and the gaps between fungal wood must be well filled. Always pay attention to drainage.

2. White grubs

The larvae bite off the stems or feed on hemp roots, causing broken stems and hollows in the roots.

3. Mole crickets

Adults and nymphs damage gastrodia stems and make tunnels underground, and the cut surface of the damaged gastrodia appears fibrous.

Prevention and control methods: for the above two pests, use light traps to kill adults, or drench with 90% trichlorfon at 1000 times or 75% phoxim emulsifiable concentrate at 700 times. For poison bait trapping, mix 0.025 kg of chlordane emulsifiable concentrate with 5 kg of fried fragrant wheat bran and an appropriate amount of water to make poison bait, and scatter it in the field or on the bed surface in the evening to trap and kill them.

In general, gastrodia is not suitable for daily consumption. Every medicine has some toxicity, and gastrodia is, after all, a Chinese medicinal material, so eating too much can easily produce some side effects. Let us take a closer look below!

5. Does eating gastrodia every day have side effects?

Yes, it has side effects.

Although gastrodia has many effects, gastrodia itself has certain toxic and side effects. Taking gastrodia every day will cause toxins to accumulate and produce toxic side effects.

1. Allergy

Gastrodia contains components such as gastrodin and vanillin, which are allergens. Eating too much gastrodia may cause allergic reactions, including dizziness, nausea and vomiting, chest tightness, skin papules with itching, etc. Urticaria and allergic purpura may also be caused by allergy, and in individual cases there may be facial or general edema, or even hair loss.

2. Poisoning

Gastrodia has certain toxic and side effects, and eating too much may cause poisoning. The usual poisoning dose is above 40 grams, and the incubation period for poisoning is 1 to 6 hours. It can cause acute renal failure, accelerated heartbeat and breathing, and even coma.

6. How often is it good to eat gastrodia? How much is appropriate to eat at one time?

Gastrodia can promote blood circulation, relieve pain and calm the nerves. In general, eating it 2 times a week is enough, but to produce a good auxiliary therapeutic effect, it still needs to be taken multiple times to be effective. The times of taking it should not be too close together, so as to avoid poisoning.

Gastrodia should not be eaten in large amounts, and one time should not exceed 40 grams. If it is taken as a decoction, it is best to control it at about 3-10 grams. If it is gastrodia powder, the amount is even smaller, generally about 2 grams at one time.