The King of Blood Tonic: How to Select Sugarcane Seeds, When to Plant, How Long Until Maturity, and How Many Seasons Per Year?
Sugarcane, also known as sweet cane or sugar cane, is a common fruit in tropical regions such as Yunnan, Sichuan, and Guangdong in China. Because it is easy to grow and highly nutritious, it is widely cultivated. So how do you select sugarcane seeds? When do you plant them? How long until they mature? How many seasons can you plant per year?
Sugarcane seed selection:
1. Saving your own sugarcane seed
If your sugarcane is first-year new-root sugarcane, and you feel that this variety of sugarcane seed is still well suited to your soil, then you can save your own sugarcane seed. If it is your own sugarcane, it is best to keep the whole stalk as seed, so that you can cut it whenever you want to plant, keeping the sugarcane seed fresh.
It is best to keep the tail end.
If you are worried that keeping the whole stalk as seed will leave you with too much, then you can choose to keep the tail end of the sugarcane when harvesting, and then transport the tail-end sugarcane seed to a relatively cool place for storage, preferably a relatively moist place, so that the moisture in the seed cane does not easily dry out.
It is best to choose seed cane with more buds.
Generally, if the sugarcane seed has more buds, it will affect future yield, because sugarcane with more buds will grow more stalks. So when selecting sugarcane seed, look at how far apart one node is from the next. The closer together they are, the more buds there are; the farther apart they are, the fewer buds there are.
It is best not to use the head end of the sugarcane as seed.
Because the head end of sugarcane generally has fewer buds, and its quality is not very good either. If you plant it directly, sometimes if it is not handled well you will not get a single stalk of sugarcane, and after being buried in soil it is also prone to turning black and rotting, seriously affecting the year's sugarcane yield.
2. Choose according to the soil
Before choosing sugarcane seed, you need to understand the quality of the soil of the land you currently have: whether it is relatively dry or relatively moist, whether it is fertile or poor, and so on, so as to choose the sugarcane seed well, because different sugarcane seeds correspond to different soils.
3. Go to designated locations to choose
Every year, sugar factories distribute different varieties of sugarcane seed. The sugarcane seed they distribute is generally the result obtained through many trials by professionals. So if you want to choose sugarcane seed, it is best to go to the factory to investigate more, ask professionals for advice more, and then make your selection.
Seed planting time:
The planting time of sugarcane is mainly affected by temperature and variety. For autumn-planted sugarcane, August and September are the suitable planting period, and for spring-planted sugarcane, February and March are the suitable planting period.
Sugarcane originated in tropical and subtropical regions. It is a plant with high photosynthetic efficiency, a high light saturation point, a low carbon dioxide compensation point, a low photorespiration rate, and high photosynthetic intensity. Therefore, sugarcane has high biological yield and great returns. Newly planted sugarcane is propagated by planting sugarcane seedlings. Soon after planting, it takes root and grows many young shoots, forming clumps. At harvest, only the sugarcane stalks are harvested, while the roots are left in the soil, that is, the ratoon. The next year, the ratoon branches and grows stalks again. Therefore, sugarcane is a perennial plant. Its harvest can reach as many as 7 to 8 times, and in China it is generally 3 times, that is, after three years the ratoon is dug out and replanted.
Maturity time:
It generally matures around October, and can be eaten all the way until March or April of the following year. In fact, like many sweet fruits, sugarcane is sown in spring and matures and is harvested in late autumn. The closer to winter it matures, the sweeter the sugarcane tastes. There is a saying that “autumn sugarcane surpasses ginseng.” The most delicious sugarcane is picked by hand in the sugarcane field in late autumn. However, greenhouse cultivation technology is now very advanced and can control the temperature and humidity of plant growth, so fresh sugarcane can be eaten all year round.
How many seasons per year?
One season per year, because sugarcane is divided into early-, mid-, and late-maturing varieties according to the length of the growth period and the different maturation periods. Its growth period is about 7 to 9 months, and the maturation period should be from October to February of the following year.