Is Growing Chinese Lantern in Rural Areas Feasible, Its Value, and Sowing and Harvesting Times

Chinese lantern, also known as groundcherry, ghost lantern, and bitter lantern, is a perennial herbaceous plant commonly found in most parts of China. It is widely cultivated because of its high medicinal value. So is growing Chinese lantern in rural areas feasible? What value does it have? When is the best time to plant it? When is it harvested?

As a wild plant with extremely strong vitality, Chinese lantern can grow very lushly even without care, so artificial cultivation is naturally feasible. It is also quite easy to manage. When grown in rural areas (or in the wild), it is divided into north and south. Roughly taking the Yellow River as the boundary, north of the Yellow River there is a large yellow-fruited Chinese lantern, while most areas to the south have a small yellow Chinese lantern. The large fruit is more suitable for the fruit type and can be eaten, used medicinally, and used to make wine, preserved fruit, canned goods, or sauce, etc. Although the small fruit can also be eaten and used to make wine, it is mostly used medicinally.

The specific planting techniques are as follows:

For seedling raising and propagation, seed propagation is the main method.

For purchased or self-collected seeds, choose seed soaking. First soak them in about 50 degree warm water for 10 minutes while stirring constantly, then soak them in 30 degree water for 24 hours. Remove and drain them, mix them evenly with clean water and fine sand, wrap them in cloth, turn them every day, and place them in sunlight with shade above. They will sprout in 3 to 5 days. Then they can be broadcast sown on a prepared seedbed, or sown in holes on prepared plots. Use two to four seeds per hole.

Fertilization

For the seedbed and planting site, 3,000 jin of barnyard manure can be applied per mu as base fertilizer. It should be applied first during plowing and harrowing. When the seedlings reach 7 cm tall, diluted human and animal manure water or a small amount of chemical fertilizer can be applied as a top dressing. When the seedlings are about 20 cm tall, they can be transplanted or thinned.

Planting out

Generally, reasonable close planting should be used. For the northern large yellow variety, about 3,500 plants can be kept, and for the southern small yellow variety, about 5,000 plants can be kept.

Pests and diseases

The main disease is powdery mildew. In the early stage of discovery, 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder can be sprayed at 1000 times dilution. For a single plant (or a small number of occurrences), simply spray and then pull out and burn the remaining plants.

The main pests are underground pests, white grubs, and cutworms. Use 5% phoxim emulsifiable concentrate at 1000 times dilution to spray the roots or drench the roots.

Value of Chinese lantern:

The whole plant has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying. Chinese lantern fruit has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, soothing the throat, resolving phlegm, and promoting urination, and is used for sore throat and hoarseness, phlegm-heat cough, and difficult urination.

Planting time and harvest time:

Planting can be divided into three types: spring seedling raising and planting, spring planting, and autumn planting.

The whole growth period takes about 120 days, somewhat shorter than early rice in the south. For spring seedling raising and planting, seedlings should be raised in a greenhouse in January to February, and after raising the seedlings, they should be transplanted to open-field cultivation in late March when the open-field temperature is suitable.

Spring planting: late March, open-field seedling raising and planting.

Autumn planting: seedlings can be raised in June, planted out in the open field in July, and harvested in September to October when the temperature drops.