What are the latest planting methods for Yacon?
Yacon is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family. The shape of Yacon is rather peculiar, the leaves have a great deal of fine fuzz, and the plant resembles the Jerusalem artichoke plant. Yacon contains a great deal of fructooligosaccharides, the highest content among all plants, has a certain effect on treating diabetes, and is also the main raw material for fructose and alcohol. So how should Yacon be planted? Below, the editor brings you the planting methods for Yacon, let's take a look!
1. Land preparation and ridging
For planting Yacon, try to choose sandy soil with good drainage and irrigation and strong permeability, then carry out land preparation. When preparing the land, deep plowing should be done, together with the fertilization work. For the base fertilizer, avoid using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, then control the planting density well and dig the planting holes. Before planting, ridges should also be made on the soil, and the Yacon seeds should be planted on the ridges. Also, during land preparation, an appropriate amount of quicklime powder should be sprinkled; through the heat generated by the exothermic reaction of the quicklime powder, underground insect eggs are killed. This prevents pest damage during the planting process, which would harm plant growth and reduce yield.
2. Timely planting
The planting time for Yacon varies according to the growing region, but usually the best planting time is after the Beginning of Spring, when the temperature gradually rises back and the surface temperature rises to about 15 degrees. If protected cultivation is used, then the planting time can be appropriately advanced. The planting method is direct cultivation, and the method of raising seedlings in a seedling bed and transplanting can also be used. For propagation, cuttings can be used for planting; cutting planting is usually done in summer using branches and underground side branches. The specific planting method depends on the techniques and habits you have mastered; no matter what method is used, the survival rate should be increased as much as possible.
⟦NL>3. Field management
After planting, observe the growth of the seedlings. When the seedlings grow to about 18-22 cm, do the watering work well, improve the soil moisture, and appropriately weed and earth up. If the base fertilizer was insufficient before planting, then at this stage an appropriate amount of fertilizer should also be applied as a top dressing, but substances harmful to the plants, such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides, must not be used. When the soil water content is insufficient, water in time, but the water should not be too much either, and attention should also be paid to drainage in rainy weather. Appropriately remove the tillers at the base; plants with weaker growth can keep 2 tillers to promote growth. If you want to expand the planting area and increase yield, the removed tillers can be used for cuttings.
4. Harvesting and seed retention
When the Yacon plants begin to fade and the leaves gradually turn yellow, harvesting can begin. In the south, the harvesting time can be appropriately delayed, letting them remain in the ground to overwinter, and then harvesting according to market demand. In the north, they need to be harvested and stored in time before winter; the stems can be used as poultry feed, and the leaves and flowers can be dried in the sun and used as tea. After harvesting, retain seeds in time: cut off the seed balls on the fruit, disinfect and dry the cut surfaces, then soak them in potassium permanganate solution for 2-4 minutes, remove them and wrap them in a damp cloth for storage, and they can be sown in the spring of the following year.
The above is the editor's brief introduction to Yacon planting methods. When planting Yacon, the seedling raising work should be done well, the seedling environment should be managed well, the growth of the seedlings should be promoted, the survival rate after planting should be improved, and the yield should be guaranteed. Pest and disease control work should also be done well to prevent a relatively large impact on planting benefits. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!