How to Grow Water Chestnuts? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Planting Methods
The water chestnut is also known as the “Chinese water chestnut”. Its flesh can be eaten as a fruit, crisp and refreshing, delicious and juicy. It can also be used as a medicinal herb, with many effects such as clearing heat and detoxifying, and removing dampness and stopping phlegm. It has a clear therapeutic effect on feverish patients. So how are water chestnuts grown? Today the editor will give everyone a simple introduction.
1. Choosing the site
Water chestnuts like moderate temperatures and higher humidity but are not cold-tolerant. They are more suitable for planting in soil with a solid lower layer and a soft upper layer. The cultivated soil layer should be about 22 cm. This is because it not only allows the water chestnut to grow and develop, but also prevents its stems from drilling deep, and the developed size will be about the same. This is good for harvesting and sales. If the soil is too sticky, it will affect normal growth and reduce the sugar content.
2. Raising seedlings
The specific time for raising seedlings still depends on the time of transplanting. Early-water water chestnuts start one month to one and a half months before early transplanting. Late-water water chestnuts start raising seedlings half a month to one month before transplanting. For seedling water chestnuts, you should choose healthy, thick and long ones with plump edges and no disease or damage for raising seedlings. The seedling water chestnuts should be arranged neatly, covered with rice straw, and watered twice a day; once side buds grow, they can be planted.
3. Dividing the plants
Before cultivation, first pull out the water chestnut seedlings, wash off the mud with water, and remove some small seedlings. This is because after this kind of seedling is planted, the chance of plant division will be reduced. If plant division occurs, the mother plant should be divided into about 3 clumps. If the stems are too long, cut off the overgrown parts to prevent them from being broken. If the seedlings carry seedling water chestnuts, the corms should be sunk about 9 cm into the soil. If dividing plants, the roots should be arranged neatly and buried a few centimeters deep.
4. Fertilizing
For the base fertilizer of a water chestnut field, about 40,000 kg of farmyard manure and about 5,000 kg of superphosphate should be applied per mu. After planting, topdress during the tillering and plant-dividing stages to promote the growth of the water chestnuts. The main amount depends on the transplanting period and the fertility of the soil. Early-water water chestnuts mainly rely on base fertilizer and organic fertilizer, and farmyard manure is applied once each at half a month after transplanting and at the flowering stage. However, the amount of fertilizer must not be excessive, to avoid excessive vegetative growth of the plants, which can cause pests and diseases and lodging. Late-water water chestnuts require a larger amount of fertilizer, with more quick-acting fertilizer.
5. Harvesting
Harvesting generally lasts from the Winter Solstice until the Spring Equinox of the following year. If harvested too early, the flesh is not sweet, the skin is also thin, and it cannot be stored. At the Winter Solstice, the flesh of the water chestnut is at its sweetest and has the highest sugar content. Therefore, starting harvesting at the Winter Solstice is the most suitable. On the day before harvesting begins, drain the water from the field, then scrape off the upper layer of soil, dig out the soil together with the water chestnuts from the lower layer, and pinch out the water chestnuts by hand.
The above is a simple introduction to how to grow water chestnuts. Water chestnuts are actually very easy crops to grow. They do not have great requirements for humidity or sunlight. You just need to pay more attention to pests and diseases during the care process, since pests and diseases are the pain of all crops. A moment of carelessness can lead to a large reduction in yield or even a total loss.