Reasons for Water Bamboo Turning Male and Control Methods

Water bamboo is a perennial aquatic plant with rhizomes, and it is also a popular aquatic vegetable. During cultivation, plants often grow tall but never set shoots, which people call "male water bamboo" or "strong water bamboo". Water bamboo turning male can seriously affect water bamboo, and in severe cases cause farmers to have no harvest at all. So what causes this phenomenon? Come and take a look with the editor.

1. Causes

The main reason water bamboo forms "male water bamboo" is that some of its tillers and ramets grow too vigorously and emerge too quickly, suppressing the mycelium of the smut fungus parasitizing the base of the mother plant's stem so that it cannot enter its upright stem in time. As the upright stem elongates and emerges, the flowering stem cannot receive stimulation from the hormones secreted by the smut fungus mycelium, and cannot expand and fill normally, that is, it cannot normally "set shoots", thus becoming male water bamboo. In addition, if male water bamboo is used for propagation, it will only produce new male water bamboo and cannot produce proper water bamboo.

2. Control Measures

1. The spread of the smut fungus is mainly transmitted from the aboveground main stem of the previous year to the young seedlings. Although underground stems can also transmit it, the transmission rate is extremely low. Therefore, if underground stems are used for propagation for many consecutive years, male water bamboo will increase, and eventually the phenomenon of no shoot production will appear. So plants that set shoots should be selected for propagation, so that the smut fungus can be passed on from generation to generation. If it is a one-season-per-year cultivation method, let it wither naturally, and in the second year transplant the young shoots emerging from the middle or edge of the clump, and the same method can be used afterward. If it is a two-season-per-year cultivation, then most of the plants that withered in winter should be dug out, leaving a small part in the middle, and in the second year when tillering, use the seedlings or divided clumps emerging from the crooked underground part. This can both maintain excellent characteristics and produce more shoots.

2. Water bamboo should not be continuously cropped; generally a 3-5 year rotation is suitable, and this is an important means of controlling the production of male water bamboo.

3. During field management, male water bamboo should be pulled out in time, because male water bamboo grows vigorously, and its aboveground plants are tall and occupy more space. When the underground creeping stems grow to more than 1 m, they will seize the space of other plants, not only affecting the growth of surrounding plants, but also possibly being planted as tillers of normal water bamboo in the next year.

The above is an introduction to the reasons for water bamboo turning male and the control methods. We hope it can help you. If you want to learn more related knowledge, please follow us.