How to grow chicory seedlings? Detailed tutorial on the latest technical methods

Chicory is a common wild vegetable in the Nanjing area. It is a biennial or annual plant of the Asteraceae family. It tastes bitter, but it can clear heat and detoxify, and has certain medicinal properties, so it is deeply loved by all kinds of people. Therefore, its cultivation value is relatively good. To grow it artificially, you must first sow seeds and raise seedlings. This step is an important part of the planting process. So now I will introduce the seedling raising methods for growing chicory.

1. Seed selection

Before planting chicory, you must first buy seeds. Generally, choose seeds with good genetic traits, strong resistance, and strong adaptability, and select excellent varieties whose quality meets market demand, such as Dutch Tianxiang. It has good resistance to pests and diseases, drought, cold, and heat, and is a suitable variety for cultivation.

2. Land selection and soil preparation

Stay away from other planting areas of the same crop to avoid the spread of disease. Then the land should be flat but higher than paddy fields. It is best not to plant in fields. Lower-lying areas are prone to water accumulation. The soil should be deep, loose, well-aerated, and fertile sandy loam with good fertilizer retention. To prepare the land and make a seedbed, first plow the soil deeply, then sun-dry the soil for 1 week, then apply base fertilizer, rotary till together, and mix the soil. Then you can manually make a ridge surface 1.3 meters wide, unlimited in length, and 5 cm high. Spray pesticide on the surface and leave it for 3 days before sowing.

3. Sowing

Before sowing, the seeds can be sun-dried for sterilization. You can also first soak the seeds in warm water at 50 degrees, but you must keep stirring, then remove them after 10 minutes. Then soak them in warm water at about 30 degrees for one to two days, then remove them, drain them, wrap them in a clean wet cloth, and place them in a constant-temperature chamber to germinate. Keep the temperature at 20 to 25 degrees. Generally, germination will occur after one day and one night. Rinse the seeds once every day to avoid mucus adhesion and seed rot. For sowing, dig small holes on the ridge surface. Each hole can be about 3 cm deep and about 5 cm wide. Then space the holes about 2 cm apart, and sow one to two seeds per hole. Cover with about 1 cm of soil, or cover with culture substrate. After covering, spray water, and be sure to spray thoroughly.

4. Seedling stage

After emergence, once about 70% of the seedlings have come out of the soil, begin checking to see whether some seeds have rotted and will not emerge, and then replant those that have not emerged. For those that have already emerged, first check for pests and diseases. Remove any affected ones, and also use fungicides and insecticides. In addition, apply more fertilizer and water to weak seedlings to promote balanced growth. You can set up shade nets on the seedbed to protect the seedlings, or start applying nitrogen fertilizer water to supplement nutrients when two leaves have grown. The growing humidity needs to remain moist at all times, and the temperature should be kept between 16 and 25 degrees.

The key points for chicory planting and seedling raising are the main directions above, and there are also more detailed things to pay attention to. Therefore, this article can serve as a reference for everyone, and combined with your own experience, you can better complete the work of sowing and raising chicory seedlings.