How to Grow Artichokes? Latest Planting Techniques and Methods Tutorial
The artichoke is a plant in the Asteraceae family, native to Europe, and is widely cultivated in European and American countries. It was first introduced to our country from Italy, so a few provinces such as Hunan and Taiwan, China now have some distribution range. The artichoke has various effects such as treating constipation and promoting digestion, and is a vegetable with very high edible value. So how should artichokes be grown? Below, the editor brings you the artichoke growing techniques. Let's take a look together!
1. Sowing and Raising Seedlings
Artichokes are mainly propagated by sowing and raising seedlings, generally sown in spring and autumn, with the number of seeds per mu kept at around 700. However, because the artichoke seed coat is relatively hard, we must first do a good job of soaking the seeds before sowing. First put the seeds into warm water of about 50 degrees and soak for half an hour. During soaking, stir the seeds constantly to ensure the seeds are heated evenly. Then soak them in normal-temperature water for about 13-15 hours. After soaking, take them out, wrap them in a wet cloth, and place them at a temperature of about 22 degrees for germination. Once the seeds gradually show white, sowing can begin. After sowing, do a good job of management. The artichoke seedling stage does not exceed two months, and when about 6 true leaves have grown, they can be planted out.
2. Land Preparation and Planting Out
Before planting, choose the field well. First, choose flat sandy soil that is deep and fertile, loose and permeable, and free of hollows. Clear away the residue of the previous crop, do a good job of land preparation, and carry out deep plowing and intertillage, with the deep plowing depth kept at about 22 cm. After land preparation, control the row spacing to make beds, and when preparing the land, also apply an appropriate amount of base fertilizer according to the soil area. The base fertilizer is mainly farmyard manure. Then when the average soil temperature is above 13 degrees, planting out can be done appropriately. When planting out, control the plant spacing and row spacing to prevent overly dense planting. The planting depth is about 22 cm, and after planting, water thoroughly to settle the roots.
3. Seedling Management
After planting out, observe the growth of the seedlings. Once the seedlings have recovered, water them in time to meet the water needs of seedling growth. Then fertilize reasonably. When topdressing, pay attention to the method: do not apply directly to the plant roots, but open furrows around the plants to apply fertilizer, to prevent fertilizer from burning the roots. Control the proportion of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium nutrients in the fertilizer, and do not apply excessively, to prevent fertilizer damage. Then in the rainy season, pay attention to drainage work, and carry out timely intertillage and weeding to prevent weeds from robbing the artichokes of growth nutrients. Around October, water thoroughly for overwintering over several months, and after the end of November stop watering and prepare for overwintering.
4. Overwintering Management
When artichokes overwinter, different overwintering methods should be used according to the different growing regions. For example, under the temperatures in the north, artichokes cannot overwinter on their own. Therefore, artificial heating methods must be adopted. At the first frost, remove the leaves from the plants. When the temperature drops to about 4 degrees, cut off the middle and upper leaves, keeping only the base. Then earth up in time to raise the soil temperature and prevent too-low temperatures from causing frost damage to the artichokes. Cover the soil with a layer of grain straw, then press on a layer of soil, to make sufficient preparations for northern artichokes to overwinter.
The above is a brief introduction to artichoke growing techniques. The artichoke growing method is relatively simple. After overwintering, when spring temperatures gradually rise, promptly remove the covering, pull aside the grain straw, then do a good job of loosening the soil to raise the soil temperature, strengthen water and fertilizer management, and restore the artichoke's growth. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you everyone for reading and supporting.