Latest Technical Points for Field Management of Shepherd's Purse
Shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant of the cruciferous family, and it is a relatively popular wild vegetable. Because shepherd's purse has high nutritional value, it is a high-fiber vegetable with an extremely high dietary fiber content. It also has effects such as promoting diuresis and stopping bleeding, and clearing heat and detoxifying. However, with people digging it up, shepherd's purse now also needs to be cultivated artificially to meet market demand, but cultivation requires a correct management method. Below, follow the editor to take a look at the field management of shepherd's purse cultivation!
1. Seedling management
Shepherd's purse emerges relatively quickly. Barring accidents, spring-sown shepherd's purse generally germinates and emerges normally within one week. Before emergence, water appropriately to maintain soil moisture content, which is beneficial for seed germination. After emergence, irrigation work must likewise be done well to prevent soil drought, but attention should also be paid to drainage during rainy weather. When draining, prevent mud from splashing onto the leaves; if there is splashing, pay attention to cleaning it off to prevent it from hindering leaf photosynthesis and affecting growth. If it is autumn-sown shepherd's purse, then water must be controlled well to prevent excessive water from causing excessive vegetative growth of shepherd's purse, and overwintering management must be done well.
2. Intertillage and weeding
Shepherd's purse plants are relatively small and have weak nutrient absorption capacity, so weeds pose a relatively large threat to the growth of shepherd's purse. They also easily grow mixed with weeds, which limits weeding work in the middle and later stages. Therefore, we should choose a place with few weeds for cultivation, and after cultivation we must also do a good job of intertillage and weeding. Intertillage can not only effectively remove weeds, but also improve soil permeability and promote the growth of shepherd's purse. When weeding, try to use manual weeding methods, and weed early and thoroughly to prevent weeds from growing too large and affecting the growth of shepherd's purse, and when removing large weeds it is also very easy to damage the roots of shepherd's purse.
3. Timely topdressing
Shepherd's purse planted in the first half of the year has a short growth period, but because the plants are short, they still have certain nutritional requirements. During the growth period of shepherd's purse, fertilizer should be applied at least twice: starting when the seedlings grow 2-3 true leaves, and then applying topdressing again after about 2-3 weeks. For each application, decomposed farmyard manure or urea can be used, but attention must be paid to the concentration and amount of fertilizer to prevent excessive vegetative growth of shepherd's purse or root burn. Autumn-sown shepherd's purse has a long growth period, so the number of topdressings should also be appropriately increased. In addition to topdressing during the growth period, topdressing should also be applied once after each harvest.
4. Timely harvesting
The harvesting time of shepherd's purse also has certain requirements. For sowing in the first half of the year, it can be harvested 1-2 months after emergence, and generally it can be harvested twice. The growth period of autumn-sown shepherd's purse is also about one month, but the number of harvests is about 5. When harvesting, observe the plants: first harvest the plants with large leaves, digging out the plants with roots, while medium and small plants can continue to grow. Also, first harvest the overly dense plants to ensure that the remaining plants have enough growing space. After harvesting, water and fertilize in time to promote the growth of the unharvested plants and increase yield.
The above is a brief introduction to the field management of shepherd's purse cultivation. What we need to note in cultivation is that shepherd's purse plants are very short, almost entirely lying flat on the ground. They often mix with various weeds and are difficult to distinguish, so everyone's weeding work in shepherd's purse cultivation is very important, and everyone must pay attention to it. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only. Thank you all for reading and supporting.