Latest Prices for Water Spinach Seeds and a Detailed Guide to Growing Them

Water spinach, also known as tongcai weng, water spinach (wengcai), and vine vine vegetable, is an annual herbaceous plant in the Convolvulaceae family, genus Ipomoea. It is commonly cultivated in the central and southern provinces of our country. Besides being eaten as a vegetable, it can also be used medicinally: taken internally it relieves food poisoning, and applied externally it treats fractures, ascites, and unnamed swellings and toxic sores. It is also a fairly good feed. Now let us take a look together at the price of water spinach seeds and how to grow them!

How much do water spinach seeds cost?

The price of water spinach seeds is about 20-30 yuan per jin, but prices vary greatly depending on the variety, place of origin, and quality. Water spinach is an amphibious plant that can live both on dry land and in paddy fields, but it grows most vigorously when there is plenty of water. It is best planted in fertile paddy fields or in fields near livestock sheds where manure water is regularly drained. It can also be grown on fairly fertile dry land, and growing it on dry land promotes the formation of more seeds, so when saving seed it can be cultivated on dry land.

Cultivated varieties of water spinach

1. Thai water spinach: Thai water spinach is heat-tolerant and waterlogging-tolerant. It grows vigorously in the high-temperature, high-humidity summer, is not cold-tolerant, and is suitable for high-density cultivation. In the north it is suitable for open-field cultivation in spring and summer. Its tender shoots can be harvested successively for 2-3 months. It is crisp in texture and rich in flavor, with excellent quality, yielding 3000 kg per mu.

2. White-stem water spinach: White-stem water spinach has thick, large stems that are yellow-white. It grows strongly, has fewer branches, is of excellent quality, and has high yield. It is fertilizer-tolerant and suitable for cultivation in fertilized paddy fields; when cultivated on dry land it must be watered frequently. It takes 60-70 days from sowing to the first harvest, yielding 5000 kg per mu.

3. Ji'an water spinach: Ji'an water spinach is a local variety from Jiangxi. The plant is semi-upright, with luxuriant stems and leaves and a relatively long growth period. It takes 50 days from sowing to the first harvest and can continue to be harvested for 70 days, yielding 3000-3500 kg per mu.

4. Green-stem water spinach: Green-stem water spinach is a local variety from Hunan Province. The plant is semi-upright and early-maturing. It can be harvested 50 days after sowing, has a growth period of 210 days, and yields 2500-3000 kg per mu.

5. Fine-leaf water spinach: The fine-leaf water spinach plant is short and small, with strong stress resistance. It is cold-tolerant, heat-tolerant, and resistant to wind and rain. It is crisp in texture and rich in flavor, with very good quality, but its yield is somewhat lower. It takes 60-70 days from sowing to the first harvest, can continue to be harvested for more than 180 days, and yields about 2500 kg per mu.

Sowing methods for water spinach

1. Seedbed preparation: For the water spinach seedling bed, apply 20 kg of sifted, decomposed farmyard manure and 50 g of diammonium phosphate per square meter, spread them evenly, shallowly turn the soil, rake it level, and water thoroughly to moisten the bed.

2. Sowing time: In North China, the sowing period for the early spring crop in solar greenhouses is mid-February, the open-field direct sowing period is late March, the autumn greenhouse sowing period is late May to early June, and the sowing period in high-efficiency energy-saving solar greenhouses is generally early to mid-September.

3. Seed soaking and sprouting: Soak the seeds in warm water at about 30°C for 12 hours, remove them and drain off excess water, treat the seeds with 35% metalaxyl wettable powder, and place them at 30°C to sprout. Rinse the seeds once a day with warm water at 25-30°C. They sprout in 2 days and sprout uniformly in 3 days.

4. Sowing method: For direct sowing of water spinach, sow 3-5 seeds per hole, using 2.5-3.0 kg of seed per mu. For seedling raising and transplanting, use the method of broadcasting in the seedling bed and thinning the seedlings. After sowing, cover the seeds with 1 cm of soil. Each mu of planting field requires 50-60 sq m of seedbed area, using about 2.0 kg of seed.

5. Post-sowing management: When the water spinach seedlings are 3 cm tall, strengthen fertilizer and water management, and avoid drought. Thin the seedlings when the seedlings have 2 true leaves and 1 heart leaf, with a spacing of about 6 cm. During the growth period, spray a 20 mg/L gibberellin solution once every 10 days, for 2 consecutive sprays. Transplant the seedlings to the planting field when they have 4-5 leaves.

Growing methods for water spinach

1. Fertilizing and land preparation: Water spinach has strong adaptability to soil. It is both fertilizer-tolerant and waterlogging-tolerant, and also has a certain tolerance to poor soil. Apply about 3-4 tons of decomposed organic fertilizer and 50 kg of diammonium phosphate per mu. After plowing and harrowing finely, make beds with a width of 1.0-1.2 m.

2. Planting method: About 30 days after sowing, when the seedlings are 17-20 cm tall, plant them at a row spacing of 30 x 35 cm with 3-4 plants per hole, or at a plant-row spacing of 18 x 35 cm with 2 plants per hole. When planting, water the seedling bed first, then transplant with a soil ball to help the seedlings recover.

3. Fertilizer and water management: After planting, strengthen fertilizer and water management for water spinach. Apply about 10 kg of quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer per mu. The amount of topdressing should not be too large, and keep the soil moist during the plant's growth period. Topdress after every harvest, with a standard of 10-15 kg of urea per mu.

4. Cultivation and weeding: When growing water spinach, to prevent the bed surface from crusting and weeds from growing thickly, which would affect plant growth, shallow hoe the bed when its surface turns white to promote root development and create a favorable environment for robust plant growth.

5. Temperature management: When growing water spinach, keep the temperature as high as possible. Do not ventilate when the temperature does not exceed 35°C, and keep the minimum nighttime temperature above 15°C. To promote the growth of water spinach during low-temperature periods, additional small arch sheds can be set up inside the solar greenhouse to raise the temperature.

6. Pest and disease control: The main pests and diseases of water spinach are white rust, ring spot, aphids, diamondback moth, and leaf roller, among others. In production, strictly follow the principle of “prevention first”, and pesticide application is also prohibited during the harvest period.

7. Timely harvesting: When the water spinach plant is over 30 cm tall, leave the lower 9-12 cm and harvest the tender shoots above. Afterward, begin the second harvest when the new shoots growing from the leaf axils reach 15 cm, but leave 2-3 leaves at the base. After the third harvest, leave only 1-2 leaves below each harvested new shoot.