How to grow Japanese hop? Latest planting techniques and methods tutorial
Japanese hop is a climbing herbaceous plant in the Moraceae family, also known as “cutting vine”, because the entire Japanese hop plant is covered with barbs, and you can get cut by it if you are not careful. Japanese hop was originally a weed that everyone hated, but in fact Japanese hop can be used as forage for livestock. And the seeds can also be used as medicine, with effects such as clearing heat and detoxifying, and promoting diuresis to treat strangury. So how should Japanese hop be planted? Below, the editor will introduce it to everyone, let's take a look!
1. Growth habits
Japanese hop has very strong growth adaptability and can survive in various places. It can grow and reproduce with an average annual temperature of 6-21 degrees, precipitation of 400-1350mm, and soil pH of 4.2-8.3. However, Japanese hop generally prefers to grow in soil with sufficient fertility. Compared with barren soil, Japanese hop grows more vigorously in fertile soil. The flowering times of male and female flowers of Japanese hop are different. The flowering time of male plants is generally around July each year, while female flowers are delayed by one month, and after September, the seeds gradually mature.
2. Propagation methods
The propagation method of Japanese hop is generally mainly seed propagation. The seed yield of Japanese hop is very large. Under normal circumstances, one plant can produce up to tens of thousands of seeds. Wild plants mainly spread seeds through wind and insects, and after the seeds enter the soil, they can generally germinate and emerge the next year. Therefore, many places have been harmed by Japanese hop. If using artificial seeds, then we should harvest mature seeds in September, and then sow them by hill sowing in April of the following year. Control the row spacing well, dig the sowing holes, mix the seeds evenly with plant ash, and then sow. After sowing, cover with soil and water.
3. Cultivation techniques
When Japanese hop seedlings grow to about 11 cm high, thin them in time. If missing holes are found, then reseeding work should be done well. Under normal circumstances, keep about 3 seedlings per hole. When the stems and vines grow to about 1 m, set up trellises in the field to satisfy the trailing nature of Japanese hop and promote the twining growth of Japanese hop branches and vines. During the growth period of Japanese hop, at least about 3 cultivations should be carried out. In spring and summer each year, appropriate topdressing should be applied to improve soil fertility and meet the nutritional needs of Japanese hop growth. Then in winter, an appropriate amount of farmyard manure should be applied to help overwintering.
4. Pest and disease control
Although Japanese hop has strong growth ability, it is also often threatened by pests and diseases during growth, such as rust, powdery mildew, and aphids. Therefore, when planting, we must do a good job in pest and disease control. Strengthen management, prune appropriately, control the types of fertilizer when fertilizing, reduce the application of nitrogen fertilizer, increase the proportion of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, and improve the disease resistance of Japanese hop. After discovering diseased leaves, cut them off in time, then take them out of the field together with diseased residues and weeds in the field, and burn them.
The above is a brief introduction to Japanese hop planting techniques. Japanese hop is actually very simple to plant, but care should be taken to avoid affecting crops, so the planting plot should be far away from crop planting areas. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!