Latest roundup of common questions about growing Bletilla striata (hyacinth orchid)
The medicinal herb Bletilla striata has slowly been knocked off its pedestal, but there are still plenty of people growing it. Whether you are planning to grow it or are already growing it, you should take a good look at the information below! It is all closely related to growing Bletilla striata.
1. Quality of seedlings
Seedlings are something Bletilla striata is very particular about. The best variety right now is wild Bletilla striata, because it sells for the highest price. But wild varieties cannot be propagated artificially, otherwise they become artificially cultivated varieties and the price drops. The current mainstream Bletilla striata varieties include purple-flowered three-prong, white-flowered three-prong and yellow-flowered three-prong, among which purple-flowered three-prong is the most common and relatively superior. Transplanted wild varieties are too hard to control, and the uncertainty of the variety is too high. Rather than transplanting wild varieties, it is better to buy better artificially raised seedlings.
2. Planting and harvest time
The growing time of medicinal herbs is different from that of vegetables and the like; their planting time is generally longer. Bletilla striata, for example, generally needs to be grown for more than 4 years before it can be harvested, and its tubers generally only grow rapidly after 2-3 years, so in the first few years, even if you wanted to sell, you could not. This is still assuming a fairly suitable growing environment. If the growing environment is poor, growing for 5-6 years is common, so growers should not dig it up easily before the right time, as that would be a big loss.
3. Planting investment
The investment for growing Bletilla striata per mu is relatively high; over 4 years, one mu requires an investment of more than 20,000 yuan from start to finish, so growers need to be mentally prepared. Among these costs, seedlings come to about 10,000 yuan, labor costs about 5,000 yuan, and some other costs are not listed in detail; everyone should calculate them according to their local situation. The remaining costs include land rent, planting costs, insecticides, fertilizer, watering equipment, shade netting and the like, and altogether these generally exceed 20,000 yuan.
4. Future development prospects
The development prospects of Bletilla striata are not very promising at present. Since its peak in 2013, it has slowly been approaching a low point. Now the price of wild Bletilla striata is very high, but the price of artificially grown Bletilla striata is getting lower and lower. In particular, as people who planted Bletilla striata in 2013 and 2014 slowly begin to harvest and sell, the market has suffered an even bigger shock, and the actual market is currently unstable. Top-grade Bletilla striata now basically fluctuates at 800 yuan per kilogram, whereas it once sold for as much as 2,000 yuan per kilogram.
Whatever industry you grow in, you should carefully understand that industry, and this is even more true of the medicinal herb industry. If you want to join in growing Bletilla striata, you must spend a lot of time learning about it. Growing medicinal herbs has always been a relatively risky project: long cycles, high investment, and profits that depend on the market!