How to Grow Shi Gan Lan (Creeping Dendrobium)? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Methods

Shi Gan Lan, whose scientific name is Creeping Dendrobium (Dendrobium plicatile; also known as "fruit-on-leaf"), is an epiphytic herbaceous plant. It is extremely nutritious, rich in protein, carbohydrates, and trace elements such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron. It is widely used in medicine. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that it moistens the lungs and relieves cough, invigorates blood and relieves pain, and can also boost the body's immunity, promote gastrointestinal digestion, and help relieve many diseases. Among the people, it is used to make soup with poultry and meat, and its nourishing effect is quite good. Below, the editor brings you its cultivation methods.

1. Growing Conditions

Before planting, you must first understand the growth habits of Shi Gan Lan; only then can you grow it well. When growing Shi Gan Lan, its environment and climate are very important. Its growing environment is rather special: it grows in mountainous areas at higher altitudes. It is an epiphytic plant, generally growing on thick, water-rich trees or on humus-covered rocks. Therefore, when planting, you must choose such an environment in order to cultivate it artificially.

2. Propagation

Shi Gan Lan has strong asexual reproductive capacity, so when planting, division propagation using pseudobulbs is generally chosen. Dig out the root system of a mature Shi Gan Lan plant and cut its pseudobulbs into small bulb segments. Then evenly scatter these small bulb segments on the seedbed, water them, cover with a layer of moist soil and barnyard manure to overwinter, and after March of the following spring, irrigate the seedbed and maintain a water depth of 15cm. When the seedlings grow to 20cm, they can be transplanted. They can also be propagated by sowing seeds; the germination rate is generally above 70%, but the seedlings grow too slowly, which is rather time-consuming.

3. Transplanting

When lifting the seedlings for transplanting, first irrigate the seedbed, then pull out the seedlings, and transplant them at a spacing of 20×30cm between plants and rows. Before transplanting, the land can be prepared and fertilized; if the soil is rich in humus, no fertilizer is needed. After transplanting, irrigate, and for the following two months maintain the water supply, increasing the water level according to the height of the seedlings, but it should not be too deep, so as to avoid root rot and death.

4. Field Management

After the plants turn green again, apply 50 kg of human and livestock manure or cake fertilizer and 10 kg of urea per mu. When fertilizing, drain the water, leaving a little water, and broadcast the fertilizer in the field. After 2-3 months, apply once more as appropriate according to the plant's growth condition. During this period, do a good job of weeding so as not to affect growth. In addition, watch out for lodging; once lodging occurs, prune and straighten the plants in time, and also prevent and control pests and diseases.

The above is how to grow Shi Gan Lan. We hope it can help you. If you want to learn more about growing knowledge, please follow us.