Where are the latest Bletilla striata planting bases distributed?

Bletilla striata is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Bletilla in the family Orchidaceae. Its tubers are a traditional Chinese astringent hemostatic medicine, and it is also a very good ornamental plant. In recent years, market demand for Bletilla striata has been very strong, and because wild Bletilla striata in most regions of China has been over-harvested, developing artificial cultivation is imperative. Let us take a look below at where the Bletilla striata planting bases are!

Where are the Bletilla striata planting bases?

Bletilla striata prefers a warm, shady and humid environment and is widely distributed throughout the Yangtze River basin in China. Its planting bases are mainly in Guizhou, Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan and other places, but the scales vary. They usually adopt the “company + base + cooperative + factory” model, implementing an operating approach of “decentralized cultivation (or decentralized breeding), unified management, unified technology, unified purchasing, unified brand, and unified sales”.

Is there a future in planting Bletilla striata?

Bletilla striata has a very wide range of applications. Although artificial cultivation has been successful in recent years, large-scale planting has not yet taken shape, and wild rhizomes are mostly used as seedlings for planting, resulting in a shortage of dried product supply. This is one of the reasons why the price of Bletilla striata has risen in recent years. Although artificial cultivation of Bletilla striata will put great pressure on the future market, there will not be a large amount of supply hitting the market in the short term, and after a period of adjustment it may even continue to trend upward.

What risks are there in planting Bletilla striata?

1. Market risk: Apart from the traditional Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan areas, Bletilla striata production has now begun artificial cultivation from Shaanxi and Henan in the north, to Fujian and Guangxi in the south, to Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east, and to Gansu in the west. Therefore, overheated production will inevitably create certain risks for Bletilla striata planting.

2. Investment risk: Compared with other planting projects, Bletilla striata planting requires much higher investment costs, and the growth period is 2 to 3 years. Such investment costs and production cycle are simply beyond the capacity of ordinary farmers, and they also increase investment risk.

3. Seed source risk: The confusion of Bletilla striata seed sources is well known among Chinese medicinal materials. At present, what circulates in the chemical industry is purple-flowered three-fork large Bletilla striata, while what is mainly used medicinally in the pharmacopoeia is purple-flowered three-fork small Bletilla striata. Other yellow-flowered and white-flowered Bletilla striata are customary products and counterfeit products.

4. Technical risk: Bletilla striata seedlings usually must undergo introduction of seed sources, tissue culture, hardening, and developed root hairs before transplanting. However, because rhizome growth requires an environment with symbiotic bacteria and transplanting and management are very meticulous, the death rate of seedlings can usually reach 50% or even higher.