How Much Does It Cost to Invest in One Mu of Bletilla Striata? Latest Planting Cost Analysis

Bletilla striata is a commonly used astringent and hemostatic medicine. At present, most of it still relies on wild sources, but wild resources are limited. Years of reckless harvesting and digging, plus the impact of natural disasters, have caused wild Bletilla striata production to drop sharply, and the contradiction between supply and demand is increasingly widening. The best way to solve the resource shortage is artificial cultivation. Let us take a look below at how much it costs to invest in one mu of Bletilla striata!

How much does it cost to invest in one mu of Bletilla striata?

1. Seedlings: tuber planting is about 30,000 yuan per mu, domesticated seedlings about 15,000 yuan, and bottle seedlings about 8,000 yuan.

2. Fertilizer: it is estimated that 200 yuan of fertilizer is needed per mu per year, and 200*3=600 yuan is needed for 3 years of planting.

3. Others: daily management and other expenses are about 1,000 yuan per year, and about 3,000 yuan per mu is needed for 3 years.

Planting risks of Bletilla striata

1. Market risk: apart from the traditional producing areas such as Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan, artificial planting of Bletilla striata has now begun from Shaanxi and Henan in the north, to Fujian and Guangxi in the south, to Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east, and to Gansu and other places in the west. Therefore, overheated production is bound to create certain risks for Bletilla striata planting.

2. Investment risk: compared with other planting projects, Bletilla striata planting requires a much larger investment cost, and the growth period is 2~3 years. Such investment cost 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 notorious among Chinese medicinal materials. At present, what circulates in the chemical industry is purple-flower three-fork large Bletilla striata, while the main medicinal one in the pharmacopoeia is purple-flower three-fork small Bletilla striata. Other yellow-flower and white-flower Bletilla striata are customary products and counterfeit products.

4. Technical risk: Bletilla striata seedlings usually need to go through 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 dead seedling rate can usually reach 50% or even higher.

Planting methods of Bletilla striata

1. Soil selection: Bletilla striata is suitable for sandy loam and humus loam with good drainage and much humus. It likes a warm and slightly shady and humid environment, is not cold-tolerant, and when planting on well-drained mountainous land, a shady slope and virgin wasteland should be selected.

2. Land preparation and bed making: plough the Bletilla striata planting land more than 20 cm deep, apply 1,000 kg of farmyard manure per mu, then plough again to mix the soil and fertilizer evenly. Before planting, refine the soil and rake it level, and make high beds 130~150 cm wide.

3. Intertillage and weeding: after the Bletilla striata seedlings emerge completely, growth is very vigorous in May~June, and weeds also grow very fast, so weeding must be carried out. Weeding should be combined with loosening the bed surface, and when weeding, shallow hoeing should be used to avoid damaging the roots.

4. Timely topdressing: Bletilla striata is a fertilizer-loving plant. Usually spray potassium dihydrogen phosphate or thin human and livestock manure once a month. In July~August it stops growing and enters dormancy, but weeds must be prevented from growing densely.

5. Irrigation and drainage: Bletilla striata likes a shady and humid environment, so it should often be kept moist. Water when dry, and in July~September water once in the morning and once in the evening. However, Bletilla striata also fears waterlogging, so drain promptly during heavy rain to avoid damaging the roots.

6. Disease and pest control: for Bletilla striata black spot disease, spray with 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder 1000-fold solution; for root-knot nematode disease, irrigate with 3% carbofuran granule; for cutworms, control by manual capture and trapping, or by mixing poisonous soil.