How to Plant Eucommia Seeds? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Planting Methods
Eucommia (Eucommia ulmoides) is endemic to China and has very high cultivation value. It prefers a warm, humid climate and a sunny environment, and can withstand severe cold. Mature plants can survive normally at -30°C. It can be cultivated in most parts of our country and has very strong adaptability, with no strict requirements for soil, but deep, loose, fertile, moist loam with good drainage is most suitable. Now let us take a look at how to plant Eucommia seeds!
Seed Treatment
Eucommia seeds have a lifespan of 1 year. The seed germination rate is closely related to maturity and freshness. Over-mature seeds have a low germination rate, and the germination rate is even lower when sown in spring. Usually, after the seeds are collected at the end of October, they are hung up for storage. In late December, soak them in clean water for 1-2 days, changing the clean water once a day. At the last water change, add a small amount of copper sulfate or amobam (zinc) or carbendazim to eliminate pathogens, then remove and drain until the seeds can be scattered by hand without sticking when sowing, and sow directly into the seedbed.
Sowing in the Seedbed
1. Land preparation and fertilization: For Eucommia seedling cultivation, choose sandy fields or sandy loam fields, and plow and harrow repeatedly 2-3 times before sowing. Before the last plowing and harrowing, apply compound fertilizer to “prepare the stubble ground”. Make a 1 m wide seedbed and dig furrows 20-25 cm deep. In the furrows, apply farmyard manure or broadcast compound fertilizer and rapeseed cake, or use human and livestock urine and manure as a base, then cover with soil 1.5-2 cm below the seedbed surface.
2. Sowing into the seedbed: Place Eucommia seeds in the furrows with base fertilizer at 5 cm intervals, 1 seed per spot, or scatter them thinly and evenly in the furrows. Gather any that are too dense and place them separately in thinner spots. Cover with a mixture of plant ash and soil or fine soil 1.5-2 cm deep. On the seedbed, lay rice straw or thatch flat along the direction of the furrows to keep warm. The covering grass does not need to be too thick, so as to avoid pulling out seedlings along with the grass when the grass is removed after the seedlings emerge evenly.
Seedling Stage Management
1. Timely thinning: Thin out seedlings that are too dense and transplant them separately, keeping a plant spacing of about 8-10 cm. It is best to transplant after the seedlings have basically emerged but before true leaves appear, because before true leaves appear the roots have almost no fibrous roots. On cloudy days or in the evening, gently lift them out with a hard bamboo strip (bringing some mud with them if possible), and transplant them as they are lifted (one handful at a time), then water after planting. After 7-10 days, apply 1 light watering of very dilute human urine and manure or urea as fertilizer.
2. Spraying to protect seedlings: Throughout the seedling stage, Eucommia should be sprayed to control pests such as locusts, jewel beetles, and longhorn beetles. Bordeaux mixture can prevent damping-off, but once seedlings have damping-off, spraying Bordeaux mixture is useless; instead, use kangkuiling or carbendazim for irrigation. At the same time, shallow hoe the soil surface to increase soil temperature and apply more dilute fertilizer to enhance soil fertility. For downy mildew, amobam (zinc), mancozeb, or carbendazim can be sprayed or used as irrigation.
3. Weeding and loosening soil: After Eucommia seeds germinate, pay attention to intertillage and weeding, watering and fertilizing, and loosening the soil. Seedlings dislike strong sunlight and need appropriate shading. In the dry season, spray irrigation in time to prevent drought, and in the rainy season, pay attention to preventing waterlogging. If the trunk of a seedling grown from seed is crooked, in early spring remove all the aboveground part along the ground surface to promote new branches, then select and keep 1 strong, vigorous, straight new branch as the new trunk and remove all the rest.
4. Reasonable fertilization: During the Eucommia seedling stage, fertilize with “small meals more often”, preferably farmyard manure and compound fertilizer. Fertilization should be light, preferably diluted and applied after each soil loosening. Ammonium bicarbonate should not be used to prevent fertilizer damage. After the seedlings are 30 cm tall, urea can be broadcast on rainy days, with each application using 4-5 kg per mu. After the seedlings are 40 cm tall, lightly broadcast 1 application of urea every 15-20 days. Eucommia seedlings grow rapidly in autumn; if fertilizer keeps up, the larger ones can grow 100-110 cm tall in the same year, thus producing high-quality seedlings.