How should potted Panax notoginseng be planted so it grows well?
Panax notoginseng is a perennial upright herbaceous plant of the genus Panax in the family Araliaceae, distributed in Yunnan, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Sichuan and other places. Its root is used as medicine, and it has remarkable effects of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis, reducing swelling and relieving pain. It has the reputation of “jinbuhuan” and “southern divine grass”, and is the most precious among traditional Chinese medicines. Now let us take a look at how to plant potted Panax notoginseng well!
Growth habits of Panax notoginseng
It likes a warm, shady and humid environment, fears severe cold and intense heat, and is also afraid of excessive water. The soil should be loose red soil or brown-red soil, slightly acidic, and the annual average temperature is preferably 16.0-19.3°C. If the temperature remains above 30°C for 3-5 days during the growing period, the plants are prone to disease. The cultivation site should preferably be an east-facing slope, with a slope of 5-15° being suitable. Planting in low-lying land is prone to root rot.
Propagation methods of Panax notoginseng
1. Seed selection: Panax notoginseng is propagated by seeds. Select seeds produced by three-year-old plants. When a large number of fruits mature and turn red in November-December, collect the seeds, remove the fruit skin, and immediately carry out winter sowing with mature, plump seeds free of pests and diseases. If there is no time to sow, the fruits should be spread in a sieve at a thickness of about 3 cm and stored in a ventilated, cool place for 7-10 days. For seeds to be transported elsewhere, the fruit skin should be removed, washed clean, mixed with 2 times their volume of wet sand, and stored in a wooden box.
2. Land preparation: The sowing land and transplanting land for Panax notoginseng should preferably be loam or sandy loam with high, dry terrain and good drainage, a sunny gentle slope (slope 5-15 degrees), or virgin soil or second-year abandoned land. In autumn, plow repeatedly, then go through 3 plowings and 3 harrowings, harrow the soil fine, and then make beds 25-35 cm high and 100-120 cm wide, with the bed surface shaped like a comb back, and drainage ditches between two beds of 45-60 cm.
3. Sowing: Before sowing and planting Panax notoginseng, apply 3000-5000 kg of decomposed organic fertilizer per mu, and add 25-35 kg of superphosphate or calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer, spread the fertilizer evenly on the bed surface, and then turn it into the soil layer 4-6 cm deep. In the south, winter sowing is mostly used, by dibbling, with a row spacing of 6 cm and a plant spacing of 5-6 cm. After sowing, cover with fine fertile soil, just enough to cover the seeds. Cover with weeds on top to prevent the bed soil from crusting. Seedlings emerge in about 3 months and are complete in 4 months. If spring sowing is carried out in the north, the seeds must be stored in wet sand and sown with germinated seeds, and seedlings emerge 1 month after sowing.
How to plant potted Panax notoginseng?
1. Watering: After sowing, Panax notoginseng does not emerge until March-April. During this period, artificial watering is needed (if the soil has nighttime moisture, it may not be watered). The method requires sprinkling with a nozzle until water flows across the bed surface. Generally, water thoroughly 2-3 times a month until the rainy season arrives.
2. Light: One- and two-year-old Panax notoginseng requires a relatively low light transmittance, generally about 10% is suitable, while three-year-old Panax notoginseng requires a relatively strong light transmittance, with about 15% being suitable. By adjusting the light transmittance of the shade shed, the goal of increasing the root weight per plant can be achieved.
3. Topdressing: The budding stage (June) and flowering stage (September) of Panax notoginseng are peak fertilizer absorption periods, and at this time Panax notoginseng should be topdressed. Topdressing is mainly based on farmyard manure, supplemented with a small amount of compound fertilizer.
Note: The cultivation period of Panax notoginseng requires a relatively moist environment. The normal growth of Panax notoginseng requires maintaining 25-40% soil moisture, and requires the relative humidity of the potting soil to reach 70-80%. Artificial regulation of water is mainly in winter and spring. At this time the weather is clear, sunshine is abundant, rainfall is scarce, wind speed is high, evaporation is strong, and soil moisture decreases rapidly. At this time, in addition to artificial irrigation, appropriate management must also be noted, using covered bed grass for shade to maintain humidity.