Aster Cultivation Techniques and Methods: The Latest Guide

Aster is also known as Qingyuan, Ziqian, Xiaobian, etc. It is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Aster in the family Asteraceae, usually growing in moist riverside areas. It tolerates waterlogging but fears drought, and has strong cold resistance. As a medicinal herb, it has the effects of treating wind-cold cough and asthma, and consumptive cough with purulent blood. It has a certain cultivation value. Let us take a look at the cultivation techniques for aster below!

Site selection and land preparation

Choose a plot with flat terrain, deep soil, loose and fertile soil, and good drainage as the planting plot. Before planting, plow the soil more than 30 cm deep. Along with plowing, apply 3000 kg of decomposed stable manure and 50 kg of superphosphate per mu, turning them into the soil as base fertilizer. Before sowing, shallow-plow another 20 cm, level and harrow fine, then make raised beds 1.3 m wide, with bed furrows 40 cm wide, and open drainage ditches around the perimeter.

Planting and seedling protection

In spring, after the soil thaws to 10 cm, select thick, purplish-red rhizomes with dense, short nodes and dormant buds as planting material. Take the middle sections, cut them into small pieces 5-7 cm long, each with 2-3 dormant buds, and plant them as soon as they are cut. When planting, on the prepared bed surface, open horizontal furrows at a row spacing of 25-30 cm, with a furrow depth of 5-7 cm. Place the seed roots with bud eyes facing upward, and place 1-2 pieces along the furrow at a plant spacing of 15-17 cm. Cover with soil level with the bed surface, press lightly after planting, water once, then cover with a layer of grass to keep warm and moist. After full emergence, remove the covering grass to preserve soil moisture and protect the seedlings.

Field management

After the aster seedlings emerge fully, shallow-loosen the soil and weed. Along with loosening the soil, apply 1000-1500 kg of decomposed human and livestock manure water per mu as a topdressing. When the seedlings are 7-9 cm tall, along with intertillage, apply 1500 kg of decomposed human and livestock manure water per mu as a topdressing. Before the rows close, along with intertillage and weeding, apply 300 kg of decomposed compost and 50 kg of decomposed cake fertilizer per mu, applying them in furrows opened beside the plants, then cover with soil after application. If weeds appear after the rows close, pull them by hand. After rain or irrigation, promptly clear the ditches to drain water, and irrigate during drought. If bolting is found, cut it off promptly.

Pest and disease control

1. Root rot

[Harm] It harms the base of the plant stem and the rhizome neck. In the early stage of the disease, the roots and rhizomes turn brown and rot, brown spindle-shaped lesions appear at the base of the leaf stalks, and gradually the leaves wither and die and the rhizomes rot.

[Control] In the early stage of the disease, spray with 50% carbendazim wettable powder at 1000 times dilution or 50% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 1000 times dilution for control.

2. Black spot

[Harm] In the early stage of the disease, purplish-black spots appear on the leaves, then expand into nearly round dark brown large spots.

[Control] In the early stage of the disease, spray with 65% zineb wettable powder at 500 times dilution or 50% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 1000 times dilution for control, once every 7 days, for 3 consecutive sprays.

3. Silver Y moth

[Harm] The larvae bite and eat the leaves, causing holes or notches.

[Control] Spray with 90% trichlorfon crystal at 1000 times dilution to kill them.