The Latest Asparagus Fern Planting Techniques and Methods Tutorial

Asparagus Fern, also known as Sanbaibang, Sidong, Tiger Tail Root, Asparagus Grass, etc., is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Asparagus in the Liliaceae family. It mostly grows in shady and damp places at the edges of mountain forests, in shrub thickets on hilly land, or in mountain slope grasslands, and is distributed in places such as Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Taiwan, China, and Guizhou. Now let us take a look at the planting techniques for Asparagus Fern!

Growth Habits of Asparagus Fern

Asparagus Fern is distributed from the southern parts of Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces to East China, Central South China, and Southwest China. It prefers warmth, is not tolerant of severe cold, and avoids high temperatures, often growing in mountainous areas below 1000 m in altitude. Areas with cool summers, warm winters, and an average annual temperature of 18-20°C are suitable for its growth. It prefers shade and fears strong light; seedlings grow poorly under strong light, with leaves turning yellow or even dying.

Propagation Methods of Asparagus Fern

1. Seed propagation: The sowing period for Asparagus Fern is divided into spring sowing and autumn sowing. Autumn sowing is from early September to early October; autumn sowing has a high germination rate but occupies land for a long time and requires labor-intensive management. Spring sowing is in late March; it occupies land for a shorter time and is easier to manage. In the seedbed, open horizontal furrows with a row spacing of 20-24 cm, a furrow depth of 5-7 cm, a sowing width of 6 cm, and a seed spacing of 2-3 cm. Use 10-12 kg of seeds per mu. At a temperature of 17-20°C with sufficient moisture, seedlings emerge 18-20 days after sowing.

2. Division propagation: When digging up Asparagus Fern, select robust mother plants with large root crowns and thick, strong buds, and divide each plant into at least 3 clusters, each with 2-5 buds and carrying more than 3 small tuberous roots. The cut should be small, and lime should be applied to prevent infection. After spreading out to dry for 1 day, they can be planted, using the same method as transplanting after seedling raising.

Planting Techniques for Asparagus Fern

1. Site selection and land preparation: Asparagus Fern has well-developed tuberous roots that can reach 50 cm deep into the soil. It is suitable for growing in sandy loam soil (black sandy soil) with deep, loose, fertile, moist, and well-drained layers, or in soil rich in humus. Raise seedlings in valley flatland with short sunshine hours or in shady forest areas. Before sowing, plow deeply and harrow the land, level and break up the soil, and make high beds 100 cm wide for sowing.

2. Seed selection and collection: Every year from September to October, Asparagus Fern is harvested when the fruits turn from green to red. Pile and ferment them indoors until slightly rotten, put them in water and rub off the fruit flesh, and select plump seeds for planting. They can be sown immediately after collection or kept for spring sowing the following year. Seeds kept for spring sowing should be stored in moist fine sand and not allowed to dry out, otherwise the germination rate will decrease.

3. Watering to protect seedlings: Keep the soil moist within 1 month after planting Asparagus Fern. In case of drought, water frequently to promote germination and seedling growth. After seedlings emerge, insert bamboo poles or wooden stakes in time to let the seedlings climb and grow upward, avoiding tangling and twisting with each other, which helps ventilation, light penetration, and field management.

4. Cultivation and weeding: Asparagus Fern is generally cultivated for the first time in April-May. After that, whether to cultivate depends on weed growth and the degree of soil compaction. Cultivation should loosen the soil and thoroughly remove weeds. Cultivation should be shallow to avoid damaging the roots and affecting tuberous root growth.

5. Timely topdressing: Asparagus Fern is a fertilizer-tolerant plant and requires sufficient base fertilizer and multiple topdressings. The first topdressing is about 40 days after planting, when the seedlings have grown to more than 40 cm, generally applying 1000 kg of human and livestock manure water per mu. After that, topdress 3 times for each new batch of seedlings: the first when buds first appear, the second when seedlings emerge but have not yet grown leaves, and the third after leaves have grown. When fertilizing, do not let the fertilizer touch the roots. It should be applied in holes or furrows at the edge of the bed or between rows, then covered with soil.

6. Adjusting light: For Asparagus Fern planted among trees, branch thinning should be carried out from after autumn to early winter so that internal light penetration reaches more than 50%. Summer light is strong, and Asparagus Fern needs less light, so shade density should be appropriately increased. When planting in open areas, branches should be inserted for shading; in spring and autumn it should be sparse, with 50-60% light penetration in the field, and in summer it should be dense, with 30-40% light penetration in the field.

7. Timely harvesting: Asparagus Fern generally needs 3 years of planting before it can be harvested. From October to before sprouting in March of the following year, choose a sunny day, first pull out the stakes, cut off the stems and vines, then dig away the soil around the roots, carefully take out the tuberous roots, shake off the soil, and pick off the large ones for processing as medicinal material, while leaving the small tuberous roots with root crowns as seed material.

8. Processing and storage: After picking off the tuberous roots of Asparagus Fern, cut off the fibrous roots, wash away mud and sand with clean water, put them into a boiling water pot and boil for 10-15 minutes, take them out and peel them. When peeling, use hands and a sharp knife to remove both the inner and outer layers cleanly in one go. Rinse off the outer sticky gum with clean water, dry the surface water slightly, put them into a sulfur cabinet (stove) and fumigate for 12 hours to make the color bright, then take them out and sun-dry or oven-dry. It is best to sun-dry during the day and fumigate with sulfur at night; when the midday sun is strong, cover with a bamboo curtain during drying to prevent discoloration. Sun-dried Asparagus Fern should be put into bamboo baskets and placed in a ventilated, cool, and dry place.