The Latest Tutorial on Verbena Planting Techniques and Methods
Verbena is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Verbena in the family Verbenaceae, also known as Agrimonia pilosa, Iron Verbena, Windneck Grass, etc. The clean whole above-ground plant is used as medicine, and it has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, activating blood and dissolving stasis, and promoting diuresis and reducing swelling. It is distributed across most of East China, South China and Southwest China, and has relatively high planting value. Now let us take a look at the planting techniques for verbena!
Growth Habits of Verbena
Verbena is native to Europe and is distributed throughout the temperate to tropical regions of the world. It often grows by roadsides, on hillsides, by streams or beside forests from low to high altitude. It prefers dry, sunny environments and is not strict about soil requirements. It likes fertilizer and moisture, fears waterlogging, and is not tolerant of drought. It can grow in general soil, but grows most robustly in deep, fertile loam and sandy loam. Low-lying, easily waterlogged land is not suitable for planting.
Planting Techniques for Verbena
1. Land selection and preparation: Choose loam or sandy loam with a relatively thick soil layer as the planting site. Plow to a depth of 18-25 cm, apply 2000-2500 kg of fully decomposed farmyard manure per mu as base fertilizer and spread it evenly, make beds 50 cm wide at the top and 15 cm high, rake the bed surface flat, and leave a working path of 25-30 cm between two beds. Small field ridges can also be made.
2. Timely sowing: The sowing time for verbena is from late April to early May, sown in furrows. First rake the bed surface soil fine, open furrows along the bed 5 cm from the bed edge, with a row spacing of 25-30 cm and a furrow depth of 15-2 cm. Tread the bottom flat, then apply a small amount of biological fertilizer as base fertilizer at 15-20 kg per mu, cover the fertilizer with a little soil, sow the seeds evenly, cover with soil 1-1.5 cm thick, press lightly, and use 0.5 kg of seed per mu.
Field Management of Verbena
1. Thinning and transplanting: Under normal temperature and humidity, verbena emerges 10-20 days after sowing. When the plants are 5 cm tall, thin them. Since the whole above-ground plant is harvested, it is not necessary to deliberately keep a single row, but the spacing between plants in each row should be maintained at about 10 cm to facilitate branching and the space needed for growth and development. The thinned seedlings can be transplanted elsewhere.
2. Hoeing weeds and loosening soil: Verbena is often loosened by combining it with hoeing weeds, and soil should be properly banked around the roots. When the soil is too dry, water promptly to ensure the needs of normal plant growth. Weeding is routine work in field management, and preventing weed infestation is one of the effective measures to increase yield. Therefore, weeds should be removed as soon as they appear, so that there are no weeds in the field. In rainy seasons, pay attention to field drainage, and loosen the soil promptly after rain to prevent surface soil crusting from affecting plant growth. Loosening the soil both increases soil permeability and reduces the occurrence of diseases, achieving twice the result with half the effort.
3. Pest and disease control: According to the results of cultivation, no relatively serious pests or diseases have been found in verbena, except that root rot occurs when there is a large amount of standing water in the field for a long time. Therefore, it can be avoided as long as drainage and soil loosening are done promptly. For chemical control, irrigate the roots with 500-600 times diluted 50% carbendazim, and in severe cases repeat once after 7-10 days.
4. Seed retention and harvest: Good seeds are the basic condition for obtaining high yield, so a separate seed field should be established with a plant spacing of 15-20 cm and a row spacing of 20-25 cm. Field management should be strengthened, and appropriate additional phosphorus and potassium fertilizer should be applied before flowering, so that the grains are plump and more good seeds can be obtained. When 75-80% of the seeds are mature, cut the plants, place them in a well-ventilated shady place for 4-6 days, then thresh, remove impurities and shriveled grains, dry in the sun for 3-4 days, put the seeds into clean cloth bags, and store them in a ventilated warehouse for planting the following year.