A Detailed Guide to Peony Seed Harvesting and Seedling Cultivation Methods
"When a peony blooms at home, joy comes naturally." The peony is an important ornamental plant and one of China's top ten famous flowers. It was once regarded as China's national flower and has long been known as the "king of flowers." Because its flowers are large and fragrant, it is also called "national beauty and heavenly fragrance." It has a history of thousands of years of natural growth and more than 1,500 years of artificial cultivation, and has long since been introduced around the world. So how are peony seeds harvested? What seedling cultivation methods are there? Let's take a look together with the editor below.
1. How are peony seeds harvested?
1. Selecting and reserving a seed-production field
For large-scale cultivation of medicinal peonies, a seed-production field must be selected according to the age and growth condition of the peony plants. Generally, seeds produced by 5-year-old peonies are plump and full, and are the main object for seed reservation; 7-year-old plants produce many flowers, and their seed set should be controlled so as not to affect seed plumpness and root bark yield. That is, during the bud stage, remove poorly growing and late-emerging buds, and keep vigorous buds.
2. Seed collection time
In autumn, when the follicles turn crab-yellow, they can be harvested. If too early, the seeds are not mature enough; if too late, the seed coat turns black and hard, making emergence difficult. The ancients already had a clear understanding of this point. In Ming dynasty Xue Fengxiang's "Eight Discourses on Peonies," peony seeds "prefer to be tender and not old... yellow is the right time; when black, they are old." "Tender seeds sprout in one year, slightly old ones in two years, and very old ones in three years." In actual production, if peonies are collected and sown too late, the emergence rate is extremely low, and often all seedlings do not emerge until the third year. The seed maturation period differs by region. In southern Shandong, they mature from mid-July to early August, and in Lanzhou they mature in mid-to-late August. In addition, different cultivars also mature earlier or later, so harvesting should be adapted to local conditions and done in batches.
3. Seed collection method
Seeds mature at different times, so they must be harvested in batches. When harvesting, pick the crab-yellow fruits and pile them in a cool, ventilated place so the seeds continue their after-ripening process inside the fruit shells, turning them every 2-3 days. After 10-15 days, the seeds change from yellow-green to brown to black, and most fruit skins split open. At this point, they should still be piled in the same place, and must not be exposed to the sun, which would harden the seed coat. About 5 days before sowing, pick out the seeds and sow them. In the Jiangnan area, note that the piling site should not be too damp, to avoid rot.
2. What seedling cultivation methods are there for peonies?
1. Sow at the right time
Peony seeds should be sown in the same year they are collected. In Heze, Zaozhuang, and other places in Shandong, sowing is mostly done from late August to early September. If too late, few and short roots are produced that year, and the seedlings grow weakly after the new year. Peony seeds have epicotyl dormancy characteristics. After sowing in late autumn of the same year, at normal temperature only young roots are produced; the young buds need winter low temperatures to complete the physiological changes of dormancy before they can germinate the following spring. If sown in the following spring, only young roots can still grow that year, and the young buds must wait until the third spring to emerge.
2. Seed treatment
Relatively dry seeds have black, hard coats and are not easily permeable to water. Before sowing, soak the seeds in 50°C warm water for 24-48 hours to soften the seed coat; only after absorbing water and swelling do they sprout easily. After soaking, if mixed with an appropriate amount of plant ash before sowing, it helps germination and emergence. If they cannot be sown immediately, the seeds can first be mixed evenly with an equal amount of fine sand and stored in sand, but the sand storage time must not exceed 15-20 days, and they must be sown before rooting.
3. Preparing beds and sowing
Apply sufficient base fertilizer, deep plow and level the soil, then make beds and sow. In Heze, Zaozhuang, and other places in Shandong, seedling cultivation uses small raised beds [because with low beds, after watering, small seedlings are easily silted into the soil; wide raised beds often produce fewer seedlings because water cannot reach the middle]. The beds are 8-10 cm high, 35-50 cm wide, with 30 cm between beds. Sow seeds in holes at a row spacing of 6-9 cm and a plant spacing of 3-4 cm, with the outermost row 10 cm from the bed edge. When seeds are plentiful, broadcasting can also be used, and the plant spacing should be no less than 3 cm. After sowing, cover with 2 cm of moist soil. To prevent drought and preserve soil moisture and to raise ground temperature, plastic film can be added after covering with soil. For hole sowing, use 25-35 kg of seed per 667 sq m; for broadcasting, about 50 kg is needed. In places without a water source, flat beds are suitable for seedling cultivation, but sowing should be done after rain when soil moisture is suitable, and plastic film should be covered after sowing to keep warm. In areas with more rain, raised beds are mostly used for sowing; first apply rotted manure in the sowing furrows or holes, then sow. After covering with soil, cover with thatch to retain moisture and prevent rain from washing it away, and remove it in early February of the following year.
4. Seedling management
As long as sowing is timely and soil moisture is suitable, young roots generally emerge about 30 days after sowing, and grow to 10-12 cm that year. From late February to mid-March of the following year, when ground temperature rises to 4-5°C, the young buds of the seeds begin to stir. At this time, remove the covering soil and uncover the plastic film, then shallowly loosen the surface soil. In Heze, Zaozhuang, and other places, seedlings are basically fully emerged in mid-to-late March, with the cotyledons remaining in the soil with their shells. That year the aboveground stem is about 4 cm tall, has one terminal bud, and 1-4 adventitious buds form at the root crown; the roots are yellow-white. Seedling growth mainly depends on basal fertilizer. For 2-year-old seedlings, nursery management should be strengthened, with timely topdressing and watering, and timely loosening of the soil after watering or rain to preserve moisture.
5. Transplanting seedlings
If fertilizer and water are suitable, one-year-old seedlings can be transplanted. Transplanting can be done in September. When lifting seedlings, dig a 60 cm deep trench from one end of the bed, then insert a spade vertically into the soil and forcefully loosen the soil and seedlings together into the trench, then pick out the seedlings and separate them by size. Large seedlings are prepared for planting, while small seedlings are concentrated and densely planted in the bed to be transplanted after growing larger. For seedling planting density, row and plant spacing are generally 60 cm x 50 cm, and can also be enlarged or reduced according to soil fertility or the intended length of growing period, with 2,200 holes per 667 sq m. For 1-year-old seedlings, plant two per hole; for 2-year-old seedlings, one per hole.
The above is an introduction to peonies. There are many peony cultivars, and they prefer a warm, cool, dry, and sunny environment. After blooming, the flowers are brilliant and huge, with great ornamental value, and they are also a symbol of wealth and good fortune.
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