How to propagate Wikstroemia indica by cuttings? A detailed guide to rapid seedling-raising techniques

Rapid seedling-raising technique for Wikstroemia indica by cuttings

Wikstroemia indica is also known as: Jiuxin vegetable, mountain yellow skin, Nanling rao flower, ground cotton root, mountain pomegranate, ground hemp, fire rope wood, ground valley hemp. Morphological characteristics: a shrub, 30-100 cm tall. Branches reddish-brown, hairless. Leaves opposite, oblong, apex obtuse or acute, base cuneate, margin entire, petiole short or nearly absent. Yellow-green flowers bloom from February to June, several forming terminal short racemes, peduncle 5-10 mm long, pedicel 1-2 mm long. Calyx tubular, 8 stamens, disc scales 4. Ovary elliptical, stigma nearly spherical, style extremely short. Fruits set from August to September, drupe ovoid, about 6 mm long, dark red to purple-black when ripe. Stems and leaves can be harvested for medicinal use at any time. Growing environment: distributed in Guangxi, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Hunan, Sichuan. Grows in moist thickets at the foot of hills and on hillsides. Nature and flavor, functions: pungent and bitter in taste, cold in nature, toxic. Clears heat and detoxifies, reduces swelling and disperses nodules, relieves pain. [Jishan Huayao]

1. A cultivation method for rapid propagation of Wikstroemia indica by cuttings, characterized in that its process steps are: Step 1, collect seeds from a mother Wikstroemia indica tree as seedling seeds; Step 2, promptly disinfect/wash the seedling seeds; Step 3, promptly sow the disinfected/washed seedling seeds in a seedbed to cultivate Wikstroemia indica seedlings, and let the Wikstroemia indica seedlings grow into Wikstroemia indica saplings in the original cultivation site; Step 4, select the above-mentioned Wikstroemia indica saplings with a tree age of 5 years as mother seedlings, select live branches from an adult Wikstroemia indica tree and cut them into cuttings, each cutting retaining at least a bud strip, then insert the cuttings into the mother seedlings for propagation; Step 5, carry out cultivation management on the mother seedlings and cuttings.

2. In order to effectively extend the lifespan of the seeds and ensure a high germination rate of the seedling seeds, in the above Step 1, the method for collecting seedling seeds is: select a vigorous-growing, long-lived, excellent mother Wikstroemia indica tree, and during September, when the mother tree's fruits have formed into drupes and the color turns from dark red to purple-black, pick them together with the fruiting branches, place the collected fruiting branches in a ventilated place to dry in the shade, and obtain the seeds to sow promptly within 6 days, or to disinfect/wash and then sow. In the above Step 3, the disinfected or washed seedling seeds need to be sown promptly in the seedbed within 2 days; the preferred scheme is that the disinfected or washed seedling seeds need to be sown promptly in the seedbed within 23 hours.

To ensure the survival rate, for the Wikstroemia indica seedling seeds sown in the seedbed, before sprouting, the growing environment conditions are a shading rate of 78%, a relative humidity of 68%, and a temperature of 19°C; for the early stage after the seedlings sprout, the growing environment conditions are a shading rate adjusted to 68%, a relative humidity adjusted to 68%, and the temperature may remain unchanged; for the late stage of the seedlings, the growing environment conditions are a shading rate of 29%, and the temperature and humidity are cultivated under natural conditions. The preferred scheme is: before the Wikstroemia indica seedling seeds sprout, the growing environment conditions are a shading rate of 88%, a relative humidity of 86%, and a temperature of 23°C; the seedlings can sprout 9 days after sowing, and 12 days after the seedlings sprout, the shading rate is changed to 73%, the humidity is reduced to 73%, and the temperature remains unchanged; in the late stage of the seedlings, the shading rate is 39%, and the temperature and humidity are cultivated under natural conditions.

In the above Step 4, the above-mentioned live branches are selected as healthy, pest-free, current-year young branches or perennial old branches. To further improve its survival rate and enhance quality, the preferred scheme is to select the live branches on the above-mentioned mother Wikstroemia indica tree. After the live branches are cut into cuttings 2 cm long with at least 2 buds retained, the lower cut end of the cutting is trimmed into an oblique plug or a pointed wedge-shaped plug that facilitates insertion.

The above-mentioned mother seedlings are generally selected as excellent Wikstroemia indica saplings with a tree age of 1 year. During insertion, a small opening is scraped in the phloem part of the trunk near the ground, then the lower cut end of the above-mentioned cutting is inserted into the small opening, and the cutting is reliably inserted into the Wikstroemia indica sapling for propagation by binding or other fixing methods. Moreover, the above-mentioned cutting may be a cutting without leaves, or a cutting with leaves; if there are leaves, remove part of the leaves, retaining only the 3 leaves near the upper end of the cutting, and cut off 1/3 of the leaves to reduce water evaporation from the leaves.

The cultivated saplings not only have a high survival rate and can grow rapidly, but are also highly stable, enabling intensive management and efficient production of artificial cultivation of Wikstroemia indica, meeting market demand, and promoting the development of a high-quality industry. Since this technique also uses the soil that has nurtured the mother tree as the seedbed soil, its survival rate is improved. Mountain land becomes cultivated land, with strong adaptability, which is more conducive to the growing conditions and production development of Wikstroemia indica.