What techniques are there to improve the planting benefits of wintersweet trees

How can the planting benefits of wintersweet trees be improved?

Wintersweet tree, also known as yellow plum blossom, fragrant plum blossom, fragrant plum, dried-branch plum, belongs to the family Calycanthaceae and the genus Chimonanthus. The fruit cup of the tree is nearly woody, urn-shaped or obovate-elliptical, 2-5 cm long, 1-2.5 cm in diameter, with a constricted mouth and awl-shaped lanceolate hairy appendages. The seed (small achene) is elliptical, chestnut brown, with a smooth and glossy surface. The flowering period is from November to February of the following year, and the fruiting period is from April to November; the plant can reach 3 m in height, with opposite simple leaves, the outer whorl of the perianth is waxy yellow, the middle whorl has purple stripes, and it has a strong fragrance. It likes light, is slightly shade-tolerant, and is relatively cold-tolerant. It should be planted in a wind-sheltered and sunny place. It likes well-drained sandy loam, is drought-tolerant, has strong growth vigor, strong branching ability, and a long lifespan. It is produced in the northwest Hubei region of China and the Hanzhong region of Shaanxi Province.

Existing cultivation methods for wintersweet trees mainly include sowing, grafting, and cutting propagation. With these cultivation methods of sowing, grafting, layering, and cutting, wintersweet trees grow slowly, the survival rate is only below 90%, the management process is cumbersome, labor- and time-consuming, and the economic benefits are low.

1. Division planting: around Cold Dew, in the wintersweet garden, spray 50% phoxim or 50% sumithion 1000-fold solution on the wintersweet garden to kill insects; around Winter Solstice, select 3-year-old wintersweet trees as mother plants, saw off all main branches at a height of 50 cm from the ground, and irrigate the entire wintersweet garden once with overwintering water; around Rain Water of the following year, dig a semicircular pit 60 cm in diameter from the side of the wintersweet tree where the root terrain is lower, until half of the root system is fully exposed, divide it from the clump at the base of the mother plant, keep several main branches in the center of the mother plant to continue growing, and the separated daughter plants carry more roots. Plant the separated wintersweet daughter plants at a row spacing of 5 m and a plant spacing of 4 m;

2. In the third year, around Qingming, spray 50% phoxim or 50% sumithion 1000-fold solution on the wintersweet garden to kill insects; around Start of Winter, select a robust branch of a 1-year-old seedling as the trunk for training, leave 70 cm and shorten it, keep a bud below the cut with the opposite direction to the lower interface bud as the trunk extension branch, and among the remaining branches sprouting on the trunk below the cut, remove the strong and keep the weak as auxiliary nurturing branches. To prevent the side branches below the cut from growing too vigorously and competing with the central branch, the two pairs of side branches below the cut bud must be pruned off. The remaining side branches are only used as auxiliary nurturing branches. Within the range of 30 cm from the 3 main branches to the trunk, select one oblique branch and cut off its head, leaving 1 side bud at the cut as a side branch; the following year, the number of flowers blooming on the wintersweet branches increases significantly [Jishan Huayao].