How to grow Polygala? Cultivation techniques and benefit analysis of the bulk medicinal herb Polygala
PolygalaIt can be planted from spring all the way until around White Dew, harvested after 2-3 years, with 2.5-3 kg of seed per mu. The price of commercial Polygala ranges from 30-90 yuan per kg, priced according to quality. The yield per mu is 250-300 kg, with an average income of 3,000-4,000 yuan per mu per year. Polygala is best planted in furrows, with a furrow depth of 1 cm and a row spacing of 21-23 cm, without thinning.
The Polygala species used for medicine are thin-leaf Polygala and broad-leaf Polygala. Polygala usually refers to thin-leaf Polygala, a perennial herb of the Polygalaceae family. Its root is used as medicine; it tastes bitter and is warm in nature, with effects of calming the nerves and improving intelligence, dispelling illness and relieving depression. It mainly treats palpitations, neurasthenia, nocturnal emissions, cough with profuse phlegm, bronchitis, and painful abscesses and sores.
Growth habits
It grows wild on sunny hillsides, under forests, in grasslands or in rock crevices. It prefers a cool climate, avoids high temperatures, and tolerates drought. Sunny, well-drained, deep and fertile soil is best. Avoid continuous cropping. It is mainly produced in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, the Northeast, North China, Northwest China, East China and Central China, and can be cultivated in all these regions.
Market and benefit analysis
Polygala is a bulk medicinal herb with large demand. Due to extensive harvesting, wild resources are gradually dwindling. Commercial Polygala is increasingly scarce, especially the medium- and high-grade Polygala tubes for export, which are now rarely seen. Polygala flesh was only 7-8 yuan/kg in 1985, and has now reached 30-58 yuan/kg, while export-standard Polygala tubes are priced as high as over 95 yuan, with a trend of continued increase. In the second year, Polygala can produce 7-10 kg of seed per mu. In the third year, seed production can reach 10-15 kg per mu. It produces 250-300 kg of medicinal material, with a total yield per mu of over ten thousand yuan over three years, averaging more than 3,000 yuan per mu per year. Artificial cultivation of Polygala is already mature, with no technical problems. Polygala has long been a best-selling export medicinal herb, and with wild Polygala resources exhausted, it is a good variety for developing medicinal herb cultivation. Plant characteristics: a perennial herb, 30-50 cm tall, with a cylindrical, slender, brownish-yellow root. The above-ground stems cluster from the base, upright or slanting, with simple linear alternate leaves, hairless. Racemes grow at the top of the stems, with small, sparsely arranged flowers, greenish-white with purple edges; seeds are ovate, grayish-black, with white down. The flowering period is April-July, and the fruiting period is May-August.
Site selection and bed preparation: Sandy and clay loam soil with deep, fertile layers can both be used for planting. After selecting the site, apply 100 kg of calcium superphosphate, 50 kg of potassium carbonate, 50 kg of ammonium hydrogen phosphate, and 3 cubic meters of decomposed farmyard manure per mu, and plow deeper than 25 cm. Level the soil and make wide beds. Spray trifluralin evenly on the soil surface (500 g per 1.5 mu), water immediately, and after 5-7 days when the surface is loose, rake the bed surface smooth.
Sowing method: In the smoothed bed, sow evenly by hand or with a seeder at a row spacing of about 20 cm, then tread over it once with the feet and cover with a layer of wheat bran. Polygala can be sown and emerge from Qingming to the Spring Equinox. The seeding rate is 1.5-2 kg per mu.
Field management: Keep the bed moist before emergence. Seedlings generally emerge in 7-10 days. After the seedlings come up, when they have 6-8 true leaves, spray tebuconazole once, and spray again after 15-20 days, mainly to prevent leaf rust and leaf blight. At the same time, spray jingkechaolong or gaichaolong at one bag per mu, and use kuaichu spray to clear small weeds. Generally no topdressing is applied in the first year; in April of the second year, apply 100 kg of calcium superphosphate and 15-20 kg of urea per mu to supplement soil fertility and increase yield. Polygala generally has few pests and diseases; in low-lying waterlogged areas during rainy seasons, pay attention to drainage to prevent root rot. Polygala is drought-tolerant, and under non-drought conditions it is generally not watered.
Harvesting and processing: After growing for several years, when the middle part of the root reaches a diameter of over 0.5 cm, dig it up in mid-October. Place the fresh roots in a cool, ventilated place and pile them for two days before processing. Select the thick, uniform ones, place them on a flat board and rub them back and forth until the bark and flesh separate from the woody core, remove the woody core, and dry in the sun. Because it forms a tube shape, it is called "Polygala tube."
Yield-increasing measures: Polygala has slender stems and leaves, a very small leaf area, and slender roots, with slow early growth, but rational close planting and giving full play to soil fertility are the key to increasing yield. Polygala has a long growth period, so applying sufficient base fertilizer and topdressing is very important.
Through domestic cultivation with rational close planting, the yield is high and the quality is good, with Polygala tubes reaching as high as over 80 yuan per kg. They are all purchased in large quantities by foreign trade for export. Only substandard Polygala tubes and Polygala flesh are supplied to the market, at a price of 30-50 yuan.