Cultivation Methods and Key Technical Points for Agarwood Trees
Agarwood, also known as Hainan agarwood, Hainan chenxiang, baimuxiang, guanxiang, nü'erxiang, and tu chenxiang, is a premium fragrance and an even more precious traditional Chinese medicinal herb, with a rich scent and a considerable price.
The wood, trunk tops and roots can all be used to make incense sticks or handicrafts; the bark can be used to make paper; the leaves can be used to make tea. Its uses are extremely wide-ranging, the entire tree can be utilized, and its economic value is extremely high. It is known as the “plant diamond”!
At the same time, the planted agarwood tree is evergreen year-round, releasing a rich and elegant unique fragrance. Its remarkable aroma can repel mosquitoes and insects, purify the air, benefit health, and beautify the environment. It can be planted along city streets, around office buildings, in residential communities, in courtyard landscaping, and even as potted plants on balconies. Therefore, agarwood is widely adopted in many countries and regions around the world.
Agarwood is a precious traditional Chinese medicine in our country. It is made from the resin of baimuxiang, a plant of the Thymelaeaceae family. The agarwood made from baimuxiang resin has extremely high medicinal value and is a precious traditional Chinese medicine with a long history of use in our country. It has effects such as promoting qi circulation and relieving pain, warming the middle and stopping vomiting, and improving qi reception to relieve asthma. It has clear therapeutic effects on abdominal distension, cold stomach, kidney deficiency, and asthma, and is the main formulation ingredient of more than 160 Chinese patent medicines such as Chenxiang Huazhi Pills, agarwood oil, and Chenxiang Yangwei Pills. Recent clinical trial studies in Japan have shown that agarwood is a specific remedy for gastric cancer and a very good analgesic.
Since ancient times, agarwood has usually been processed into traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces, such as: agarwood powder, agarwood decoction pieces, agarwood qu, etc. Traditional Chinese medicine doctors use agarwood in formulations to treat diseases, and it is used for diseases of the digestive, respiratory, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular, rheumatism, and tumor systems, as well as external medicine, gynecology, pediatrics, andrology, otorhinolaryngology, dermatology and other departments. It is also used in aromatherapy and incense burning methods. Especially for diseases of the digestive system, agarwood is used very widely, and most medicines use agarwood. In addition to medicinal use, more and more agarwood health products and daily necessities are being developed, such as: agarwood tea, agarwood air freshener, agarwood sunscreen, agarwood toothpaste, soap and shampoo, and so on.
In Taiwan, China, agarwood is also used to enhance the aroma of alcoholic beverages. However, due to natural disasters and excessive human harvesting and felling, wild resources have become increasingly depleted. At present, a considerable portion of medicinal use nationwide relies on imports, medicinal supply is quite insufficient, and prices are expensive. Good agarwood costs more than 10,000 yuan per kilogram. The agarwood tree has been listed as a national second-class protected endangered tree species, and the state is strongly encouraging private cultivation!
The fragrance of agarwood is unpredictable and naturally formed, yet its scent lingers gracefully. In today's advanced science, its aroma has still not been artificially blended by humans even after thousands of years. Its preciousness and its mystery are thus imaginable. Today's businesspeople, who are often away from home, collect agarwood and keep it at home to protect the peace and safety of the whole family. Carrying agarwood oil and offering incense to the Buddha through the highest ritual of applying incense not only allows one to enjoy the unique fragrance and enter a joyful state, but can also suppress evil and drive away demons, blessing one's career to go smoothly.
Agarwood is a southern plant. If grown as a potted plant in northern regions, it must be moved indoors in winter. Agarwood is a hardy, easy-to-grow plant and likes sunlight. When transplanting, remove the plastic wrapping and be careful not to damage the roots.
I. Site Selection and Land Preparation
Agarwood seeds are very difficult to propagate and germinate. Generally, planting agarwood trees requires optimized cultivation in a nursery before transplanting.
The time for transplanting wild agarwood saplings is generally chosen in spring. However, transplanting young seedlings that have been optimized and cultivated in a nursery and come with nutrient bags does not require a specific season and can generally be done simply by avoiding the hottest and coldest days of the year.
Agarwood has strong adaptability and is not strict about soil requirements. Wind-sheltered, sunny gentle slopes, hills, red soil, or mountain yellow soil can all be used for planting. If conditions allow, the planting site can be deep-plowed, and holes can be dug at a spacing of 2m×3m between plants and rows, planting about 110 plants per mu. To make full use of the land and increase yield per mu, a dense planting method with a row spacing of 1 m×1 m is often used, allowing more than 600 plants per mu. The standard planting hole size is approximately 50cm×50cm×40cm, with 20kg of base fertilizer applied per hole, then covered with soil until planting. A quick and easy planting method uses small holes of about 20cm×20cm×20cm (just enough to place the nutrient bag soil ball, with no need for base fertilizer). Carry out simple rapid planting, and after the seedlings survive and grow steadily, apply additional fertilizer. For additional fertilization, use lightly applied human and livestock manure water or ammonium sulfate or urea diluted with water.
II. Field Planting
Planting agarwood trees is not very different from planting ordinary fruit tree seedlings. Since the seedlings have fewer lateral roots, when planting bare-root seedlings, as much native soil as possible should be retained when lifting the seedlings. Before planting, prune the lower lateral branches and leaves of the seedlings, keeping only some upper leaves, and cut the leaves in half; trim excessively long main and lateral roots, dip them in yellow mud slurry, and if conditions permit, adding fresh cow dung is even better; for nutrient bag seedlings, the plastic bags should be torn open. When planting, the seedling should be upright and the roots spread out, fill soil in layers, compact, tread firmly, water thoroughly to settle the roots, and finally cover with a layer of loose soil. The survival rate can reach 95%.
〖Tip〗Since agarwood has a long growth period, during the young stage there are large gaps, so in the first 3 years before field planting, food and oil crops such as tubers and beans, and short-term medicinal herbs such as jinqiancao (Lysimachia christinae) and chuanxinlian (Andrographis paniculata), can be intercropped; when the rows become more closed, shade-tolerant Chinese medicinal materials such as yizhi (Alpinia oxyphylla), caokou (Alpinia katsumadai), and gaoliangjiang (Alpinia officinarum) can be intercropped, so as to make full use of natural resources, regulate the growing environment of baimuxiang, and increase economic income. After intercropping, adopt different cultivation and management techniques according to the different intercrop species, so that agarwood and the intercrops grow well, achieving the goals of using the land to nourish the land, using short-term crops to support long-term crops, and replacing tending with intercropping, achieving multiple benefits at once.
III. Post-Planting Management
1. Nursery Stage Management
Although agarwood seeds have a low germination rate, they germinate quickly, and the emerged seedlings are not drought-tolerant. After emergence, water once in the morning and once in the evening to keep the soil moist. If there is no natural shade, build a shed for shading. From May to August each year, weed once a month to prevent weeds from covering the young seedlings. Prune branches appropriately to promote main trunk growth. After the seedlings reach 10cm in height, apply diluted manure and urine water once every 2 months, and later increase the concentration appropriately as the seedlings grow. Seedling cultivation takes 10 months to 1.5 years. Nutrient bag seedlings can be released from the nursery for field planting or sale once they are more than 20cm tall.
2. Management After Field Planting
(1) Initial Management
In the initial stage after field planting, attention must be paid to drought, and watering should be done in time according to weather conditions. During the young stage, weed and loosen the soil once every 1 to 2 months. Fertilize 2 to 3 times each year; in the dry season, lightly apply human and livestock manure water or ammonium sulfate or urea diluted with water. In the rainy season, dig furrows around the holes and apply organic fertilizer mixed with superphosphate; for mature trees, dig furrows and apply additional organic fertilizer and green manure. To help the main trunk grow straight and to facilitate artificial agarwood formation, the lower lateral branches, diseased and weak branches, and overly dense branches of the stem must be pruned. Missing plants should be replanted in time.