Detailed Explanation of Key Points for High-Yield Cultivation Techniques of Cherokee Rose

Cherokee rose, also known as sugar jar, thorn horn, upside-down golden hook, yellow tea bottle, etc. The fruit is used as medicine and is called Cherokee rose fruit. It has the effects of tonifying the kidney and securing essence and stopping diarrhea. It mainly treats hypertension, neurasthenia, chronic cough, spontaneous sweating, night sweating, diarrhea due to spleen deficiency, seminal emission, enuresis, frequent urination, leucorrhea, metrorrhagia and metrostaxis, etc. The leaves can detoxify and reduce swelling; external use treats sores and boils, burns and scalds, traumatic bleeding, etc. The root has the effects of activating blood and dissipating stasis, dispelling wind and dampness, detoxifying and astringing, and killing parasites. It mainly treats enteritis, dysentery, pyelonephritis, chyluria, elephantiasis, lumbar muscle strain, rheumatic joint pain, irregular menstruation, seminal emission, leucorrhea, etc. The main producing areas are East China, Central South, Southwest China, and Shaanxi and other provinces and regions.

Morphological characteristics: It is an evergreen climbing shrub of the Rosaceae family, up to 5 m tall. The stem is reddish brown, with recurved prickles. The trifoliolate leaves are alternate; the leaflets are leathery, elliptic-ovate to ovate-lanceolate, the lateral leaflets are smaller, the petiole and the midrib on the lower surface of the leaflets are spineless or sparsely spiny; the petiole is 1-2 cm long, with brown glandular dots and fine prickles; the stipules are connate with the petiole below the middle, and their free part is linear-lanceolate. Flowers are solitary at the apex of lateral branches, 5-8 cm in diameter; the pedicel is stout, up to 3 cm long, with straight prickles; the receptacle is enlarged, with fine prickles; 5 sepals, ovate-lanceolate, some apexes enlarged into leaf-like forms, glandular-hairy; 5 petals; stamens numerous, anthers versatile; pistil with numerous carpels, free, tomentose, style linear, stigma capitate. The mature receptacle is red, spherical or obovate, with straight prickles, with a long persistent calyx at the apex, containing multiple bony achenes.

I. Growth habits: Cherokee rose prefers warm and ravine conditions and a sunny environment. It has low requirements for soil, but loose, fertile sandy soil rich in organic matter is best. Heavy clay and saline-alkali land are not suitable for planting.

II. Land preparation and fertilization: Choose a field with high terrain, good drainage, and deep soil layers, and cultivate it intensively. In combination with land preparation, apply sufficient base fertilizer: 3000 kg of farmyard manure, 10 kg of urea, and 50 kg of phosphate and potassium fertilizer per mu. Then make beds and wait for sowing.

III. Sowing: Cherokee rose is mainly propagated by cuttings, and can also be propagated by seeds. The sowing period includes spring sowing and autumn sowing. Cutting propagation: in autumn from October to November, select current-year healthy, robust, pest-free hard branches and cut them into 20 cm long cuttings. Each segment has more than 3 bud nodes; cut the lower end into a horse-ear shape, dip it in 500 ppm ABT rooting powder solution, let it dry slightly, then insert it into the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 12×7 cm, water to preserve moisture to help survival. And build a small plastic arched shed. After 1 year of cultivation, it can be transplanted. Seed propagation: mix mature clean seeds with wet sand at a ratio of 1:3, store until the next spring, sow evenly on the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 20 cm, water to preserve moisture to help emergence. The sowing rate is 3 kg per mu. After full emergence, strengthen management; after 2 years of cultivation, it can be transplanted. Transplanting: plant Cherokee rose seedlings on the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 1×1 m. Water to preserve moisture to help survival.

IV. Field management: After Cherokee rose has fully emerged, or after transplanting has survived, attention should be paid to intertillage and weeding, watering in dry weather, and timely drainage in rainy weather. Topdress once every spring: apply 10 kg of urea and 30 kg of phosphate and potassium fertilizer per mu, and apply a layer of farmyard manure in winter. Also prune once in winter, cutting out overly dense dead branches, weak branches, old and declining branches, and leggy branches. Shorten long, robust branches (cut off the upper tips by one third).

V. Pest and disease control: For powdery mildew, use triadimefon for control in the early stage of the disease. For rose white scale, use omethoate for control during the nymph hatching period.

VI. Harvesting and processing: Cherokee rose generally bears fruit 2-3 years after transplanting. Harvest in autumn when the fruit skin turns yellow-red. Dry the collected fruits until half-dry, remove the hairs and prickles, then dry until fully dry, and then they can be sold as medicine. After fruit harvesting, dig out the roots, clean off the soil, and dry them in the sun before use as medicine.