Detailed explanation of high-yield cultivation techniques for Gardenia jasminoides: master the key points for stable yield and increased income

Gardenia jasminoides, also known as Huangzhizi, Shanzhizi, Hongzhizi, Shanzhi, Huangguoshu, etc. Its fruit is used medicinally and has the effects of purging fire and relieving restlessness, clearing heat and draining dampness, and cooling blood and detoxifying. It mainly treats febrile disease with restlessness, red eyes due to liver fire, damp-heat jaundice, dark scanty urine, blood-heat vomiting and epistaxis, hematuria, icteric hepatitis, cholecystitis, renal pelvis infection, nephritis, heat-toxin sores and ulcers, and favism; for external use it treats blood stasis swelling and pain caused by sprains and contusions. The main producing areas include Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan and other provinces.

Morphological characteristics: It is an evergreen shrub of the genus Gardenia in the family Rubiaceae, usually about 1 m tall. Leaves are opposite or in whorls of 3, with short petioles; the leaf blade is leathery, and its shape and size often vary greatly, usually elliptical or obovate-elliptical, with an acuminate apex and slightly blunt tip, glossy above, with short hairs clustered only in the leaf vein axils below; stipules are sheath-like. Flowers are large, white, bisexual, fragrant, with short pedicels, solitary at the branch tips; the calyx is 2-3 cm long overall, with 5-7 lobes, linear-lanceolate, generally slightly longer than the tube; the corolla is salver-shaped with a long tube, the tube generally 3-4 cm long, the lobes obovate to oblanceolate, spreading, and the anthers exposed. The fruit is yellow, ovate to long elliptical, with 5-9 winged longitudinal ridges, 1-locular; seeds are numerous, embedded in a fleshy placenta.

I. Growth habits: Gardenia jasminoides prefers a warm environment with ample sunlight. It has no strict requirements for soil, but loam with deep soil layers and rich organic matter is best. Saline-alkali land and heavy clay soil are not suitable for planting.

II. Land preparation and fertilization: Choose a field with high terrain and good drainage, and cultivate it carefully. Apply sufficient base fertilizer in combination with land preparation: apply 3000 kg of farmyard manure, 20 kg of urea, and 50 kg of phosphorus-potassium fertilizer per mu. Then make raised beds 1.5 m wide and wait for sowing.

III. Sowing: Gardenia jasminoides is mainly propagated by seed, and can also be propagated by cuttings and division. The sowing period includes spring sowing and autumn sowing. Seed propagation: Sow Gardenia jasminoides seeds evenly on the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 25 cm, water to preserve soil moisture, and promote germination. The sowing rate is 3 kg per mu. After the seedlings emerge fully, strengthen field management, and they can be transplanted after 1 year of cultivation. Cutting propagation: Cut robust 1-2 year old branches into 20 cm cuttings, tie every 50 into 1 bundle, soak the lower ends in a 500 ppm rooting powder solution for 15 seconds, and after they cool slightly, insert them into the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 10×7 cm, water to preserve soil moisture, and promote germination. Strengthen field management, and they can be transplanted after 1 year of cultivation. Division propagation: Take root-sucker seedlings from the Gardenia jasminoides plants, cut them off from the mother plant with roots, and transplant them separately. Transplanting: Plant Gardenia jasminoides seedlings on the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 1.5×1.2 m, water to preserve soil moisture, and promote survival.

IV. Field management: After the Gardenia jasminoides seedlings emerge fully, attention should be paid to intertillage and weeding, watering in time during dry weather, and draining immediately during rainy weather. During the growth period, Gardenia jasminoides needs one topdressing each year: apply 3000 kg of farmyard manure, 20 kg of urea, and 50 kg of phosphorus-potassium fertilizer per mu. Because Gardenia jasminoides is prone to flower and fruit drop, spray 0.15 ppm gibberellin or a mixture of 10 ppm 2,4-D plus 0.3% urea and 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate during the full flowering stage. Spray once every half month, for 2 consecutive sprays. At the same time, during the growth process of the Gardenia jasminoides tree, prune it into a natural open-center shape with a rounded outer crown and hollow interior, with well-spaced branches and good ventilation and light penetration, so as to achieve high yield.

V. Pest and disease control: For leaf spot disease, spray 800-fold 50% carbendazim solution at the early stage of disease onset. Spray once every 7 days, for 3 consecutive sprays. For Gardenia jasminoides chlorosis, spray 0.3% ferrous sulfate, borax, and zinc sulfate at the early stage of disease onset. The main pest is the coffee clearwing moth larva, which bites and feeds on inner shoot buds and flower buds. It can be controlled by spraying 1000-fold 90% trichlorfon solution at the bud stage, early flowering stage, young fruit stage, and fully ripe stage. For scale insects and aphids, spray 40% dimethoate to kill them.

VI. Harvesting and processing: Gardenia jasminoides generally begins to bear fruit 3 years after transplanting. In November to December, when the fruit skin turns red-yellow, pick on sunny days, and dry or oven-dry the harvested fruit promptly, then it can be sold as medicine. The drying rate is 30%. For 8-10 year old trees, each plant yields 2 kg of fruit.