Pre-planting Preparation Precautions for Sexual Propagation of the Chinese Medicinal Herb Gastrodia elata

Gastrodia elataSexual propagation of Gastrodia elata uses hybrid seedling seeds of Gastrodia elata, propagated under the combined action of germination-inducing fungi and Armillaria mellea. The growth period of sexually propagated Gastrodia elata is one and a half years, that is, planted in June-July of the current year and harvested at the end of the second year. Its characteristics are small investment, high success rate and stable yield, and it is currently a relatively advanced high-yield cultivation technique for Gastrodia elata in China.

I. Selection of Planting Site

The growth of Gastrodia elata hardly needs sunlight, so it can be planted in basements, air-raid shelters, mountain streams and other places with certain ventilation conditions, as well as all idle land such as yard edges, field edges, roadside edges, slope edges, forest edges and bamboo garden edges. In semi-mountainous areas and plain areas with higher temperatures, indoor planting is advocated. For sexual propagation of Gastrodia elata, river sand, pockmarked stone sand, etc. should be used as much as possible. In places where there is really no river sand, sandy loam soil with a sand content of more than 50% should also be selected.

II. Material Preparation

1. Prepare sand. The quantity should be determined according to the planting scale. Generally, three loads of sand can plant two holes. Sand with a coarse size like mung beans is suitable. If planting indoors on a cement floor, cobblestones the size of walnuts should also be prepared, with the quantity sufficient to spread a 10 cm thick layer over the planting site.

2. Prepare wood, sawdust, branches and leaves. Oak tree species are better for wood; in addition, broadleaf species such as birch, sugar pear wood and Elaeagnus umbellata can all be used. Sawdust, branches and leaves should also come from the above species, and coniferous tree species must not be used. Wood and branches should be fresh and can be cut within half a month before planting or cut and planted at any time. Sawdust should be fresh sawdust with a bright yellow color and no contamination by miscellaneous fungi. Leaves should be fallen leaves from the previous year, preferably half-rotted. For each hole, use 10 pieces of wood with a thickness of 6-8 cm and a length of 50 cm, 1-1.5 kg of sawdust per hole, and 1 kg each of branches and leaves per hole. To eliminate miscellaneous fungi, also prepare a bottle of carbendazim or Lysol and a small amount of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.

III. Treatment of Wood, Branches and Leaves

Before planting, first put the leaves into woven bags and soak them in water for 12-24 hours. Cut the wood uniformly into 50 cm lengths, make cuts with a sharp axe, one cut every 10 cm, with the depth just reaching the xylem. Make one row of cuts on each side of the wood; for thicker pieces, 3-4 rows can be cut. Cut the branches into 10 cm small sections and cut both ends into slanted surfaces. Then soak the wood and branches in a 0.2%-0.25% ammonium nitrate solution, remove them after 8-10 minutes and set aside for use. Mix the sand used for planting with sawdust at a ratio of 3:1 and maintain 60% water content for later use.