A Detailed Guide to the Varieties and Cultivation Methods of Mugwort Leaves
Fresh Mugwort May is the best time of year to harvest mugwort leaves. The fresh leaves that are picked and then repeatedly sun-dried become the dried product known as fresh mugwort. Fresh mugwort leaves are the raw material for Chinese herbal medicine, and are also the raw material for making aged mugwort leaves and making moxa floss.
Aged Mugwort This refers to the processing method and storage time of mugwort leaves. The fresh mugwort collected and stored each year is then kept away from light for a long period, causing the fresh mugwort leaves to slowly age and disperse the excess volatile oils in the leaves, thereby achieving the effect of removing their dry, harsh nature. Mugwort leaves processed in this way are called aged mugwort. The storage time should be more than one year, with three years being optimal; longer than that is not suitable. This kind of mugwort leaf, when processed into moxa floss, has two major characteristics in appearance: first, it is easy to process into moxa floss; second, the moxa floss produced is soft.
Mature Mugwort This refers to the processing process and processing method of mugwort leaves, not simply the raw versus processed distinction, and certainly not simply aged mugwort. Mature mugwort refers to aged mugwort leaves that have been made into moxa floss: in short, mature mugwort is moxa floss processed from aged mugwort leaves.
The traditional method of making moxa floss is worlds apart from that of today. The aged mugwort leaves must be placed in a mortar and, after hundreds to thousands of repeated poundings and siftings, reach a quantitative-to-qualitative transformation, finally turning the aged mugwort leaves into moxa floss as soft as cotton wadding. This is mature mugwort!
Green moxa floss ---- although it is moxa floss, it cannot be called mature mugwort
Mature mugwort --- aged moxa floss
Golden moxa floss ---- premium moxa floss processed from mugwort leaves aged for three years, mature mugwort
Cultivation Techniques: Propagate by division. In March-April, dig up the plant clumps, divide them and plant them out, opening holes at a row and plant spacing of 33cm×33cm, planting 3-4 plants per hole, firming the soil and watering.
Field Management: Cultivate and weed each year, and apply fertilizer 2-3 times, which can be done in combination with harvesting, generally in May, July and September. Fertilizer should be mainly human and livestock manure. After 3-4 years of cultivation, the old plants should be replanted.