Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques and Methods for Licorice Cultivation

Licorice is a perennial leguminous plant, with its dried roots and rhizomes used as medicine. Licorice is sweet in taste, neutral in nature, and enters the heart, lung, spleen, and stomach meridians. It has the effects of tonifying the spleen and benefiting qi, clearing heat and detoxifying, eliminating phlegm and relieving cough, relieving urgency and pain, and harmonizing various medicines. Its cultivation techniques are as follows:

I. Soil Selection

Licorice has the characteristics of being light-loving, drought-tolerant, heat-tolerant, and cold-tolerant, with well-developed rhizomes and strong vitality. To improve its commercial quality and yield, it is advisable to choose deep, fertile, loose, and well-drained sandy loam or black soil.

II. Seedling Raising

1. Seed treatment. Select licorice seeds with good yield performance and newly harvested from the previous year, at a sowing rate of about 10 kg per mu, soak the seeds in boiling water for 20-30 seconds, then soak them in warm water at 40°C for 8 hours, and dry them for later use.

2. Sowing. Sowing can be done in early May to facilitate early emergence and complete emergence, and to ensure a relatively long growth period. Before sowing, make the deeply plowed and leveled land into beds 1.20-1.50 m wide and 10 cm high, scrape the bed surface flat with a wooden board, and remove stones, tiles, and other debris. Mix the treated seeds evenly with fine soil, spread them evenly on the bed surface, and then cover with 0.50-1 cm of soil.

3. Seedling digging. Generally, digging is done in mid-to-late October after Frost's Descent when the aboveground parts wither, or in mid-to-late March of the following year when transplanting to the field, and they can overwinter in place.

III. Field Transplanting

Transplanting can be done in both spring and autumn. In spring, transplant from mid-to-late March to mid-to-late April; in autumn, transplant from late September to late October. Use the furrow-opening method, transplanting along the furrow at a plant spacing of 15 cm and a row spacing of 20 cm. If drought occurs, water while planting or irrigate before transplanting.

IV. Field Management

1. Fertilization. For seedling beds and cultivation land, in combination with deep plowing, apply 5000 kg of high-quality farmyard manure and 50 kg of superphosphate per mu as base fertilizer. In the second and third years on the cultivation land, apply 50 kg of superphosphate and 3000-5000 kg of high-quality farmyard manure per mu each year in early-to-mid March of spring before the seedlings sprout, using the furrow-opening method to fertilize between rows at a depth of 10-15 cm, and cover with soil after fertilization.

2. Timely irrigation. In the seedling bed during the emergence stage, the soil should be kept moist. To prevent surface soil crusting, sprinkle water once every morning and evening, or use micro-sprinkler irrigation facilities to spray water for 30-60 minutes. After the seedlings emerge evenly, gradually reduce the frequency of sprinkling and spraying, and irrigate once every 3-5 days by sprinkler according to soil moisture conditions. In the middle and late stages, it is better to keep it dry rather than wet, so as to promote root penetration, cultivate high-quality strong seedlings, and prevent the occurrence of brown spot disease. If drought occurs, irrigate in a timely manner. For seedlings overwintering in place in winter, because rainfall is relatively abundant, winter irrigation may be omitted.

After transplanting licorice in field cultivation, it should be irrigated promptly. After germination, irrigate once a month. For plots with excessive rainfall, drainage ditches should be prepared in advance to prevent diseases caused by excessively wet soil.

3. Intertillage and weeding. In the seedling field, when the seedlings are 5 cm high, weed for the first time, and thereafter weed promptly according to weed growth. For licorice in field cultivation, carry out intertillage and weeding more than 3 times each year. After the 2nd and 3rd years, intertillage should be shallow rather than deep, so as not to damage the horizontal root system.

4. Pest and disease control. In high-cold, shady, and humid areas, the main pests and diseases of licorice include brown spot disease, aphids, and white grubs. Brown spot disease is prone to occur in rainy seasons when soil humidity is high, and can be controlled by spraying 50% thiophanate-methyl at 800-1000 times dilution.

5. Harvesting. After transplanting, licorice can be dug after growing for more than 2 years. Generally, digging is done after Frost's Descent or before spring sprouting. Dig deeply along the rows to avoid damaging the root bark or breaking the roots, which would affect commercial quality.