Detailed Guide to Monk Fruit Cultivation Techniques: Planting and Management Methods

Monk fruit cultivation is divided into two types: asexual propagation and sexual propagation.

1. Asexual propagation of monk fruit cultivation.

This method is currently used more widely in production areas. Its advantages are that the seedlings bear fruit early, the excellent traits of the mother plant can be maintained, and the breeding of improved varieties is accelerated. The disadvantage is that endless asexual propagation easily causes variety degeneration, leading to reduced yield. The time for asexual propagation is September. The vines used for asexual propagation should be those grown from one-year-old plants, or lateral vines grown from the base of vigorous, high-yielding mature plants. After the plant has grown onto the trellis, the weak lateral vines with long internodes that hang down from the trellis (lazy vines) cannot be used for propagation, because the seed tubers produced by layering these lazy vines cannot bring out the variety's advantages; on the contrary, they accelerate variety degeneration, and the flowering rate is also low.

Method for asexual propagation of monk fruit cultivation: after rain in September, bury 3-5 vine tips of the monk fruit plant parallel to each other in soil pits, backfill with loose soil 6-7 cm, press lightly, and shape it like a turtle shell. After 1 month, the vine tips swell into small tuberous roots, which are the seed tubers. In winter, dig up the seed tubers and stack-bury them in well-drained soil pits to keep warm and overwinter, then dig them up in the following spring for planting. The key to successful vine layering propagation is to master the layering time well and keep the soil moist. If layering is done too early, the vines will not swell and will rot; if layering is done too late, the seed tubers will be small or will not swell.

2. Sexual propagation of monk fruit cultivation.

Production areas generally do not use seed propagation. The disadvantage is that more than 70% of the seedlings obtained by this method are male plants, and the growth period is long, requiring 3-4 years before high yield can be obtained. The advantage is that seed tubers can be obtained in large quantities, and it is the main means of suppressing variety degeneration, purifying and rejuvenating varieties, and breeding new varieties. There are now also tissue-cultured monk fruit seedlings, but tissue-cultured seedlings grow weakly and are prone to pests and diseases, and many problems still need to be solved before they can be applied in field production.