Interplanting these Chinese medicinal herbs in orchards can earn you even more

A planting method in which a later-season crop is sown or transplanted between the rows and plants during the late growth stage of the previous crop, also called intercropping or relay intercropping. Interplanting focuses on the intensive use of light, heat and water resources over time, raising the multiple cropping index and increasing the total annual output; it is a planting method that intensively uses time. As a kind of "crop", medicinal plants are also often interplanted together with fruit trees. So, which fruit trees are suitable for interplanting with which Chinese medicinal herbs? What should be noted when interplanting Chinese medicinal herbs with fruit trees?

Principles to follow when interplanting Chinese medicinal herbs in orchards

Practice has proved that not all Chinese medicinal herbs can be interplanted in orchards. Strict selection and reasonable arrangement are essential, seeking the benefits and avoiding the harm, otherwise adverse effects will occur, and even "both sides suffer". The general principles are:

First, a reasonable field structure should be formed according to the biological characteristics of different fruit trees and Chinese medicinal herbs. For example, the selected Chinese medicinal herb varieties should mainly be shade-tolerant and shallow-rooted; second, the proportion in the arrangement should be appropriate, adhering to the principle of fruit trees as the main crop and complementary advantages; third, local specialty and authentic medicinal herbs should be interplanted; fourth, field management should be strengthened, promoting mutual benefit, controlling conflicts, to ensure a double harvest. At the same time, care must be taken that they do not transmit diseases and pests to each other, and that the Chinese medicinal herbs planted will not be intermediate hosts for the diseases and pests of the fruit trees, and so on.

Many places in China have successful experience with fruit-medicinal herb interplanting, such as Jingxing County in Hebei Province interplanting turmeric, Atractylodes macrocephala, chrysanthemum and so on under apple trees; Daxing County in Beijing interplanting chrysanthemum, perilla, Achyranthes bidentata and Psoralea corylifolia in pear orchards; Yin County in Zhejiang Province planting Salvia miltiorrhiza under pear trees; Jintang County in Sichuan Province interplanting Gastrodia elata, Ligusticum chuanxiong and so on in pomelo orchards. These are successful examples of scientifically and rationally using the space and environmental advantages of fruit forests for three-dimensional development.

Interplanting model of young fruit trees with Chinese medicinal herbs

After fruit trees are planted, it generally takes 2 to 3 years for them to form a canopy and have a certain degree of shade. During this period, rationally interplanting Chinese medicinal herb varieties with short stems, smaller plant types and relatively sun-loving habits can achieve the goal of using short-term crops to support long-term ones and increase income. For example, from the 1st to the 3rd year, in rows with a spacing of 2 m, interplant varieties such as Platycodon grandiflorus, Isatis indigotica, honeysuckle, dandelion, saffron, Asarum sieboldii and turmeric; from the 3rd to the 5th year, as the fruit tree canopy gradually grows larger and a more shaded environment has formed in rows with a spacing of 2 m to 3 m, shade-loving Chinese medicinal herb varieties should be planted, such as Pinellia pedatisecta, Bupleurum, Arisaema, Coptis chinensis, burdock, cassia, Angelica pubescens and Atractylodes lancea. For example, fruit growers in Emeishan City, Sichuan Province, planted Ligusticum chuanxiong between fruit tree rows, and fruit growers in Huayuan Town, Santai County, planted Ophiopogon japonicus in citrus orchards, all obtaining good harvests.

It is worth noting that most Chinese medicinal herbs are not suitable for continuous cropping. First, continuous cropping makes diseases and pests more likely and reduces yield, for example, continuous cropping of Atractylodes macrocephala often leads to southern blight and root rot; second, continuous cropping easily causes a deficiency of some trace elements, affecting the normal growth of fruit trees and Chinese medicinal herbs. Therefore, the crop should be rotated every year or every other year, and a rotation sequence suitable for the growth of Chinese medicinal herbs should be chosen. In addition, interplanting and relay interplanting have higher requirements for cultivation management, water and fertilizer conditions than sole cropping, so attention should be paid to building up soil fertility.

Interplanting model of mature fruit trees with Chinese medicinal herbs

After fruit trees have grown for 5 years, a relatively shaded environment has formed within the rows, and the light transmittance is generally below 30%, providing natural growth conditions for Chinese medicinal herbs that need to grow in such an environment. For example, planting Gastrodia elata under them in autumn or spring, which prefers a cool, shady and moist ecological environment with relatively high soil water content, is a relatively good fruit-medicinal herb interplanting model. In the early growth stage, the leaves of deciduous fruit trees have already fallen, so the Gastrodia elata pits can receive scattered light, raising the temperature, enabling the protocorms formed by germinating Gastrodia elata seeds to establish a nutritional relationship with Armillaria mellea ahead of time, grow and develop normally, and form robust new tubers. In the middle growth stage, as the temperature gradually rises and is no longer suitable for the growth of Gastrodia elata, the fruit trees have already formed dense branches and leaves to shade and cool the Gastrodia elata, while at the same time, through the photosynthesis of the leaves, they release a large amount of oxygen for the growth of Gastrodia elata, providing a cool, moist environment with sufficient oxygen and suitable temperature for its growth. In the late growth stage, Gastrodia elata gradually enters dormancy, and the large amount of fallen leaves from the fruit trees provides conditions for Gastrodia elata to overwinter safely.

At present, in many mature orchards in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Anhui and other provinces, the fruit-medicinal herb interplanting model has been promoted and applied. Chinese medicinal herb varieties suitable for interplanting in mature fruit forests also include Coptis chinensis, Panax notoginseng, ginseng, Ganoderma lucidum and so on.

Friendly reminder: Rationally interplanting Chinese medicinal herbs in orchards can not only improve soil fertility and improve the microenvironment, but also inhibit weed growth and play the role of "living mulch cover", achieving a double harvest of fruit and medicinal herbs. However, not all Chinese medicinal herbs and all fruit trees are suitable for interplanting, so fellow herb growers and fruit growers should pay attention to first finding out clearly whether interplanting is suitable when planting, and learn and master the interplanting techniques well.