What Is the Price of Gastrodia Seeds? A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods
Gastrodia is one of the precious traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, also known as Chijian, Mupu, Limu, and others. It is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Gastrodia in the orchid family, and has a history of more than a thousand years of medicinal use. In China's ancient medical texts, the "Shennong Bencao Jing" and the "Compendium of Materia Medica," there are records of gastrodia "curing a hundred diseases and prolonging life." Let us take a look below at gastrodia seed prices and planting methods!
How much does a jin of gastrodia seeds cost?
The price of gastrodia seeds is around 40 to 50 yuan per jin. The market value of gastrodia seeds is mainly determined by the quality of the seeds, primarily whether they are wild, purebred, or black-red hybrid gastrodia seeds. Wild gastrodia seeds are usually more expensive than both purebred and hybrid ones. At the same time, it also depends on whether they are generation 0 or generation 1 seeds. Generally, the price difference between generation 0 and generation 1 seeds is double. One jin of generation 0 gastrodia seeds can generally plant about 1.5 sq m, while generation 1 gastrodia seeds can plant about 1 sq m.
What varieties of gastrodia are there?
1. Red gastrodia: Red gastrodia is an excellent variety. The plant is relatively tall, the stem is orange-red, the rhizome is relatively large, and the flowers are yellow with a slight orange-red tint. The flowering period is April to May. It grows quickly and has strong adaptability. It is produced in the provinces of the Yellow River basin and the Yangtze River basin, with a yield of more than 10 kg per sq m.
2. Green gastrodia: The green gastrodia plant is relatively tall. The rhizome is long-elliptical or obconical, with relatively dense nodes and many scale-like sheaths on the nodes. The stem is pale blue-green, and the flowers are pale blue-green to white. The flowering period is June to July. It is produced in the provinces and regions from Northeast China to Southwest China, and is not commonly seen in the wild, only occasionally cultivated.
3. Black gastrodia: Black gastrodia is an excellent variety. The plant is tall, the rhizome is elliptical to ovate-elliptical, the stem is grayish brown with white longitudinal stripes, and the flowers are blue-green. The flowering period is June to July. It is produced in western Guizhou and from northeastern to northwestern Yunnan. Most of the gastrodia cultivated in Yunnan is this type.
4. Pine gastrodia: The pine gastrodia plant is about 1 m tall. The rhizome is often spindle-shaped or cylindrical, the stem is yellowish white, and the flowers are white or pale yellow. The flowering period is April to May. It is produced in northwestern Yunnan, often growing under pine and oak forests, and has not been introduced for cultivation because of its low drying rate.
5. Yellow gastrodia: The yellow gastrodia plant is more than 1 m tall. The rhizome is ovate-long-elliptical, the stem is pale yellow and pale yellow-green when young, and the flowers are pale yellow. The flowering period is April to May. It is produced in Henan, Hubei, Guizhou, and northeastern Yunnan, often growing at the edges of sparse forests, and is occasionally cultivated in the southwestern region.
Propagation methods for gastrodia
1. Tuber propagation: Gastrodia tubers can be planted in winter or spring. Winter planting is in November, and spring planting is in March to April. Select tubers with no disease spots, no frost damage, and no rot, and plant them separately by size. When planting, place the seed gastrodia parallel in the trenches between the fungus sticks, close against the fungus sticks, fill the gaps with humus soil, then cover with 3 cm, with the ideal being that the lower layer of fungus material is not visible. Plant the second layer in the same way, and finally cover with 10 to 15 cm, then cover with a layer of leaves and weeds.
2. Seed propagation: Gastrodia seeds have a short lifespan, so the harvested capsules should be sown promptly. When sowing, take out the upper layer of fungus material from the fungus bed, scrape away the soil on the lower layer of fungus material, spread withered and moist leaves over the lower layer of fungus material, press slightly flat, spread the seeds evenly on the leaves, cover with a thin layer of moist fallen leaves, then sow the second layer of seeds, cover with 3 cm of soil, cover again with a layer of moist leaves, place the fungus material in the soil layer, and finally cover with 10 to 15 cm of soil.
Planting methods for gastrodia
1. Cultivation time: Gastrodia cultivation is generally from late October of the current year to April of the following year. Sowing from late October to early December before the soil freezes is winter planting, and sowing after the soil thaws in spring from March to April is spring planting. In high-altitude mountain areas, the sowing time can be postponed to May.
2. Cultivation site: The gastrodia cultivation site can be any land or field plot, such as around the house, wild sloping land, orchard land, and so on, with sandy loam soil with strong air permeability and water permeability being best, and a soil pH of 5 to 6.
3. Land preparation and bed building: For flat land, gastrodia can be made into beds on site with a width of 80 cm, a depth of 10 cm, and unlimited length. For wild sloping land, build terraced horizontal beds according to the slope and terrain, with a spacing of about 1 m between beds. Trees and weeds at the edges of the beds should be retained as much as possible to facilitate shading and prevent the bed edges or bed ridges from collapsing.
4. Temperature management: The suitable temperature for gastrodia production is 13 to 25 degrees. Within this temperature range, the higher the better. In winter, prevent freezing, and in summer and autumn, prevent high temperatures and drought. In addition to using shade materials to prevent high temperatures, water supplementation can also be used to lower the soil temperature.
5. Water management: For gastrodia, from winter to the following spring, the soil moisture should be controlled at 10 to 20%, increased to about 60% from April to June, and from June to August it is suitable to retain water and lower temperature, preserve soil moisture, and drain waterlogging. In September, the soil moisture of the bed should be controlled below 40%. In late October, when gastrodia enters dormancy, it can be harvested.
6. Pest and disease control: The main pests of gastrodia include mole crickets, white grubs, termites, and so on. For control, first, when cultivating gastrodia, spread 5% chlordane powder and "Termite Killer King" pesticide around the bed; second, use termite control traps to trap and kill termites.