How should Astragalus be planted to grow better?
How to plant Astragalus well? Please give guidance. Astragalus is also called Mianqi, Mianhuangqi, and Beigi, and is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Fabaceae family. Hongqi is divided into Honghongqi and Baihongqi (commonly known as tall-vine Hongqi and short-vine Hongqi); Honghongqi has tall vines and low yield, while Baihongqi has short vines and high yield; Astragalus is divided into Northeast Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) and Inner Mongolia Astragalus (Mianhuangqi). Its roots are used medicinally after drying, and have effects such as tonifying qi and securing the exterior, promoting diuresis, expelling toxins and draining pus, and promoting tissue regeneration; it treats shortness of breath, collapse, palpitations, spontaneous sweating, weakness and edema, chronic nephritis, dehydration, chronic diarrhea, uterine prolapse, and sores that do not heal for a long time.
How to plant Astragalus well? Please give guidance.
Astragalus is also called Mianqi, Mianhuangqi, and Beigi, and is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Fabaceae family. Hongqi is divided into Honghongqi and Baihongqi (commonly known as tall-vine Hongqi and short-vine Hongqi); Honghongqi has tall vines and low yield, while Baihongqi has short vines and high yield; Astragalus is divided into Northeast Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) and Inner Mongolia Astragalus (Mianhuangqi). Its roots are used medicinally after drying, and have effects such as tonifying qi and securing the exterior, promoting diuresis, expelling toxins and draining pus, and promoting tissue regeneration; it treats shortness of breath, collapse, palpitations, spontaneous sweating, weakness and edema, chronic nephritis, dehydration, chronic diarrhea, uterine prolapse, and sores that do not heal for a long time.
I. Growth habits
Huang (Hong)qi plants are 50-80 cm tall, with a thick, large, cylindrical, slightly lignified main root; Honghongqi root bark is rough, reddish brown, and the interior is red-yellow; Baihongqi root bark is pale white, and the interior is pale yellow; Astragalus root bark is light brown, and the interior is yellow-white; the stem is erect, with many branches in the upper part, and the leaves are odd-pinnate compound leaves, alternate, round or oblong, entire, with racemes, axillary, and papilionaceous flowers.
Huang (Hong)qi is a deep-rooted plant and should be planted in fertile, loose, well-drained sandy soil; it prefers a cool climate, has strong drought resistance, is cold-tolerant, fears heat and waterlogging, and excessively high temperatures often inhibit growth; the seed coat is relatively hard, has poor water absorption, and the germination rate is low, and seed germination does not like high temperatures; it is avoid continuous cropping, and should not be planted in heavily saline-alkaline land, waterlogged lowland, or clay land.
II. Cultivation techniques
1. Plant in higher-altitude mountain-water river flat land and shaded slopes.
2. Choose the previous crop: it is not suitable to continuously crop with potato, chrysanthemum, or Atractylodes macrocephala, avoid rotation with legume crops, and avoid continuous cropping.
3. Fertilization and land preparation
Choose a plot with high terrain, deep and loose soil, good drainage, and neutral or alkaline sandy loam or soft sandy soil. When plowing and preparing the land, apply more than 5000 kg of fully decomposed and finely crushed barnyard manure and 50 kg of cake fertilizer per mu (according to GAP standards, use less or no pesticides and chemical fertilizers; the plot scale area should be selected in areas without pollution sources). Rake the soil fine and level it. In rainy and easily waterlogged land, make high beds.
4. Seed treatment
The outer seed coat has a pectin layer, the seed coat is extremely hard, water absorption is poor, and the emergence rate is low. Seeds must be treated before sowing. One of the following methods may be selected according to specific conditions.
(1) Boiling water germination: First put the seeds into boiling water and stir rapidly for 1 minute, then immediately add cold water to lower the temperature to 40 degrees, soak for another 2 hours, then pour out the water, cover the seeds with sacks or similar materials and keep them sealed for 12 hours, and sow when the seeds swell or the outer coat cracks.
(2) Sulfuric acid treatment: For late-maturing hard seeds, soak them in sulfuric acid at a concentration of 70-80 for 3-5 minutes, take them out and quickly rinse in running water for half an hour, then sow.
(3) Fine sand scarification: Mix fine sand into the seeds and rub the seed coat so that it is slightly worn, which helps water absorption and can greatly increase the germination rate. Soak the treated seeds in warm water at 30-50 degrees for 3-4 hours, and sow after they absorb water and swell. This method is generally commonly used for planting.
5. Planting methods: There are two types, direct sowing and seedling transplanting.
(1) Direct sowing method: Use manually treated new seeds produced in the previous year, and carry out spring sowing after the land thaws from the end of March to the beginning of April. It can also be sown in winter before the land freezes in November of the same year; winter-sown seeds do not undergo any treatment. In the prepared field, sow at a row spacing of 30 cm and a plant spacing of 12 cm, cover with soil 2 cm thick, press lightly, and use 3 kg of seed per mu.
(2) Seedling transplanting: Direct sowing generally has low yield, poor quality, and great difficulty in maintaining seedlings, so production should adopt the seedling transplanting method for cultivation. In spring or summer, after pre-treatment of the seeds, evenly sow them into the field at 7 kg of seed per mu, cover with soil 2 cm thick, spread a thin layer of fine sand, and spray water several times during drought. After 30 days, the seedlings can emerge completely. During the seedling stage, thin and weed twice, with row and plant spacing of 6-8 cm, and pay attention to preventing and controlling pests and diseases. In mid-to-early October of the same year, dig them out and store them buried in soil for warmth, or dig up the seedlings before sprouting in the following spring and transplant them into the field; when transplanting, open furrows at 20 cm, place the Astragalus seedlings obliquely and flatly at a plant spacing of 10 cm, so that the upper part of the seedling head stands upright, 3-4 cm from the ground, then level the surface and press lightly.
6. Field management
(1) Thinning and final thinning: Before direct sowing, when the seedlings are 3-4 cm tall, thin them and transplant seedlings to fill gaps. When the seedlings are about 10 cm tall, finalize the spacing at 12 cm. Combine thinning and final thinning with weeding and loosening the soil. In particularly dry conditions, water appropriately.
(2) Topdressing: Huang (Hong)qi prefers fertilizer. On the basis of sufficient base fertilizer, topdress 2-3 times each year. The first time is after the seedlings are uniform or after greening up, apply farmyard manure per mu; the second time is after intertillage and weeding, apply barnyard manure per mu; the third time, for perennial Astragalus, after the plants wither in winter, apply 2000 kg of high-quality farmyard manure and 150 kg of cake fertilizer per mu, mix evenly, open furrows between rows and apply, then earth up after application.
(3) Irrigation and drainage: After final thinning, generally do not water, keep the ground slightly dry, and carry out appropriate seedling hardening to promote root elongation. When the weather is particularly dry, water appropriately. In the rainy season, pay timely attention to drainage to prevent root rot.
(4) Pest and disease control: When underground pests such as white grubs are found during the growing period, use 90% solid trichlorfon made into a 1000-fold solution to drip-irrigate the plants; for aphids, use 40% dimethoate emulsifiable concentrate 1000-fold solution for spraying, and spraying during the green fruit stage also helps control the Astragalus seed wasp; for the bean pod borer at the early larval stage, use 50% malathion 1500-2000-fold solution; for powdery mildew, use lime sulfur mixture at 0.1-0.3 degrees Baume for spraying, or use 70-100 g of triadimefon per mu made into a 500-fold solution for spraying.
7. Selection and retention of good seeds
When harvesting Huang (Hong)qi, select roots with short and slender aboveground stems, thick and long underground parts, few lateral roots, and no flowering in the current year, and keep them for planting stock. Cut off the secondary roots below the rhizome head, and plant them in bed fields with sufficient base fertilizer, with a row spacing of 40 cm, plant spacing of 26 cm, and furrow depth of 20 cm. Place the seed roots vertically in the furrow, with the buds facing upward, the rhizome head 2-3 cm from the ground, and press firm. They flower and set seed from July to September. When the seeds turn brown, pick the pods, picking as they ripen. After drying, thresh the seeds, remove impurities, put them into cloth bags or gunny bags, and store them in a ventilated and dry place for later use.
8. Harvesting and processing
With correct management measures, Huang (Hong)qi sown in winter or transplanted in spring can be harvested in the same year, or harvested after three years. Generally in early January, when the stems and leaves of the plants wither, cut off the aboveground stems and leaves, open a ditch 60-70 cm deep at one end of the bed field, then use a long iron fork to turn the soil, dig out the roots, remove the soil, cut off the rhizome head, and when sun-dried to 70-80% dry, cut off the lateral roots and fibrous roots, grade them and tie them into small bundles, then continue drying until fully dry, after which they can be sold on the market. Perennial fresh goods are exported after peeling processing. Just air-dry them.
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