What Is the Price of Golden Line Lotus Seeds? A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods
Golden line lotus (Anoectochilus roxburghii) is a plant of the genus Anoectochilus in the orchid family, with very high medicinal value. The whole plant can be used as medicine, and it has effects such as clearing heat and dispelling wind, draining dampness and detoxifying, and relieving pain and suppressing cough. Among the people it has flattering names such as golden silk thread, golden earrings, and bird ginseng. Its wild resources are extremely scarce, so it has extremely high cultivation value. Let us take a look together below at the price of golden line lotus seeds and its planting methods!
How much do golden line lotus seeds cost?
The price of golden line lotus seedlings is about 0.3 to 0.5 yuan per plant. Before cell tissue culture was available, golden line lotus relied solely on natural seed germination, but its seeds are extremely fine, containing only one incompletely developed embryo, with very low germination capacity. In addition, the seed coat does not easily absorb water, so sowing by conventional methods cannot achieve germination. Therefore, orchid mycorrhizal fungi or artificial culture media are needed to supply nutrients for germination, and it takes half a year to a year from sowing to transplanting. For this reason, golden line lotus is mostly propagated in production through cell tissue culture.
The Growing Environment of Golden Line Lotus
Golden line lotus is distributed in subtropical and tropical areas such as Fujian, Taiwan, China, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, and Hubei. It prefers cool, shady, and humid conditions, and especially likes to grow in ditch banks, on stone walls, and in loose, moist soil areas with evergreen broad-leaved trees. It requires a temperature of 20 to 32°C and light of 3000 to 5000 LUX. Too strong light easily causes the plant stems to become prostrate, while too weak light easily causes the plant stems to become thin and elongated, but different golden line lotus varieties have different light requirements.
The Planting Conditions for Golden Line Lotus
1. Site selection and shed construction: For golden line lotus cultivation, choose a section with open terrain, facing south with its back to the north, surrounded by tall broad-leaved forest, and far from pollution sources. Build a shed with strong wind resistance. Cover the shed roof and surroundings first with film and then with shade netting to facilitate control of temperature, light, and humidity inside the shed.
2. Installing iron racks: In golden line lotus production, planting iron racks are usually used to hold planting trays, with the cultivation substrate placed in the trays. The iron racks are 1 m wide and 1.5 m high, with length determined by the shed, divided into 3 planting layers, with 45 cm between layers, and 60 to 80 cm maintained between two rows of iron racks.
3. Crop rotation arrangement: In production, golden line lotus is usually planted two seasons a year. The first season is transplanted in early March and harvested in late June; the second season is transplanted in early September and harvested in late December. This ensures the plants grow in the soil for more than 4 months, so as to increase yield and the medicinal components of the product.
4. Substrate selection: For golden line lotus cultivation, the cultivation substrate is usually prepared at peat soil : rice husk : fine sand = 10:1:1. After the cultivation substrate is disinfected by sun exposure, add 5 to 7.5 kg of slaked lime or an appropriate amount of 50% carbendazim wettable powder per 100 kg of cultivation substrate and mix evenly.
Planting Methods for Golden Line Lotus
1. Variety selection: At present, the widely cultivated golden line lotus includes Fujian varieties and Taiwan, China varieties, both of which have good adaptability and are liked by consumers. In particular, wild golden line lotus from Liangye Mountain and Guanzhai Mountain is very popular after artificial cultivation, while Taiwan, China varieties are relatively sensitive to low temperatures.
2. Seedling raising method: For large-scale cultivation of golden line lotus, tissue-cultured seedlings should be used. Tissue-cultured seedlings can maintain the excellent traits of the mother plant and are uniform. It is required to select tissue-cultured seedlings that have been hardened in a shed for more than 15 to 30 days, have a seedling height of more than 6 cm, and have 2 to 3 leaves for transplanting.
3. Reasonable close planting: Plant golden line lotus at a plant spacing and row spacing of 2×5 cm, transplanting 140 to 150 plants per tray. Wash the seedlings clean with clear water. When planting, control the depth at about 1 cm; deep planting is taboo. After planting, spray with an 800 to 1000 times dilution of 45% metalaxyl-hymexazol wettable powder.
4. Post-planting management: One week after transplanting golden line lotus, spray a 500 times dilution of 10% amino acids once every 7 days. Within 15 days after transplanting, use film covering, and control the temperature inside the shed at between 20 and 27°C, the relative air humidity at 70 to 80%, and the substrate humidity at 70 to 75%.
5. Pest and disease control: Surround the golden line lotus cultivation shed with insect-proof netting, use sugar-vinegar liquid to trap and kill cutworms, or use biological pesticides such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, plant extracts, and antibiotics to kill pests and diseases. For chemical control, select pesticides with high efficiency, low toxicity, and low residue.
6. Harvesting and processing: Golden line lotus can be harvested when it is more than 10 to 15 cm tall, has 5 to 6 leaves, leaf width of 2 to 2.5 cm, leaf length of 3 to 3.5 cm, the leaf underside is purplish red, the golden vein network on the leaf surface is obvious, and the stem is green. At harvest, shake off the soil clean, wash, and sun-dry or oven-dry.