Key Cultivation Techniques for Wide-Film Intercropping of Linear Chili Pepper with Cumin

Linear chili pepper is grown with wide-film flat mulching and intercropped with cumin; the chili pepper yield remains stable, and cumin is also harvested, achieving the goal of two harvests per year.

I. Pre-Sowing Preparation

1. Field Selection

Choose autumn-plowed and winter-irrigated land with good soil texture and moisture; the previous crop is best as a gramineous crop.

2. Seed Preparation

Before sowing, treat chili pepper seeds with warm water at 55-60°C for soaking, or dress with 0.3% dexon to prevent seed rot and seedling-stage diseases; select Turpan large-grain cumin or local farmer varieties from the Yanqi Basin, and before sowing use 10% salt water for seed selection.

3. Apply Sufficient Base Fertilizer

In combination with autumn plowing and winter irrigation, apply 2 tonnes of farmyard manure per 667 sq m; after the soil thaws in spring, apply 10-20 kg of diammonium phosphate, 8-10 kg of urea and 5 kg of potassium sulfate per 667 sq m, and prepare the land to meet the six-character standard.

II. Sowing Requirements

1. Time

It is required that the 10 cm soil temperature stabilizes at 12°C.

2. Film Laying and Sowing

Choose 1.45 m wide film and lay it flat mechanically. Mechanically sow linear chili pepper, 4 rows per film, with row spacing of 30 + 50 + 30 cm, plant spacing of 9.8 cm, and spacing between films of 40 cm; on the film, at the middle of the 50 cm row spacing of linear chili pepper, sow cumin by hand dibbling, with plant spacing of 30 cm and 15-20 seeds per hole so that it grows in clumps.

III. Field Management

1. Cumin

After emergence, promptly release the seedlings and thin and fix the seedlings; retain no fewer than 10 plants per hole until harvest in June, with no need for watering; foliar fertilizer may be sprayed; the mortality rate decreases later, and the cumin seeds are large and plump.

2. Linear Chili Pepper

After emergence, promptly release the seedlings; fix the seedlings at 3-4 leaves, retaining 1 plant per hole, and retain double plants where seedlings are missing. Cultivate and restrain seedling growth; cultivate at least 2-3 times before the first watering; the timing of the first watering depends on moisture and should be delayed as much as possible to promote strong seedlings. After the cumin harvest is completed before the first watering, remove the film, and in combination with cultivation open furrows and form ridges to create double-row seedlings; the first watering should be a quick run-through irrigation to prevent waterlogging of the pepper roots; thereafter water according to field water-holding capacity, irrigating thoroughly and evenly, with the water line below 8 cm from the bed surface. For plots where plants grow excessively vigorously, apply appropriate chemical control; during the opening period of the first inflorescence, use 2-2.5 g of mepiquat chloride per 667 sq m, mixed with 15 kg of water for spraying. During the formation period of the third inflorescence, apply 15-20 kg of diammonium per 667 sq m by hole application or band application. During the full fruiting period, spray 1-2 times with chili pepper spirit and foliar fertilizer; chili pepper spirit 4 g + potassium dihydrogen phosphate 20 g + urea 100 g, mixed with 20 kg of water and sprayed on the plants, which helps preserve flowers and fruits. To reduce ineffective flowers and fruits, spray chlormequat once more in mid-August, with 15 kg of water mixed with 10 kg of chlormequat; control watering in the late fruiting period, following the principle of not allowing drought.

IV. Pest and Disease Control

7. Insect Pests

Control is mainly aimed at cutworms; in mid-May, before the 3rd instar, use 20 mL of 2.5% decamethrin per 667 sq m; for cotton bollworm, the control period is from late June to mid-July, and it is necessary to control early, control when small, and control completely, alternating pesticides.

2. Diseases

For pepper phytophthora blight, spray 25% metalaxyl or 64% sandofan 50 g in the early stage, mixed with 30 kg of water; for viral disease, in the early stage of onset use 10 g of virus A per 667 sq m.