Detailed Explanation of the Key Points of Standardized Cultivation Techniques for Pinellia ternata

Pinellia ternata is the peeled and dried tuber of Pinellia ternata, a perennial herbaceous plant with fleshy roots in the Araceae family. It is also known as three-leaf pinellia, dry pinellia, sanbujiao, and mayutou. It has the effects of drying dampness and transforming phlegm, directing qi downward and stopping vomiting, and resolving stuffiness and dissipating nodules. It mainly treats profuse phlegm with cough and asthma, wind-phlegm dizziness, vomiting and nausea, chest and epigastric stuffiness and oppression, globus hystericus, and other conditions.

I. Characteristics and Features

Pinellia ternata is a perennial herbaceous plant with a plant height of 15-40 cm. The underground tuber is oblate or spherical, with a diameter of 1-3 cm. The leaves emerge from the top of the tuber. Young seedlings often have a single leaf, ovate-cordate, with the middle leaflet relatively large and the two side leaflets relatively small, acute at the apex, cuneate at the base, with a short petiole; the leaf veins are pinnate reticulate, and the lateral veins unite near the margin. On the inner side of the lower part of the petiole, a white bulbil is produced, and sometimes there is also one at the leaf tip, ovate. The berry is red when mature.

II. Cultivation Techniques

1. Land selection and preparation. Pinellia ternata is a shallow-rooted herbaceous plant and grows well and yields high in loose soil with high organic matter content. Therefore, fertile sandy loam soil should be selected for planting. The preceding crop is preferably a legume or grass family crop. Growth is poor and yields are low in compacted and thin soil. Saline-alkali land and waterlogged low-lying land are not suitable for planting. Before plowing the land, apply 2500-4000 kg of decomposed organic fertilizer or farmyard manure and 15-20 kg of superphosphate per mu as base fertilizer, plow deeply to 20 cm, harrow fine and level, and make high beds about 1 m wide.

2. Planting Methods

(1) Propagation. Mainly by tubers and bulbils, but seeds can also be used for propagation.

A. Bulbil propagation. After the mother tuber sends out leaves, one bulbil can be produced on the lower part of each petiole or at the base of the leaf, with a diameter of 0.3-1 cm, pointed at both ends and larger in the middle. When the bulbils are mature, they can be picked for use as seed material.

B. Small tuber propagation. The small tubers sprouted from 2-year-old or 3-year-old Pinellia ternata can also be used as propagation material. At harvest, select small tubers with a diameter of 0.7-1 cm as seed, mix with moist sandy soil, and store in a cool place until sowing.

C. Seed propagation. Harvest can only be obtained 3 years after sowing, but this is rarely used in production.

(2) Planting. It can be done in all four seasons, but spring planting is preferable, and the earlier in spring the better. Either drilling or broadcasting may be used. For drilling, first open furrows 5-7 cm deep on the bed at a row spacing of 20-25 cm, place the tubers in the furrows at a plant spacing of 2-5 cm, using about 50-70 kg of seed per mu. After sowing, cover with decomposed farmyard manure, then apply decomposed human and livestock manure, and finally cover with soil level with the bed surface. After planting, the soil should maintain a certain degree of moisture. When the soil is dry, water promptly to facilitate emergence. If seed propagation is used, water the land thoroughly before sowing, broadcast at a row spacing of 3-5 cm, cover with 3 cm of fine soil, then cover with weeds and maintain a certain humidity; seedlings can emerge after 20-25 days.