Detailed Explanation of Rapid High-Yield Cultivation Techniques for Northern Schisandra

Schisandra (Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. Hist.) is distributed in Northeast China and is a wild woody vine fruit tree. Its fruit is both a commonly used precious Chinese medicinal herb and a raw material for processing fruit wine and juice beverages. Due to long-term destructive harvesting and other human factors, wild resources are scarce. While strengthening resource protection efforts, conducting large-scale artificial cultivation is the fundamental way to solve the raw material shortage. Based on years of research results and production experience, practical cultivation techniques for northern schisandra are provided for reference only.

1. Site selection: Choose flat land with good drainage and a groundwater level below 1 m for the planting site.

2. Planting: Select high-quality seedlings for cultivation, preferably sourced from seedling bases in colder regions than the local area. Adjust planting spacing according to local conditions. It is best to use a small amount of special biological fertilizer at planting time.

3. Soil management: Cultivate and weed multiple times per year, keeping the soil loose and weed-free within the planting rows. After fruit harvest, perform deep plowing throughout the orchard to a depth of 20-25 cm; promptly remove root suckers produced at the base of plants from the previous year. Irrigate before bud break and during the berry growth period respectively.

4. Fertilization: Apply fertilizer in a timely and appropriate manner based on soil fertility and the growth condition of schisandra.

5. Training and pruning

5.1 Trellis post installation

Northern schisandra vines are soft and cannot stand upright; they need to attach to support stakes and twine upward to grow. Therefore, its training requires artificially installed trellis posts combined with pruning to accomplish.

5.2 Winter pruning

Winter pruning can be carried out from 2-3 weeks after leaf fall until before bleeding begins the following year, but it is best completed in mid-to-late March. When pruning, make the cut 2-2.5 cm from the bud, and leave no lateral branches within 30 cm of the ground surface on the trellis. When the vines have not yet covered the trellis surface, for the extension shoot of the main vine, only cut off the immature portion; for lateral vine pruning, mainly use medium-long cane pruning (leaving 6-8 buds) with spacing maintained at 15-20 cm. It is appropriate to leave 10-15 medium-long shoots per plant. In principle, do not prune leaf cluster shoots. To promote the sprouting of basal buds and facilitate the cultivation of replacement canes, short cane and ultra-short cane pruning (leaving 1-3 buds) can also be used. Medium-long shoots pruned and retained from the previous year should be promptly cut back, retaining only one leaf cluster shoot or medium-long shoot at the base. Therefore, when pruning, find important fruiting parts in the lower section, where most nodes also easily form leaf cluster shoots. The extension shoot from the previous year is also an important fruiting part, and most nodes on it also easily form leaf cluster shoots. Therefore, when pruning, look for replaceable shoots in the lower section for renewal. When a main vine is found to be aging or its position has shifted upward with the lower part becoming bare, select a vigorous sucker emerging from the base of the plant as a new main vine and remove the old vine. After the plant reaches maturity, at the intersections of main and lateral branches, there are often basal buds with larger bud bodies and good development. These buds can mostly produce very vigorous shoots, which creates good conditions for renewing lateral branches and should be utilized.

5.3 Summer trellis management

During the young plant stage, promptly tie the selected main vines to bamboo poles to promote upward growth. In principle, new shoots sprouting from lateral vines of mature trees do not need tying. If any are too long, they can be pinched at about 10 nodes. If lateral vines (fruiting mother canes) are left too long or carry a heavy load, necessary tying should be provided to prevent branch breakage.

6. Pest and disease control

Powdery mildew and black spot disease are two common diseases of northern schisandra, generally occurring in early June. The main pests damaging northern schisandra include fruit borers, spittlebugs, adult scarab beetles, and tent caterpillars. The damage period is mostly from late May to late August. Control methods are as follows.

The two diseases have similar onset periods. Spray once in late May with 1:1:100 equal-amount Bordeaux mixture for prevention. If no disease occurs, spray once every 7-10 days.

0.3-0.5 degree lime sulfur mixture, or dinocap or thiophanate-methyl wettable powder at 800 times dilution; for black spot disease, use mancozeb 50% wettable powder at 600-800 times dilution for control. If both diseases show a developing trend, dinocap and mancozeb can be mixed together for a single combined control application, with concentrations still using the respective concentrations mentioned above.

In management, pay attention to the rational distribution of vines and appropriately increase the proportion of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers to improve plant disease resistance. Before bud break, clean up diseased branches and leaves and burn or bury them deeply, and spray the entire orchard once with 5-degree lime sulfur mixture.

7. Fruit yield enhancement and frost prevention

Schisandra in Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces is highly susceptible to late frost damage, which can even lead to total crop failure for the year. Spraying fruit yield enhancement and frost prevention agent twice a year can not only resist late frost invasion but also increase fruit yield by 10-40%.

8. Application of new achievements

(1) Schisandra Yellow Leaf Remedy: This product is a powder specifically used to treat schisandra yellow leaf disease and white leaf disease, with results visible in 7-10 days.

(2) Special biological fertilizer: This biological fertilizer is based on the growth characteristics of schisandra, using chicken manure with high nutrient content as the base material, adding plant micro-powder, various trace elements, acid regulators, and other materials, and is made using a biological preparation containing more than 80 kinds of microbial flora. It is a special fertilizer that can be rapidly absorbed and utilized by schisandra plants, especially when applied as a starter fertilizer, with long-lasting effects, safety, and high efficiency.