Detailed Explanation of the Understory Seedling Cultivation Method for Taxus wallichiana var. mairei

Scientific and technical personnel at the Forestry Research Institute of Xinning County, Hunan Province began experimental research on Taxus wallichiana var. mairei seedling cultivation in 1978, and through scientific experimentation developed a set of locally adapted pine forest understory seedling cultivation methods. This method can effectively save labor and reduce production costs.

According to estimates, cultivating seedlings under a pine forest can save 40 workdays per mu compared with open-field seedling cultivation for tasks such as transporting mycorrhizal soil, pulling weeds, building shade frames, and drought protection, as well as save 1,200 yuan in expenses for shade frame materials, reducing production costs by 1,500 to 2,000 yuan per mu. Moreover, understory seedling cultivation has the advantage of fast seedling growth, with height growth generally reaching 120% to 140% of that of open-field seedling cultivation.

In addition, the understory seedling cultivation method can effectively solve the problem of insufficient seedling land in mountainous areas. Therefore, in the research and development of Taxus wallichiana var. mairei, the understory seedling cultivation method is worth promoting. The specific method is as follows:

(1) Seed collection and germination promotion: Taxus wallichiana var. mairei seeds can be harvested in mid-to-late October when the fruit turns dark red. Because the seeds undergo physiological after-ripening, they need to be stored in wet sand for one year before they can germinate. The outdoor natural wet sand stratification method is commonly used to treat the seeds to increase the germination rate.

(2) Nursery site selection and land preparation: Select a middle-aged to mature stand of disease-free and pest-free slash pine or Masson pine with a canopy density of 0.6 to 0.7, on relatively gentle slopes with deep soil layers and good drainage. In August to September of autumn, clear the weeds and shrubs in the forest and level them into horizontal terraces, then deep-dig 20 cm to 30 cm. In November, shallow-till and harrow finely. During land preparation, apply 40 to 60 dan of decomposed base fertilizer per mu, then divide into beds. The bed height is 15 cm to 20 cm, and the width is 1.2 m. After leveling the bed surface, use a 15 cm wide wooden board to press out seeding furrows 2 cm deep, with a spacing of 20 cm between furrows.

(3) Timely sowing: After the seeds have been stored for one year, when 30% of the seeds have cracked open and shown white, promptly sieve out the seeds and place them in a 0.2% potassium permanganate solution for disinfection for 10 minutes, then rinse clean with water. After drying off the surface water, sow them evenly in the furrows. After sowing, dig up yellow loam soil from under the pine forest that contains mycorrhizae and has been sieved, and cover the seeds with it, with the thickness just enough that the seeds are no longer visible.

(4) After sowing, lay moss to protect the seedlings, so as to protect the seedbed from rain impact and direct sunlight, keep the seedlings from sunscald damage and avoid death by suffocation when stems and leaves are buried by mud, and also to keep the soil loose and moist regularly and reduce the labor of intertillage and weeding.

(5) Strengthen technical measures such as seedling disease and pest control, intertillage and weeding, and fertilization. Through meticulous management, one-year-old seedlings can reach 12 cm to 18 cm, and two-year-old seedlings can reach 40 to 50 cm.