How can honeysuckle achieve high yields under artificial cultivation? A detailed explanation of the key technical points
Honeysuckle is a wild plant commonly found at the edges of mountain forests and in thickets, and its dried flower buds are a valuable Chinese medicinal herb purchased year-round by the state. In recent years, due to increased market demand and a sharp decline in wild resources, the price of honeysuckle has continued to rise. Converting it from wild to domestic cultivation and cultivating it artificially on a large scale has become a reliable way to prosper in mountainous areas. To achieve high yield and high efficiency in artificial cultivation, the following technical points must be mastered:
1. Select superior varieties
Superior varieties can be selected from local wild resources by choosing superior individual plants with thick vines, vigorous growth, many branches, a large number of flowers, concentrated flowering, high yield and good quality for cutting propagation, or superior varieties can be introduced directly from relevant units, such as "Yinhua No. 1" and "Da Jizhua". Using superior varieties can increase yield by more than 30% compared with ordinary varieties.
2. Choose suitable plots
Wild honeysuckle is not selective about soil and has wide adaptability; it can grow well on mountain slopes and even in saline-alkali land. However, for artificial cultivation to achieve high yields, light sandy loam soil that is loose, fertile and well drained should be chosen for planting. Because honeysuckle has a well-developed root system and extremely strong soil-binding capacity, it can effectively prevent soil erosion. In mountainous areas, it is especially suitable for planting on sloping farmland returned from farmland to forest, as well as on field ridges and field edges, which can bring significant economic benefits as well as good ecological benefits.
3. Carefully cultivate strong seedlings
To convert honeysuckle from wild to domestic cultivation, cutting propagation is mainly used. Cuttings can be planted directly to establish an orchard, or seedlings can be raised and then transplanted. Cutting is generally carried out in autumn from September to October or before sprouting in spring; in summer, if irrigation conditions are available, cutting propagation can also be carried out.
Cutting branches should be cut from superior individual plants. Select healthy, plump 1-2 year old stems and vines, cut them into cuttings about 30 cm long, remove the lower leaves of the cuttings, keep the upper 3-4 leaves, then tie them into small bundles. After treating the base with ABT rooting powder or other agents that promote root growth, allow them to dry slightly and then insert them. When temperature and humidity are suitable in spring and autumn, the cuttings can also be used without rooting powder treatment, but rooting will be slightly slower and the survival rate slightly lower.
If the land has been well prepared in advance, cuttings can be planted directly to establish the orchard. On the prepared cultivated land, make holes at a plant spacing of 1 m and a row spacing of 1.5 m, apply sufficient base fertilizer in the holes, backfill with topsoil, insert 3-4 honeysuckle cuttings scattered in each hole, with the depth inserted into the soil about 2/3 of the cutting, then cover with fine soil and press firm, water thoroughly, cover with plastic film, and expose the aboveground part of the cuttings. Generally, roots and sprouts will appear 20-30 days after insertion.
For expanding propagation of superior varieties, it is best to concentrate cuttings for seedling raising. The seedling-raising site should be chosen where the soil is loose and fertile, drainage is good, management is convenient, and it is close to a water source. Deeply plow the land, break up the clods, pick out weed roots, apply sufficient base fertilizer, and harrow as finely as possible. Then make raised beds about 1-1.5 m wide for the cutting bed. When cutting, first use bamboo chopsticks to make slanted holes in the cutting bed at a row spacing of 20 cm and a plant spacing of 5 cm, then insert the cuttings into the holes, press the soil firm and compact, and finally water thoroughly. Because the temperature for spring cuttings is relatively low, the seedbed must be covered with film to increase temperature and preserve moisture. When the temperature is relatively high for summer and autumn cuttings, shade nets should be used to lower temperature and preserve moisture, so as to improve the survival rate. If seedbed seedling raising is carried out with careful management, roots and sprouts generally appear in half a month. For spring seedling raising, the seedlings can leave the nursery in autumn of the same year.
In addition, honeysuckle can also be propagated by seed, layering, division and other methods. For superior varieties, tissue culture "ke" technology can also be used to rapidly cultivate large numbers of high-quality seedlings.
4. Improve land preparation quality
Honeysuckle has strong vitality, and its general lifespan can reach several decades. Under artificial planting, one year of cultivation brings many years of benefit. To increase yield, the land should be carefully prepared in the planting year to improve the quality of field planting. Whether planted in continuous blocks or in scattered cultivation, before planting the soil should be deeply plowed, weeds picked clean, soil clods broken up, and raised-ridge cultivation should be implemented.
5. Transplant at the right time
Transplanting before sprouting in spring and after dormancy in autumn both make survival easy. When planting, first make holes at a plant spacing of 1 m and a row spacing of 1.5 m, backfill the holes with farmyard manure and fertile, loose topsoil, plant 2 seedlings per hole, then cover with fine soil and press firm, water thoroughly to settle the roots, cover with plastic film, and then expose the seedlings outside the film for cultivation. As long as honeysuckle is transplanted at the right time after rain when soil moisture is suitable, the survival rate is generally above 90%.
6. Strengthen intertillage and weeding
Within 1-3 years after planting, to prevent weed infestation, intertillage and weeding are needed 2-4 times each year. Generally, this is done in spring when it sprouts, in combination with applying a sprouting fertilizer. In autumn, before winter begins, it is done in combination with applying a wintering fertilizer and hilling soil around the roots. Between spring and autumn, depending on weed growth each year, weed 1-2 times. After the honeysuckle orchard is established, at least once each year before winter, intertillage should be carried out in combination with fertilization.
7. Persist in topdressing to promote growth
Under artificial cultivation conditions, to establish the orchard early and achieve high yields, topdressing should be maintained every year, generally in combination with intertillage, applying fertilizer once each in spring and autumn. Spring fertilization should mainly use quick-acting fertilizers, mostly dilute manure water or multi-element compound fertilizer, applied in shallow furrows when honeysuckle sprouts in spring. Cover with soil immediately after application. This fertilization helps the plants overwinter and keep warm, nourishes the roots and strengthens the seedlings, and lays the foundation for high yield the following year. In addition, to increase per-unit yield, after each crop of flowers is harvested, potassium dihydrogen phosphate, urea, etc. can also be applied as a foliar topdressing.
8. Rational pruning and disease prevention
If honeysuckle is not pruned, the stems and vines grow in clusters, and old branches and branches spreading along the ground rarely bloom, affecting yield. Therefore, to achieve high yields, honeysuckle needs proper pruning every year. Generally, each winter, all old branches with few flowers, branches spreading along the ground, overly dense branches, excessive vegetative branches and diseased or pest-damaged branches should be cut off, and then the orchard should be cleaned. For large-scale artificial cultivation, it is best to prune honeysuckle year by year into an upright umbrella-shaped small shrub, which not only facilitates management and harvesting, but also saves the cost of building trellises.
Honeysuckle rarely develops diseases under wild conditions. If cultivated artificially on a large scale, the main diseases are anthracnose and rust, which can be controlled symptomatically with dexon and triadimefon, and the main pest is aphids, which can be controlled by spraying wanling and qingsiben. It is worth noting that from budding to before harvesting, chemical pesticides must strictly not be applied to honeysuckle, so as to avoid reducing its medicinal value.
9. Timely harvesting and spreading for drying
Honeysuckle should be harvested when the flower buds turn from green to white, with the upper part already swollen and the lower part still green, and it is best to harvest them in the morning before the dew has dried. The flower buds harvested at this time have a strong fragrance after drying, are easy to keep their color, are of good quality, and the yield is also relatively ideal. Harvesting too early not only gives low yield, but also poor quality.
After harvesting, honeysuckle should be spread out to dry in time, and it is best to dry it in the sun the same day, so that the flowers are white and the color is good. Do not turn it over at will during sun-drying, otherwise the flowers are prone to turning black and rotting. If the weather is poor after harvesting, it can be dried in a drying room, and the quality is better than sun-drying. However, attention must be paid to the temperature when drying: it must be gradually raised from about 30°C at the beginning of drying to 60°C, and after the temperature is raised, drying must not be stopped and the flowers must not be turned over, otherwise the flowers are prone to spoiling.