Detailed Introduction to the Lazy Man's Honeysuckle King Variety
Characteristics: large flower quantity and high quality. Traditional honeysuckle, namely Damaohua and Jizhuahua, generally grows 2 flower buds at each leaf node, is vine-type, easily creeps along the ground or climbs and interweaves into a tangled mass, and the flower buds become deformed. The tree-type "Honeysuckle King," however, can grow 20 to 80 flower buds at a single leaf node, with some reaching more than 100; the bud length is about 1.5 times that of traditional flower needles, and the yield is 6 to 10 times that of traditional flowers. After four years, the dry flower yield per plant reaches 4 to 5 kg. The flower buds cluster into balls and strings, crystal clear and translucent, shaped like frost crystals: a delicate fragrance overflows, refreshing the heart.
Long flowering period, easy to harvest. According to testing by the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, the chlorogenic acid content of this variety is 1.3 percentage points higher than that of traditional flowers. Because this variety does not open its flowers during the flowering period and keeps the buds permanently closed, the flower product produced is only premium-grade flowers. Traditional varieties, by contrast, open at noon, their medicinal components are easily lost, and the flower products produced contain more inferior grades, so their value cannot rise. Low labor input, easy to manage. This variety is shrub-type, with fast growth; current-year branches reach 1 to 2 cm in diameter, and the crown of a 2- to 4-year-old plant covers 3 to 4 sq m. The plant has a shape with a crown above and a stem below, and its branches grow into the air, giving it unique advantages in ventilation, watering, hoeing and flower picking. It is easy to plant and lazy to manage; under normal growing conditions, hoeing once and, under harsh ecological conditions, spraying twice is enough, and in production one laborer can manage 20 mu.
Broad market, high benefit. Honeysuckle is listed as one of China's ten major commonly used bulk medicinal materials. At present, market demand is more than 15 million kg. In the next ten years, old varieties will degenerate, and coupled with continuously increasing demand, the contradiction between supply and demand will be acute. With advances in medical science and technology and the improvement of people's health awareness, Chinese medicinal materials are in the ascendant in the international market, and the market prospects for Chinese medicinal materials in the 21st century are bright. As a major export product of China's Chinese medicinal materials, honeysuckle has even greater development potential. Therefore, choosing to develop honeysuckle production is of economic and ecological double benefit for doing a good job in adjusting the agricultural industrial structure and vigorously developing this green forest-medicine industry.
Seedlings supplied: grafted seedlings
Suitable planting areas are broad and easy to cultivate. Honeysuckle King likes a warm and humid climate, is heat-tolerant, cold-tolerant, barren-tolerant and waterlogging-tolerant. It can be planted in vast areas at altitudes of 200 to 2000 m, with annual precipitation of 400 to 2000 mm and a frost-free period of more than 135 days. The optimum growth temperature is 10 to 38°C, and areas with severe winter temperatures of minus 25°C are also suitable for its development. Whether in mountainous areas, valleys, tidal flats and plains, or hilly clay loam, and in front of and behind houses, it can grow well. It is not strict about soil quality, but loose and fertile soil is best.
Cultivation points: planting can be done in autumn, winter or spring. Dig planting holes 50 to 80 cm, and mix in an appropriate amount of 10 to 20 kg of farmyard manure to facilitate root expansion and growth. It can be planted as single plants in rows like peach trees and orange trees. In fertile and irrigated fields, a spacing of 2 x 2 m can be used; on hillside land, a plant and row spacing of 2 x 1 m can be used, using 166 or 330 seedlings per mu.