A Complete Analysis of Gastrodia Planting Methods and Technical Key Points

Gastrodia, also known as Chijian Dingfengcao, Mingtianma, etc., is the species Gastrodia elata of the orchid family. Its tuber is used as medicine, and it has the effect of calming wind and relieving spasms; it mainly treats rheumatic waist and knee pain, limb spasms, dizziness and headache, and infantile convulsions.

Gastrodia is a perennial symbiotic herb; the mature plant has an underground tuber and an aboveground flower stem. It has no roots, the stem is single and upright, 100-100 cm tall, with no green leaves, only degenerated scale-like leaves that clasp the stem; the raceme is terminal, and the tuber is fleshy and enlarged, oblong. Living gastrodia prefers a cool and humid climate, in mountainous areas with relative humidity between 70% and 90%. Gastrodia cannot live autotrophically and must rely on Armillaria mellea in symbiosis with it to obtain nutrients and reproduce and grow, so wherever gastrodia grows, a large amount of Armillaria mellea will certainly be associated with it. Parasitic Armillaria mellea can grow on about 200 species of tree species, especially broadleaf forests, generally on the roots of cut trees or bamboo or burned trees or bamboo, as well as on dead tree stumps fallen in the forest, living a saprophytic life; but it can also parasitize living trees, causing severe wood rot disease in trees. Armillaria mellea must be under certain moist conditions to grow vigorously; the soil moisture content should be no less than 45%-50%, and the air relative humidity is preferably 75%-85%. Armillaria mellea can be artificially cultivated; the strain is first cultured, and the mother culture is cultured on potato dextrose agar medium.

Collection and selection of fungal sources: in gastrodia-producing areas, tissue isolation is carried out using the tender rhizomorphs of Armillaria mellea (with a brownish-red outer sheath) or young, fresh Armillaria mellea fruiting bodies collected in autumn that have not yet opened their caps; after isolating the types and inoculating them, they are cultured at 22-26°C for 15-17 days, and when the entire bottle is covered, they become the cultivation strain.

When culturing the spawn material, the medium formula is: sawdust (oak is better) plus water or 20% potato water to make a semi-solid medium. During preparation, use 500 mL Erlenmeyer flasks, put 10 g of sawdust ash into each flask, then add water to soak the sawdust ash thoroughly, and continue adding water until the liquid surface reaches a depth of 0.5 cm. After the water is added sufficiently, select branches of chestnut trees and the like that are the thickness of a finger, cut them into small twigs 6-7.5 cm long, hack the bark with a knife into fish-scale shapes, place 2-3 pieces in each flask, insert them obliquely into the above semi-solid medium so that the twigs are exposed outside the substrate, and after high-pressure sterilization, inoculate aseptically (cultivation strain); culture at 25°C for 1-2 months, and when the medium and twigs are covered with brownish-red rhizomorphs, it is the spawn material.