How much does the base growing medium affect Gastrodia elata yield?

At present, the base growing media used for cultivating Gastrodia elata vary from place to place. In the Hanzhong area of Shaanxi, river sand is mostly used as the base growing medium, while in the Tonghua area of Jilin, humus soil is mostly used as the base growing medium. Some also use broadleaf tree sawdust mixed with sand or rice husk mixed with sand as the base growing medium. The biggest advantage of sand as a growing medium is good water permeability, but it contains very few nutrients; choosing humus soil made of semi-decomposed fallen leaves as the growing medium is better, but the black soil from the lower layer must not be mixed in. Production practice has shown that sawdust mixed with sand, rice husk mixed with sand, and semi-decomposed fallen leaves mixed with sand as the base growing medium are better than using sand alone as the growing medium. This is because sawdust, rice husk, and semi-decomposed fallen leaves all contain large amounts of cellulose, lignin, and other substances, which are nutrients needed by Armillaria mellea. Armillaria mellea does not obtain all the nutrients it needs solely from the fungus logs and fungus branches. The richer the nutrients in the base growing medium, the more nutrients Armillaria mellea obtains, and the more nutrients it supplies to Gastrodia elata, so that Gastrodia elata can achieve high yield. If 0.2% phosphate fertilizer and 0.35 potassium dihydrogen phosphate are added to the growing medium, and then 2% gypsum and 2% sucrose or beet sugar are added, or during the peak growth period of Gastrodia elata, 1% sugar water or 10%-20% potato decoction is frequently sprayed (if 10 mg of vitamin B1 or 0.01% triacontanol is added to the sugar water and potato water), the effect will be even better. But do not spray too much, and the temperature of the base growing medium must not exceed 70°C.

However, there are also cases of obtaining high Gastrodia elata yields without using the above growing media. For example, the medicinal materials company of Yun County, Hubei Province, created a method of applying base fertilizer and covering with a thin mulch to achieve a bumper harvest of Gastrodia elata. Their method is:

① After selecting a good site for Gastrodia elata, dig and turn the soil, and the required depth of the workable soil layer is 40 cm. Dig a pit 40 cm wide, 40 cm deep, and 3 m long.

② Place sesame stalks 2-3 cm thick in the pit, or place a section of fresh young wooden stick every 6 cm square, put 7-8 cm of loose soil on top, and cultivate Gastrodia elata by the method of fungus logs sandwiching fungus material or fungus material sandwiching fungus logs. Use 3/5 oily sandy soil, mix it evenly with 2/5 broadleaf sawdust or rice grain, and fill the gaps.

③ Cover with a thin mulch. Chop fresh branches of various thicknesses into 3-5 cm lengths and evenly cover with a thin layer (that is, the thin mulch), then cover with some oily sandy soil until level with the ground. Cover with some fallen leaves and dead branches on top. In this way, carry out cultivation row by row, with a row spacing of 15-20 cm, and a high yield can be obtained.