How long is the growth cycle of Gastrodia elata (tianma)?

Under artificial cultivation conditions, Gastrodia elata takes about 3 years to complete one growth cycle.

Its growth process is basically as follows:

From November to February of the following year, the arrow tubers are planted; in late June the Gastrodia elata seeds mature, and they should be sown within one week.

Please note that in production, Gastrodia elata seeds and tuber seed stock are two different concepts. The former refers to the extremely tiny seeds in the capsule formed after pollination, produced on the spike inflorescence that grows on the aboveground stem of the arrow tuber; the latter refers to small tubers or tuberlets, that is, small Gastrodia elata.

After sowing, Gastrodia elata seeds germinate in about 15 days, and by November of that year they can grow into tuber seed stock. After about 8--12 months of swelling and growth, the tuber seed stock becomes an arrow tuber by October-November of the following year.

In the spring and summer of the third year, the arrow tuber bolts and flowers, and after pollination forms seeds again, thus completing one growth cycle.

However, in actual production, most Gastrodia elata growers (or medicinal herb growers) simply buy tuber seed stock for sowing, and the result is a one-year growth cycle. Strictly speaking, expressing it this way is not correct, but as a customary saying in actual production, it is also acceptable. However, the recently circulated saying of "a 100-day growth cycle" is not credible, and producers should distinguish it according to the biological characteristics of Gastrodia elata.