Cotton and lily intercropping planting pattern

Cotton and lily intercropping is a cotton-field intercropping pattern widely used in coastal and riverside dryland sandy loam areas. The two crops affect each other little and are mutually beneficial in fertilizer use, but note that lily cannot be continuously cropped and must be rotated to a different crop.

This intercropping pattern generally has a bed width of about 3 m, with cotton planted in wide and narrow rows, the wide row spacing being 140 cm and the narrow row spacing 50 cm, with 4 rows of cotton per bed. In the wide cotton rows, 6 rows of lily are planted, with a row spacing of 20 cm and a plant spacing of 20-25 cm, at 5000-6000 plants per mu. Cotton is raised as seedlings and transplanted, planted separately on both sides of the bed, at 1800-2000 plants per mu. Lily is harvested in July-August, with a yield of 600 kg per mu; cotton yields 80-100 kg per mu, with an output value of about 3000 yuan per mu and a net income of about 2000 yuan per mu.

Sowing and planting at the right time: lily is sown in early to mid-October. Cotton is sown around April 10 and transplanted in mid-May.

Deep plowing before sowing: before sowing lily, the soil in the wide rows must be deep plowed and carefully leveled and harrowed, so that the soil is loose and level, and at the same time apply 3000 kg of fully decomposed high-quality organic fertilizer or 100 kg of cake fertilizer per mu.

Scientific fertilization: lily must be given the "four fertilizers":

First, base fertilizer: before sowing, apply sufficient organic fertilizer in the wide cotton rows, and at sowing apply another 10 kg of urea, 30 kg of superphosphate and 10 kg of potassium sulfate per mu.

Second, winter fertilizer: at the end of Minor Cold, apply 1000 kg of human and livestock manure per mu.

Third, seedling-strengthening fertilizer: in early March, apply 1000-1500 kg of human and livestock manure per mu.

Fourth, leaf-strengthening fertilizer: in early to mid-May, apply 45-50 kg of compound fertilizer per mu. Fertilization during the cotton growth period must be adjusted appropriately; generally no fertilizer is applied in the early stage, and attention must be paid to controlling excessive growth. The flowering and boll fertilizer must be applied heavily to ensure the fertilizer needed during the boll-setting period. In the late stage, if growth is weak, a topping fertilizer should be applied as a supplement.

Strengthen management: lily fears moisture, so a complete set of ditches must be opened and cleaned frequently, and after rain the ditches should be cleared promptly to lower the water table. In the late stage, cotton coexists with lily seedlings; after boll opening, the narrow rows should be pushed together into ridges to facilitate operations in the wide rows and the growth of lily seedlings.

"Commonly used cotton-field intercropping and relay-cropping patterns" ends with this issue. In cotton-field intercropping and relay cropping, soybean, mung bean and summer vegetables, etc., can also be intercropped in the wide cotton rows, forming cotton-legume intercropping patterns, cotton-vegetable intercropping patterns, and so on. The planting methods of these patterns are basically the same, the cultivation techniques are easy to master, and the comprehensive benefits are relatively high. But note that the coexistence period can only be during the cotton seedling and bud stage or the boll-opening stage, and the flowering and boll stage must be avoided, otherwise the mutual effects are too great and it is very difficult to obtain high yield and high efficiency.