Sexual propagation proves effective for gastrodia cultivation
Gastrodia is a flagship product among the traditional Chinese medicinal herbs of our province. As the quality of gastrodia cultivation degrades year by year and diseases become severe, gastrodia yields are low and returns are poor. How to solve this problem? Experts at the Fengcheng City Yulong Sexual Seed Propagation Demonstration Service Base have found a way: with the method of sexual propagation of gastrodia, not only do yields increase by 2-3 times compared with asexually propagated gastrodia, but the disease resistance of gastrodia is also greatly enhanced.
What is sexual propagation of gastrodia
According to Mo Bingyao, an expert at the Fengcheng City Yulong Sexual Seed Propagation Demonstration Service Base, gastrodia cultivation in our province basically all uses asexual propagation, that is, the original corms directly come into contact with Armillaria mellea, causing the gastrodia to grow continuously.
Sexual propagation of gastrodia refers to the process of selecting robust Northeast Jian gastrodia of the red-stem, green-stem and black-stem types with plump apical buds, free of pests, diseases and scars, and of moderate size, cultivating them artificially, carrying out cross-pollination between different plants and different flowers, harvesting the spore fruits, mixing them with germination-promoting fungi and Armillaria mellea, and sowing them together to harvest Mi gastrodia and Bai gastrodia. It is understood that Armillaria mellea and germination-promoting fungi play an important role in the sexual propagation of gastrodia. Armillaria mellea is the only nutrient that promotes gastrodia growth, and its quality directly affects gastrodia yields; germination-promoting fungi are an essential substance for sexually propagated seed gastrodia and play an important role in increasing yields.
How to "plant" through sexual propagation
Mo Bingyao said: first, around June, evenly coat the gastrodia seeds onto the germination-promoting fungus leaves, choose moist coarse sandy soil or sandy loam for sowing to prevent waterlogging and standing water, then evenly scatter the mixed germination-promoting fungus leaves onto tree leaves, then lay branches on top of the germination-promoting fungus leaves, place Armillaria mellea right next to the branches, and cover with sandy soil; thus the first layer is sown. Following the same order, sow the second layer, and finally lay tree leaves on the soil layer to prevent light and rain erosion. After sowing is finished, irrigate once every half month to promote gastrodia germination and formation of protocorms, but note that large amounts of water must not be used, as this will cause the germinating seeds to rot. By November, the gastrodia can be harvested and at the same time stored or replanted separately. Mo Bingyao said that if replanting is carried out during the dormant period of gastrodia, yields will increase by another 15%-20%.
In Ziyou Village, Baiqi Town, Fengcheng City, villager Kang Jingwei used the technique of sexual propagation of gastrodia. He said happily that his one mu of land produced more than 1000 kg of dried gastrodia in total, and the gastrodia market price is at most 136 yuan per kg and at least 50 yuan, so planting gastrodia can bring him a maximum net income of 50,000 yuan a year, and at least 20,000 yuan.