Detailed Explanation of Direct Seeding Cultivation Techniques for Licorice

Cultivation Techniques

Site Selection Licorice is a deep-rooted plant, so flat, fertile, loose sandy soil or loam should be selected for planting. The best preceding crops are @#@245@#@, corn, and melon or vegetable fields, and continuous cropping with sugar beet or sunflower should be avoided.

Land Preparation and Fertilization Deep plow the selected land to more than 26 cm, apply 2000 kg to 3000 kg of fully decomposed organic fertilizer per mu, and 18 kg to 20 kg of diammonium phosphate, then harrow the soil finely, level it, and make beds. The bed ridges should be 20 cm to 30 cm wide and 20 cm high, the beds should be 2 m to 2.5 m wide, and the bed length depends on the terrain.

Seed Treatment To prevent damping-off during the licorice seedling stage, before sowing use 50% Dexon wettable powder at 0.2% to 0.4% of the seed amount, add water, and wet-mix at 3% of the seed amount. After mixing, keep the seed covered for 6 hours to 8 hours until sowing.

Sowing

Determination of Sowing Time Licorice is a thermophilic crop. The most suitable germination temperature is 24°C to 35°C. When the surface temperature stabilizes at 10°C, this is the best time for sowing.

Sowing Method Use manual drilling. On the prepared bed surface, open shallow furrows at a row spacing of 20 cm to 25 cm, scatter the seeds in the furrows, and cover with soil to a depth of about 2 cm. If the weather is dry after sowing, water in time to maintain moisture. Under suitable temperature and humidity conditions, seedlings can emerge 7 days to 18 days after sowing.

Sowing Rate The sowing rate is 1.5 kg to 2.5 kg per mu, and the target seedling stand is 20,000 to 25,000 plants per mu.

Field Management

Weeding Licorice fields should be weeded early and small weeds should be removed. Before final thinning, weed by hand 1 to 2 times to keep the field free of weeds. For small-scale planting, manual weeding is the main method; for large-scale planting, herbicides specially formulated for licorice fields can be used to control weeds.

Final Thinning When the seedlings are 8 cm to 15 cm high, thin to a plant spacing of 6 cm to 8 cm, removing small, weak, and diseased seedlings.

Topdressing After final thinning, apply a seedling-promoting fertilizer once, using 50 g to 100 g of potassium dihydrogen phosphate per mu plus 100 g to 150 g of urea for foliar spraying, or broadcast 5 kg to 8 kg of urea between rows and then water; for the second topdressing, when aboveground growth weakens and underground roots grow very rapidly, apply 6 kg to 8 kg of diammonium phosphate per mu, or 100 g to 150 g of potassium dihydrogen phosphate plus 1 tube of Penbao for foliar spraying.

Watering After emergence, seedlings should be appropriately stressed to encourage root growth. The first watering must be after final thinning, and subsequent irrigation depends on soil moisture. Licorice formed in the current year is watered 3 to 5 times in total during the whole growth period.

Harvesting and Processing

Dig in mid-October, with a whole growth period of about 150 days. For manual digging, dig 45 cm to 50 cm deep and try to dig out the entire root. Remove the aboveground parts and soil from the dug whole roots, dry them in the air, and they can be sold. For large-scale planting, harvest with a licorice-specific plow and pick out by hand. After air-drying, licorice can undergo further deep processing. Method: remove the fibrous root tails, pick out the licorice sticks, and cut them into slanted slices about 3 cm to 4 cm long; the fibrous root tails can be tied into bundles for sale.