Detailed Introduction to a New Method for Raising Schisandra Seedlings
Schisandra is a perennial vine of the genus Schisandra in the family Magnoliaceae. Its mature dried fruit is used as medicine, commonly known as northern schisandra, and it has the effects of strengthening the lungs and relieving cough, nourishing the kidneys and astringing essence, and tonifying qi and promoting fluid production. Plants of the same genus also include southern schisandra and western schisandra, and among them Liaoning schisandra has the best medicinal efficacy and commercial value. Judging from the current market conditions, the prospects for developing Liaoning schisandra are very broad.
A new method for raising schisandra seedlings using vacant land is now introduced. The experimental site is in Tumen Villager Group, Yongquan Village, Jiucaigou Township, Xiuyan County. The trial area is 1 mu, and the soil is sandy loam with good drainage and irrigation conditions. The trial period was 2002-2004.
1. Land preparation In mid-October 2002, 740 one-year-old schisandra plants were planted in the experimental garden at a row spacing of 3 m and a plant spacing of 0.3 m; at the same time, seedbeds 120 cm wide at the top and 20 cm high were made between the rows, and 4000 kg of decomposed barnyard manure per mu was applied as base fertilizer, followed by fine land preparation.
2. Sowing Harvest mature fruit (whether wild or cultivated), wash off the pulp, and dry it in the sun for later use. Before the freeze in 2002, open furrows 3 cm deep on the seedling bed at a row spacing of 25 cm, press the bottom flat, sow evenly, cover with 2 cm of soil, then cover the bed surface with rice straw and water thoroughly. The sowing rate is 5 kg per mu.
3. Field management Before the plants turn green in the second year, set up trellises in time (concrete posts and No. 8 wire), and after they turn green, guide the vines onto the trellises, and prune the plants appropriately during the growing period. When the emergence rate of the schisandra seedlings raised between the rows reaches 70%, gradually remove the covering. When the young seedlings are 5 cm tall, thin them to a plant spacing of 3 cm, leaving 20000 plants per mu, water in time during drought, and loosen the soil appropriately while weeding, with care not to damage the root system.
The advantage of this method is that it uses tall and short plants of the same variety in combination, with three-dimensional cultivation and a combination of planting and seedling raising. It not only creates a good ventilated and light-transmitting environment for the mature schisandra plants, but also provides a certain shaded and light-avoiding condition for the young seedlings raised between the rows. At the same time, it also makes full use of the effective area of cultivated land. In this way, the economic benefit is increased by 5-10 times compared with simply raising schisandra seedlings or interplanting other crops between the rows. According to the market conditions of that year, the income per mu was nearly 10000 yuan. In the autumn of 2003, we repeated the previous year's experiment and achieved the same effect. The experimental results show that this method of cultivating schisandra seedlings has many advantages, is indeed feasible, and is worth promoting.