How to Grow Bletilla striata? A Full Breakdown of Profits and Common Questions
This medicinal herb, Bletilla striata, has gradually been knocked off its pedestal, but plenty of people are still growing it. Whether you are planning to grow it or are already growing it, you should get to know the information below well! It is all closely tied to growing Bletilla striata.
1. Seedling Quality
Seedlings are something Bletilla striata is very particular about. The best variety right now is wild Bletilla striata, because it fetches the highest price. But wild varieties cannot be propagated artificially, otherwise they become artificially cultivated varieties and the price drops. The current mainstream Bletilla striata varieties include purple-flowered three-fork, white-flowered three-fork, and yellow-flowered three-fork, among which the purple-flowered three-fork is relatively common and a relatively superior variety. Transplanted wild varieties are too hard to control, and the uncertainty of the variety is too high. Transplanting wild varieties is not as good as buying better artificially raised seedlings.
2. Planting and Harvest Time
The growing time of medicinal herbs is different from that of vegetables and the like; their planting time is generally relatively long. Bletilla striata, for example, generally must be grown for more than 4 years before it can be harvested, and its tubers generally only grow rapidly after 2-3 years, so in the first few years, even if you wanted to sell, you could not. This is still assuming a relatively suitable growing environment. If the growing environment is poor, growing for 5-6 years is common, so growers should not dig it up easily before the right time, as that would be a big loss.
3. Planting Investment
The investment for growing Bletilla striata per mu is relatively high. Over 4 years, one mu requires an investment of more than 20,000 yuan from start to finish, so growers need to be mentally prepared. Of this, the cost of seedlings is about 10,000 yuan, labor costs are about 5,000 yuan, and other costs will not be listed specifically; everyone should calculate them according to their local conditions. The remaining costs include land rent, planting costs, insecticides, fertilizer, watering equipment, shade netting, and the like, and altogether this generally exceeds 20,000 yuan.
4. Future Development Prospects
The development prospects of Bletilla striata are not very promising at present. Since its peak in 2013, it has gradually been approaching a trough. Now the wild price of Bletilla striata is very high, but the artificially grown price is getting lower and lower. In particular, as people who planted Bletilla striata in 2013 and 2014 gradually begin to harvest and sell, the market has suffered even more of a shock, and the actual market is currently unstable. Top-grade Bletilla striata now basically fluctuates at 800 yuan per kilogram, whereas it could once sell for as much as 2,000 yuan per kilogram.
Whatever industry you grow in, you should carefully understand that industry, and this is even more true of the medicinal herb industry. If you want to get into Bletilla striata, you must spend more time understanding it. Growing medicinal herbs has always been a relatively risky project: long cycles, high investment, and profits that depend on the market!