How to grow Acorus gramineus (Japanese sweet flag) in water and in soil? There are really many benefits to cultivating it

Acorus gramineus is a beautiful plant that combines inner beauty and outer beauty. Not only can its beautiful appearance delight the body and mind of viewers, but its rhizome can also help people protect their health, so it has relatively high cultivation value.

I. The effects and benefits of Acorus gramineus

Improving hearing and eyesight: Acorus gramineus is aromatic and opens the orifices, dispersing and reaching outward. "Mingyi Bielu" states that it has the effect of "improving hearing and eyesight and benefiting the mind and intellect," so it is good for treating conditions such as confusion, forgetfulness, tinnitus and hearing loss. For example, (Buwang San from "Zhengzhi Zhunsheng") uses Acorus gramineus combined with Polygala tenuifolia and other herbs, specifically to treat confusion and poor memory; Kaixin San from "Qianjin Fang" also uses this herb combined with other medicines, mainly to treat forgetfulness.

Resolving dampness and harmonizing the stomach: Acorus gramineus is pungent, bitter and aromatic. Entering the stomach meridian, it can diffuse and transform damp turbidity, open the stomach and promote digestion, and is a good medicine for resolving dampness and harmonizing the stomach. "Bencao Bei Yao" states that it "removes dampness and expels wind; for those with epigastric stuffiness and lack of hunger, with symptoms such as gastric and abdominal distension, stuffy pain, tasteless food, poor appetite, emaciation and fatigue, greasy coating and thin pulse, using it is often effective." All of these effects are obtained through its functions of bitter drying to remove dampness, pungent aroma to diffuse and disperse, opening the orifices and the stomach, and removing accumulation and easing the middle.

Dispersing cold and eliminating impediment: Acorus gramineus is aromatic, pungent and warm. Warmth can overcome cold, and pungent aroma disperses dampness; it further travels to the middle burner, and can thus develop the qi of the spleen and stomach and eliminate wind-cold-damp impediment. As "Bencao Qiuzhen" states: it first says it treats wind-cold-damp impediment, which is taking its power of pungent warmth to develop spleen qi. This herb both "mainly treats damp impediment of the limbs, with inability to flex and extend" ("Mingyi Bielu"), and also treats pathogenic wind cold impediment and generalized body pain, as in (Changpu San from "Shengji Zonglu"), which uses this herb combined with Aconitum and other medicines to treat cold impediment and body pain.

II. Methods for growing Acorus gramineus in water

1. Acorus gramineus can only be cultivated in containers and then placed as an accent at the bottom of small rivers or ponds. For container cultivation, you can choose a flower pot with a diameter of 30x50 cm, or soft plastic basins of 40x40 and 60x60 cm. If the pond water is very clear and the bottom can be seen when looking down, it is best to choose the former, which is beautiful and elegant.

2. For the growing soil, ordinary garden soil can be used, as well as pond mud, river mud and the like that are free of chemical pollution. Plant 6-10 plants per pot or basin. If there are design requirements, they should be implemented according to the design. If the growing soil is too poor, an appropriate amount of base fertilizer should be added to the soil.

3. Keep the water depth at 30-40 cm. If the water is too deep, raise the pot or basin higher. If fish are kept in the pond or river, a layer of small pebbles should be placed on the surface of the pot soil to prevent the fish from stirring the soil out of the pot or basin while rolling around.

4. When the natural temperature is below 3°C, move it to a well-lit site in a greenhouse to overwinter. If you do not plan to keep it evergreen through the winter, take it out before the pond water freezes, cut off the aboveground parts, and overwinter it in a cellar or cold room. If the pond or river water is not drained dry in winter and flows year-round or still has water above the ice layer, it can also be placed in the water to overwinter. It can also be removed from the pot (when grown in soft plastic basins, do not remove the basin) and buried in a wind-sheltered, sunny trench with maintained moisture to overwinter, and then repotted in early spring and placed back in the pond or river.

III. Methods for growing Acorus gramineus in soil

1. Acorus gramineus prefers a cool and humid climate and a shady, moist environment. It is cold-resistant and averse to drought. It is best cultivated in swampy wet land or sandy loam that is convenient for irrigation, or loam rich in humus.

2. Acorus gramineus is propagated by rhizome. Dig out the rhizomes in spring, select small rhizomes with fibrous roots and leaves as seed material, and before planting spray the stem blocks with Xinhua Zhimo, which can be mixed with seed coating agents to repel underground pests and diseases and isolate viral infection. After planting, cover with soil and press firmly.

3. During the growing period after planting Acorus gramineus, pay attention to pulling out weeds around the roots, loosening the soil and watering, and never let it dry out. Also apply human and animal manure and urine as top dressing 2 times. Mainly use nitrogen fertilizer, appropriately increase phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, and combine with spraying Xinhua Zhimo to enhance fertilizer efficiency. Also spray the medicinal material root growth agent to promote the transport of leaf photosynthetic products (nutrients) to the root system, improve the nutrient conversion rate and soil-loosening capacity, make the rhizome expand rapidly, and greatly increase the medicinal content.

4. The pest of Acorus gramineus includes rice grasshopper, which damages the leaves and can be controlled with a 1000-fold solution of 90% crystalline trichlorfon. Also spray Xinhua Zhimo to enhance the control effect. In late autumn, do a good job of overwintering cold protection and heat preservation to ensure safe overwintering and ensure a good harvest the following year.

Overall, whether growing Acorus gramineus in water or in soil, it cannot do without the word "water," so in the process of cultivating Acorus gramineus, be sure to avoid phenomena such as drought, and water frequently and generously.