A Detailed Guide to Ramie Planting Techniques and Field Management Methods

Ramie is one of the important fiber crops in ancient China. China is the country with the most variation types of ramie varieties and the most wild species of the genus Boehmeria. China also has the longest history of ramie cultivation, dating back more than 4,700 years. In ancient times, its main uses were making linen cloth and fine hemp rope. With social progress, these items have been gradually phased out, but it was later discovered that ramie leaves have a relatively high protein content, so they are often used to make feed. In addition, its roots contain the medicinal component ramie acid, which has the effects of nourishing yin and calming the fetus, and it is also widely used for medicinal purposes, as well as a raw material for papermaking and chemical raw materials. It has a wide range of uses.

Planting Methods

I. Variety Selection

The main varieties promoted in our area include Chuanzhu No. 8, Xiangzhu No. 3, Zhongzhu No. 1 and other excellent varieties.

II. Ramie Field Construction

Ramie fields should be concentrated in continuous cropping, with windbreak belts established and drainage and irrigation systems properly built. Generally, 0.6-1 hectare is the standard, and it should not be less than 0.3 hectare. Main drainage and irrigation channels should be set according to the terrain. Using the main channel as the baseline, along the north-south direction, approximately every 50 m, and along the east-west direction every 100-150 m, a branch channel and a transport road should be set up. The branch channel should be 1-2 m wide and 0.8-1.6 m deep, and the transport road should be about 3 m wide, with the two arranged alternately. When building fields in hilly and mountainous areas, the slope should be within 30 degrees, with about 5 degrees being most suitable. Slopes of 5-15 degrees are best terraced into level terraces. The length of terrace soil varies from about 30-100 m, and the bed width depends on the slope, with 34 m being more suitable. For gentler slopes, the width can be larger. At the uppermost and smallest ends of both sides of the terrace soil, a 2 m wide road should be built. On the windward slope of the road, one or two rows of trees should be planted to reduce wind damage.

III. Cultivation Management

1. Comprehensively use multiple rapid propagation methods. In field production, methods such as clump division propagation, fine-cut seed root propagation, bud cutting propagation, foot ramie propagation, layering propagation and detached layering propagation, and tender shoot cutting propagation can be comprehensively used for asexual propagation. Old ramie areas mainly use small seed root direct planting and bud cutting propagation for seedling raising and transplanting, while new ramie areas use tender shoot propagation for seedling raising and transplanting. In principle, seed propagation is not used.

2. After the mulch is removed, water frequently to keep the soil moist. By the 3-4 leaf stage, appropriate fertilization can be combined with watering. At this time, some urine fertilizer can be applied appropriately, once a week, 2-3 times. When the seedlings grow to about 20 cm, seedling-promoting fertilizer should be applied to promote rapid seedling growth. At about 60 cm, attention should be paid to one round of stalk-growing fertilizer. The fertilizer is generally mainly human and livestock manure and urine, cake fertilizer, or urea. Generally, 1000 kg of farmyard manure of human and livestock manure and urine, 100 kg of cake fertilizer, and 20 kg of urea are applied per mu. During the peak growth season, a small amount of boron fertilizer can be applied to increase yield.

3. Plastic film mulching, early raising and early planting. According to experiments, compared with rice straw mulching for seedling raising, plastic film mulching increased ground temperature by 1.3-8.1 degrees C, with an average increase of 3.27 degrees C, emergence was 10 days earlier, and at the same transplanting time there were 2 more leaves, seedling height was 1.8 cm greater, stem diameter was 0.08 cm greater, and root length was 0.4 cm greater.

4. Reform planting methods and increase planting density. First, change equidistant or close spacing to wide-row strip planting; second, change sparse planting with fixed clumps to high-density dynamic cultivation, that is, according to the wide-row strip planting specification, add one row of ramie seedlings (clumps) in the wide rows to increase density, and then in the winter of that year or the spring of the following year remove the added ramie clumps to restore the density to normal specifications.

5. Change rhizosphere topdressing to rhizosphere plus foliar topdressing. Adopt leaf fertilizer spraying technology and promote various leaf fertilizers such as potassium dihydrogen phosphate, yield-increasing agents, rare earths, micro-fertilizers, and hormones. This can increase raw ramie by 8.31%-15.69% per mu.

6. Rice straw mulching of ramie fields. After the early rice harvest, spread fresh straw between the rows of the harvested second-crop ramie field, generally spreading about 1500 kg of fresh straw per mu. This can preserve fertilizer, prevent drought, and improve the soil. It increases yield by 8%-10% compared with unmulched ramie fields.

7. Break the stalks early at the right time, and change harvesting one crop of ramie to 2-3 crops of ramie. The historical habit for breaking stalks of new ramie is based on the standard that 2/3 of the ramie stalks are black, most leaves have fallen, and dormant buds have grown at the base. Because seedling raising and transplanting are relatively late, it is difficult to meet the stalk-breaking standard when harvesting the second crop. Therefore, most new ramie fields can only break stalks at the third crop and harvest one crop of ramie in that year. Breaking stalks early at the right time means relaxing the stalk-breaking standard from 2/3 black stalks to 1/3, which can achieve the goal of harvesting 2-3 crops in the year of planting. According to large-scale surveys, new ramie harvested twice a year yields 41.9% more than that harvested once, and that harvested three times a year yields 69.3% more than that harvested once.

8. Do a good job of winter cultivation. Winter cultivation of ramie mainly consists of three links: intertillage, heavy fertilization, and appropriate earthing up. Achieve "a careful round of hoeing, a solid layer of manure, and a loose layer of soil."

IV. Timely Harvest

Ramie is a crop harvested multiple times. The first harvest is in late May or early June. The first ramie crop should be harvested early to promote early development of the second crop. After harvest, repeat the above work. Likewise for thinning and weeding, and fertilizer and water management. The second ramie crop is generally in late July. After harvest, carry out intertillage, weeding, and fertilization, and also pay attention to pest and disease control to promote healthy growth of the third crop. The growing season of the third ramie crop is in late summer and early autumn, when diseases are more serious and climate changes are greater. In addition to pests and diseases, measures against summer drought and autumn drought as well as waterlogging should also be taken. The third ramie crop can generally be harvested in late October or early November.