A Detailed Guide to Sisal Planting Techniques and Management Methods
Sisal (scientific name: Agave sisalana Perr. ex Engelm.), also known as pineapple hemp, belongs to the Agave genus of the Asparagaceae family. It is a perennial tropical hard leaf fiber crop, native to Mexico, and is now mainly cultivated in Africa, Latin America, Asia and other places. It is currently the most widely used and most extensively applied hard fiber in the world. Sisal fiber is tough in texture, resistant to wear, salt and alkali, and corrosion, and is widely used in transportation, fisheries, petroleum, metallurgy and various other industries, possessing important economic value. World sisal import and export trade is continuously growing, yet China's current self-produced sisal fiber cannot meet domestic demand, and as the uses of sisal fiber continue to increase, China's imports of sisal fiber are increasing every year. At the same time, sisal also has important medicinal value.
Planting Methods:
I. Establishment and Planting of the Sisal Plantation
1. Planning of the sisal plantation. The planning of the sisal plantation should be adapted to local conditions. Roads should be left as separation between small sisal plots. Each large sisal plantation should have main roads. Generally, small sisal plots should be 96 x 70 m for ease of management, with separation roads 3.5 m wide; large sisal plantations should be 200 mu, with main roads 5 m wide, to facilitate mechanized farming operations and transportation. For low-lying land, drainage ditches should be left to prevent water accumulation from causing disease.
2. Clearing vicious weeds from the sisal plantation. Newly opened sisal plantations have relatively many weeds. General weeds can be cleared by tractor plowing and sun-drying during land reclamation. As for vicious weeds, such as nutgrass and thatch grass, they must be killed with glyphosate before reclamation, so as to facilitate the management of the sisal plantation.
3. Land reclamation. Newly reclaimed sisal plantations should adhere to one plowing and one harrowing. First, use a high-horsepower tractor for deep plowing to kill weeds, generally to a depth of 20-25 cm, and no area should be missed. After the plot has been fully turned and sun-dried, generally more than 1 week, then use a tractor to harrow. Harrowing should be uniform, with the soil of the entire plot finely crushed as the standard, and attention should be paid to leveling the ground to prevent water accumulation.
4. Applying sufficient basal fertilizer. Basal fertilizer is mainly applied in holes. Generally, 1000 kg of pig manure per mu, or 3000 kg of filter mud.
5. Selecting large, strong, tender, disease-free seedlings. The standard for robust, large seedlings is: seedling height 50-60 cm, wide and thick leaves, thick and large sisal head, disease-free. Seedling raising time: corm seedlings 8-10 months, sucker seedlings 18-20 months, seedling weight 3-4 kg.
6. Reasonable close planting. Planting specifications for sisal plantations. The following types are currently used: (4+1) x 1 m, (3.8+1) x 1 m, (3.5+1) x 1 m, (3.8+1) x 0.9 m. From practice, the (3.8+1) x 1 m planting specification is better, that is, large row spacing 3.8 m, small row spacing 1 m, plant spacing 1 m, 278 plants per mu. This is conducive both to the extension of sisal leaves and to manual management and mechanical operations.
7. Grasping the appropriate planting time and planting quality.
Sisal can be planted from September of the current year to April of the following year, but generally planting from February to April is better, as sisal roots quickly and grows quickly. While planting from June to August, this season has more rain, and seedlings are prone to infection by disease when lifted.
Planting quality should achieve "stable, accurate, upright, even", that is, seedlings should be planted shallowly, with the base of the root entering the soil about 10 cm. After straightening the seedling by hand, use both feet to compact the soil on both sides of the root stem, so that the base fully contacts the soil and roots early. Seedlings should be replanted promptly, and no plants should be missing.
Ecological Ornamental Value
Landscape Ornamental Use
Sisal has the characteristics of strong environmental adaptability, good beautification and greening effects, strong pollution resistance and air purification capacity, and good economic value, and is widely used in road greening, parks, street district landscape greening, factory greening and home greening, etc. The main ornamental sisal varieties include: golden-edged sisal, silver-edged false pineapple hemp, silver-edged Dong No. 1 hemp, silver-edged Agave americana, false pineapple hemp, Chitose orchid, Yucca, Yucca gloriosa, Dong 109 hybrid, etc.
Sisal is deep green all year round, with beautiful flowers and leaves, and a peculiar tree form. Several plants form a clump, varying in height, with leaf shapes like swords. When flowering, the flower stalk rises tall and upright, the flowers are pure white, and numerous white flowers hang down like bells, graceful in posture, with a long flowering period and pleasant delicate fragrance. It is a good garden ornamental tree, and also a good fresh cut flower material. It is often planted in: the center of flower beds, in front of buildings, in lawns, by poolside, on terrace slopes, at buildings, roadside and hedges, etc.
Medicinal Value
Research has found that sisal contains various saponins, proteins, polysaccharides and other chemical components. Its leaves have neuro-muscular pharmacological effects, and also have pharmacological effects such as lowering cholesterol, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor. Sisal saponin is a pharmaceutical intermediate and important raw material for the synthesis of steroidal hormone drugs, and is widely used in the manufacture of more than 200 drugs in three major categories: adrenal cortical hormones, sex hormones and protein anabolic hormones.