Detailed Explanation of Reed Planting Methods and Technical Key Points
Reed is an emergent aquatic plant. When planting reeds in spring, irrigate with shallow water before sprouting to accelerate soil thawing, raise soil temperature, and promote reed sprouting. After the soil thaws, drain the water and keep the soil moist. After the reeds sprout and grow, irrigate with shallow water to 5cm. After mid-May, reeds enter the vigorous growth stage, growth speed accelerates, and water demand increases, so deep-water irrigation should be adopted, with the water layer maintained at 30-50cm. After mid-August, reeds enter the reproductive growth stage, water demand decreases, so drain the soil, keep the soil moist, and promote reed maturation and autumn bud development.
Planting Techniques
1. Soil and Fertilizer
The ideal soil for planting aloe is mainly swamp soil and sand, with added leaf mold, grass ash, and shell pieces. Clay is not conducive to drainage and should be avoided as much as possible. If the soil contains fertilizer, then no fertilizer is needed ordinarily. The seedling nursery should be selected in a plot with flat terrain, convenient irrigation and drainage, convenient transportation, low soil salinity, no weeds, and no pathogens. Deep plow, prepare the land and make beds, with irrigation furrows between beds for easy watering and management, apply 15t/hm2 of organic fertilizer and thoroughly mix with the soil and rake level.
2. Sowing
Dry the reed panicles collected the previous year in the sun, chop them up, and in early to mid-May, when the temperature reaches above 10 degrees C, begin sowing, with a sowing rate of 75kg/hm2. Before sowing, irrigate the seedling field to soak the field, drain after 2d, sow evenly when the soil is in a moist state, and pat the seeds into the soil.
3. Watering
When planting aloe, ***the important thing is that there must not be too much water, otherwise the medicinal components will become diluted, and in severe cases the roots will rot. In spring, generally water once every 5 days; in hot summer, water once a day after the sun sets; in autumn, the watering method is the same as in spring; in winter, aloe almost enters a dormant state, and at this time it is enough to just moisten the surface soil.
4. Seedling Field Management and Transplanting
After the reeds emerge, strengthen irrigation management. The irrigation depth must not submerge the reed seedlings. When the seedlings reach a height of 5cm, thin them so the seedling spacing is 2cm. As the seedlings grow, thin and weed in a timely manner, and strengthen irrigation and fertilization. When the seedlings reach 20cm in height, the seedling spacing should reach 6cm. When local conditions are relatively good, after the reeds show tillering in July-August, they can be transplanted to the field, or they can be transplanted in the second spring when the temperature reaches above 5 degrees C. When transplanting, irrigate the transplant field to keep the soil moist, lift the reed seedlings (before sprouting) from the seedling field, and plant them at a spacing of 1m x 1m, with 3-5 plants per hole. After the seedlings reach 30cm in height, strengthen irrigation, keep the water layer at 5cm, and deepen the water layer as they grow, with ***the deepest not exceeding 50cm. In that year, the height can reach 1.5-2.0m.
5. Rational Fertilization
Reed is an economic plant mainly grown for producing stems, and it needs a relatively large nutrient supply throughout its life. Rational fertilization and maintaining comprehensive soil nutrient balance are important factors for reed growth and increasing yield. Therefore, fertilize in mid-to-late May when reeds enter the vigorous growth stage. The fertilizer type should be mainly nitrogen fertilizer, combined with phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, with a fertilization rate generally of 300-375kg/hm2. When fertilizing, the following points should be noted: First, the focus of fertilization should be on medium- and low-yield reed fields, because medium- and low-yield reed fields have great yield-increasing potential and fertilizer is more likely to take effect. Second, fertilization of reed fields is very different from fertilization of farmland, so the nature of the reed field must be considered, and good engineering facilities and ***the best irrigation system should be provided so that water and fertilizer integrate and are absorbed by the reeds. Third, for plots with heavy soil salinity and many grass pests, soil salt content should first be reduced and grass pests prevented and removed to avoid fertilizer loss. Fourth, before fertilizing, the soil of the fertilization plot should be analyzed, and nutrient types that cannot meet the needs of reed growth should be given priority application, combined with other fertilizer types, to maintain soil nutrient balance, that is, adopt the method of supplementing whatever is deficient, in other words, adopt the method of soil testing and formulated fertilization, to reduce fertilizer waste.
6. Disease, Insect Pest, and Weed Control
The main insect pest of reeds is aphids. The season of generally severe occurrence is between June and July. In years of severe occurrence, use 40% omethoate 800-1500 times dilution spray to kill them. However, in control, first carry out forecasting and prediction to determine the control period. Second, adopt the principle of spot and partial control and key control to avoid waste of personnel and pesticides caused by large-area control. In recent years, the East Asian migratory locust has also shown a development trend, and forecasting, prediction, and strengthened control should be noted. The main grass pests include Typha davidiana, Typha angustifolia, sedges, and others, which should be scientifically controlled according to different grass species and their biological characteristics. First, a method combining biological control and chemical control can be adopted. For cattails, 2,4-D butyl ester can be used for spraying in spring, combined with irrigation to achieve elimination. Second, investigate the occurrence of grass pests, and carry out spot and partial control in key occurrence plots. Third, when spraying pesticides, pay attention to preventing phytotoxicity to surrounding plants and reeds.
7. Reed Harvesting
When the reeds mature and the soil freezes in December, harvest in a timely manner. During harvesting, whether by manual harvesting or mechanical harvesting, a 5cm stubble height and part of the fallen leaves should be retained to ensure that autumn buds are not damaged and that dead branches and fallen leaves return to the soil after rotting, maintaining soil nutrient balance.
8. Winter Management
The safe overwintering temperature for aloe is above 5 degrees. Below zero degrees, the water in the leaves will quickly freeze. When this time comes, it is the end of its life. After reed harvesting is finished, the dead branches and fallen leaves in the reed field should be burned as little as possible or not burned at all, to reduce nutrient loss. If the pond is burned, generally burn the pond once every 3-5a. The burning time can be from after harvesting is finished to before reed sprouting the next year. For marshland, it can be handled as appropriate according to specific conditions. For plots with severe disease and insect pest occurrence in that year, the pond can be burned in winter, or during irrigation in the second spring, the floating rotten grass can be collected and destroyed.