When to Plant Honeysuckle? Learn How to Process It to Increase Added Value
During the pandemic, because it was rumored to have a preventive effect, honeysuckle once sold out completely, and as for growers, their enthusiasm for planting the following year also increased greatly.So when is honeysuckle planted? How can processing increase its added value?Let's explain one by one below, and this one article gives you the answer! If you don't believe it, just read on.
1. When is honeysuckle planted?
Honeysuckle has two propagation methods: seed propagation and cutting propagation. Among them, the former is sown in April; the seeds are soaked in warm water at 35-40°C for 24h, taken out and mixed with 2-3 times wet sand to promote germination, and sown when about 30% have cracked open, then transplanted after autumn or in the spring of the 2nd year.
The latter is done in rainy weather in summer and autumn; first, vigorous 1-2 year old branches free of pests and diseases are cut into 30-35 cm lengths, the lower leaves are removed to make cuttings, and they are used as soon as they are cut. On the selected land, dig holes at a row spacing of 1.6 m and a plant spacing of 1.5 m, with a hole depth of 16-18 cm, place 5-6 cuttings in each hole, bury them diagonally in the soil in a scattered form, with 7-10 cm exposed above ground, then fill the soil and press it firm.
2. How can honeysuckle be processed to increase added value?
Honeysuckle is generally dried for medicinal use, or brewed for drinking, so processing includes 2 methods: air-drying and oven-drying.
1. Sun-drying
On flat ground or stone slabs with long sunshine, spread the flowers in a thin layer in the morning, and collect them the same day they are sun-dried. This method saves labor and time, but windy days and rainy days will affect quality. Since 1970, the basket drying method has been mostly used. Make a basket frame about 1.7 m long, about 0.7 m wide, and 5-7 cm high from wooden sticks, with sorghum stalks or a mat as the bottom (sorghum stalks are not peeled, and the mat should be turned over for use, which helps absorb water). Sun-dry 2.5-3 kg of fresh flowers per basket. Place the baskets in a ventilated, sunny spot in a north-south direction, raise the north side, and after drying to 80% dry, they can be poured onto a mat to turn and sun-dry. At night or in rain, the baskets can be stacked in the yard, with two crossbars placed between baskets and a mat (or rain gear) covering them. When the flower buds reach 80% dry, they absolutely must not be turned, otherwise they will turn black and quality will decline.
2. Oven-drying
This is mainly carried out in a drying room. The operating procedure is mainly:
Pre-drying (room temperature 30°C) → loading flowers (35°C, swap the upper and lower flower baskets every 2-3 hours) → heating and ventilation (ventilate at 40°C; within 5-10 hours, keep the temperature at 45-50°C. Ventilate for 5 minutes each time; after 10 hours, when the temperature rises to 55°C, dry quickly, about 18 hours in total) → removing from the oven (reduce the fire 1 hour before removal, and ventilate; when the temperature drops below 10°C and the honeysuckle is 80-90% dry, take the flower baskets out to air-dry).
When oven-drying, a two-room drying house is generally built, 6 m long and 5 m wide. Two furnace mouths are built at one end of the house, and a return dragon kang-style flue is built inside the room. A chimney and skylight are left on the roof. At 0.3 m above the ground, each room has a pair of opposite ventilation holes on the front and rear walls. On both sides inside the room, 20 cm from the wall, one steel bar or wooden drying rack is set up on each side, with a 1.4 m passage left between the racks. The rack is 5.6 m long, 1.6 cm wide, and 2.6 m high, divided into 10 layers, with a layer spacing of 20 cm. The bottom layer is 40 cm from the flue, and each layer holds 8 honeysuckle baskets, with a basket spacing of 10 cm, for a total of 160 flower baskets loaded. Before loading flowers, pre-dry first to remove indoor moisture and raise the temperature. When the room temperature rises to 35°C, the flowers can be loaded, keeping the fresh flower thickness at 3-4 cm. Arrange the baskets neatly on the drying racks, close the doors and windows, block the ventilation holes, and begin baking. Every 2-3 hours of baking, swap the positions of the upper and lower baskets once. After loading the honeysuckle, immediately increase the fire. When the room temperature rises to about 40°C, the fresh flowers begin to release water, and the skylight can be opened to discharge water vapor. Within 5-10 hours, the room temperature should be kept at 45-50°C, and the ventilation holes should be opened to let water vapor escape quickly. If the temperature is not enough, part or all of the ventilation holes can be blocked, and then ventilate again when the indoor moisture is high, for only about 5 minutes each time. After 10 hours, most of the water vapor from the fresh flowers has been discharged, the room temperature reaches 55°C, and the honeysuckle dries quickly; one oven takes 18 hours. About 1 hour before removing from the oven, gradually reduce the fire and keep ventilating throughout. When the temperature drops below 40°C and the flowers feel firm in the hand and make a sound, the flower baskets can be taken out. Whether sun-dried or oven-dried, after 1-2 days they should be dried again once to make them thoroughly dry.
In addition, the honeysuckle planting times above can only be used as a reference, because different regions and climate changes will affect planting time. Therefore, growers must adjust the time according to actual conditions and must not blindly copy it.