How to Grow Agastache rugosa? A Detailed Guide to Planting Time, Methods, and Benefits
Agastache rugosa (Huoxiang) is a very common Chinese medicinal herb, with the whole plant used for medicinal purposes. It has effects such as reducing fever, clearing summer heat, resolving dampness, and promoting the flow of qi. Agastache rugosa has high medicinal value and huge market potential, so do you know what the planting time and methods of Agastache rugosa are? What benefits and effects does it have?
I. Planting Time and Methods of Agastache rugosa
1. Planting Time
Sowing can be done in spring and autumn. Spring sowing is in April, from Qingming to Guyu; autumn sowing is carried out in September to October. The north mainly uses spring sowing, while the south mainly uses autumn sowing.
2. Planting Methods
Site selection and land preparation: Agastache rugosa is suitable for a humid climate; choose loose-textured, fertile, well-drained sandy flat land or gentle slopes. Low-lying areas, heavy clay compacted soil, and shady spots are not suitable for planting. In the autumn of the year before planting, deep plow the soil 25 cm, remove debris, apply 2000 kg of decomposed farmyard manure per mu, 30 kg of superphosphate, and 20 kg of urea, turn them into the soil, and level and harrow finely. Make beds 1.2 m wide, with drainage ditches around them to facilitate irrigation and drainage management.
Sowing: Sowing can be done by drilling or dibbling. For drilling, on the prepared bed surface, follow the bed and make furrows 25-30 cm apart with a depth of 1 cm, mix the seeds with fine sand and evenly scatter them into the furrows, cover with thin soil, tread once with the foot, and press lightly; if the soil is too dry, water it. The seeding rate is 0.8-1 kg per mu. For dibbling, open holes at 30 cm row and plant spacing, with a hole depth of 1-2 cm, sow about 10 seeds per hole, and sow about 0.6 kg per mu. Flat land mostly uses drilling, while mountainous land mostly uses dibbling. In addition, scattered planting can also be done around houses, also with sufficient base fertilizer and careful land preparation.
3. Field Management
Thinning and replanting: When the temperature is above 18°C and the soil has sufficient warmth, seedlings emerge about 10 days after sowing. Regardless of drilling or dibbling, when the seedlings are 6-10 cm tall, thinning or replanting should be carried out. For drilling, keep seedlings at 10-15 cm plant spacing; for dibbling, keep 3-4 seedlings per hole. If there are missing seedlings, replant them at any time.
Cultivation and weeding: While thinning and replanting, attention should be paid to loosening the soil and hoeing weeds. Before the first harvest in the first year, cultivation and weeding should be carried out 3 times. The 1st time is when the seedlings are about 3 cm tall; the 2nd time is when the seedlings are about 12-15 cm tall; the 3rd time is when the seedlings are about 25 cm tall.
Water management: Agastache rugosa generally does not need watering during planting, but if the terrain is high and the area is dry with no rain or little rain, then appropriate watering is needed to keep the soil slightly moist. At the same time, in low-lying areas, attention should be paid to drainage during the plum rain season to prevent root rot; ditches should be cleared and kept unobstructed.
Topdressing: Topdressing can be carried out each time during cultivation and weeding. For the first time, apply 1000 kg of decomposed human and livestock manure water per mu; for the second time, apply 1500 kg of decomposed human and livestock manure water per mu; for the third time, apply 2000 kg of decomposed human and livestock manure water per mu. Before greening up the next year, apply 30 kg of diammonium phosphate per mu.
II. Benefits and Effects of Agastache rugosa
1. Benefits
Agastache rugosa uses its branches and leaves as medicine; its taste is pungent, slightly warm, non-toxic, and it enters the spleen, stomach, and lung meridians. It has the effects of stimulating appetite and stopping vomiting, removing turbidity and resolving dampness, and releasing the exterior and relieving summer heat. It can be used to treat conditions such as summerheat-dampness colds, sinus headache, chest and epigastric distension and stuffiness, malaria, dysentery, and bad breath.
2. Effects
Agastache rugosa is a food high in calcium and high in carotene, and it has a certain inhibitory effect on many pathogenic fungi. Its aromatic volatile oil is a raw material for making many Chinese patent medicines; it has a bactericidal function, and holding one leaf in the mouth can remove bad breath, prevent infectious diseases, and can also be used as a preservative. In summer, cooking porridge with Agastache rugosa or brewing it as tea is effective for severe summerheat-dampness, dampness obstructing the spleen and stomach, abdominal distension and fullness, heaviness and fatigue of the limbs, and nausea and vomiting. Agastache rugosa is also widely used in modern Chinese patent medicines. Common Agastache rugosa preparations include “Huoxiang Zhengqi Wan”, “Xiangsha Yangwei Wan”, and others.
Overall, the entire Agastache rugosa plant can be used as medicine and has high economic benefits. Growers who are interested can try planting it.