How much is water chestnut per jin in 2019? With a detailed explanation of fertilisation techniques
Water chestnut is also called horseshoe; its shape closely resembles the chestnuts that grow on trees, and in some places it is also called “ground chestnut”, meaning a chestnut buried underground. Water chestnut is both a fruit and a vegetable, a seasonal food loved by the public, and traditional Chinese medicine also uses water chestnut as a medicinal herb. So roughly how much is water chestnut per jin in 2019? What are the fertilisation techniques?
1. Roughly how much is water chestnut per jin in 2019?
The recent price of water chestnut in 2019 is around 2-4 yuan per jin, with certain differences from place to place; in addition, the price of water chestnut is affected by its time on the market, size grade, variety, market conditions and so on.
Much of what is on the market now is sold peeled, and the price is a bit higher; usually street vendors peel and sell at the same time.
Water chestnut can generally be divided into two types, water horseshoe and red horseshoe, and the main difference between the two lies in their starch content. Water horseshoe has a higher starch content, matures earlier, has a short growth cycle and coarser flesh, making it suitable for cooked dishes. Red horseshoe has less starch, a crisp and refreshing texture and less residue, making it more suitable for eating raw or making dessert cans. There are many common water chestnut varieties, such as Suji, Xiaoganji, Jiuji, Guilin horseshoe, Yuhangji and others. Growers can choose suitable varieties for planting according to their planting needs.
2. What are the fertilisation techniques for water chestnut?
Water chestnut belongs to the Cyperaceae family and is a perennial shallow-water plant. The stem of the water chestnut is erect and tubular, hollow inside, and bears a spike-like inflorescence. Underground it grows creeping rhizomes, and at the tips of the rhizomes grow spherical corms weighing about 10 to 20 grams, which are the water chestnut fruits we eat; at the top of the water chestnut a main bud of about one centimetre grows, with lateral buds also growing around it. Each year from May to October is the flowering and fruiting period of water chestnut, and in autumn and winter the water chestnuts mature one after another. During cultivation, special attention must be paid to field management, with two points being topdressing and water management. Fertilisation should be carried out in combination with water management, and fertiliser should be applied according to the different soils as appropriate; sandy mud fields should be given less fertiliser more times, while clay mud fields can be given more.
When topdressing, grasp three principles: first, stability in the early stage; second, control in the middle; third, attack in the late stage. This means fertilising according to the growth and development at different periods.
The first stage is the vegetative growth period from July to the end of August.
Tiller fertiliser: 10 days after planting, apply 30 jin of compound fertiliser per mu.
Tillering fertiliser: 20 days after transplanting, combined with weeding, apply 40 jin of compound fertiliser per mu, or 20 jin of urea and 20 jin of potassium sulphate.
The second stage is the vegetative growth and reproductive growth period from the end of August to the end of September.
Seedling-strengthening fertiliser: in early September, apply 50 jin of potassium sulphate compound fertiliser and 150~200 jin of decomposed barn manure per mu.
The third stage is the corm swelling period (late September—early November)
Corm-setting fertiliser: around 20 September, apply 60~100 jin of potassium sulphate compound fertiliser per mu.
Corm-swelling fertiliser: in early October, apply 60—100 jin of potassium sulphate compound fertiliser per mu.