What are intertillage, weeding and ridging?
In the process of plant cultivation and growth, due to the influence of rainfall, irrigation and other factors, soil hardening often occurs, which affects the normal growth of plants. Therefore, loosening soil is called intertillage.
(A) the role of intertillage
Intertillage can finely divide clods, loosen soil, make air circulate, facilitate root respiration and aerobic microorganism activity in soil, promote the decomposition of soil organic matter and increase soil fertility; Intercropping can cut off the rise of capillary water, reduce soil moisture evaporation and maintain soil moisture; It can make the heat in the soil difficult to dissipate and raise the soil temperature; In winter and early spring, loose topsoil can play a role in heat preservation; Intertillage is beneficial to eliminate weeds and pests.
② Frequency and depth of intertillage
The frequency and depth of intertillage should be determined according to the growth of plants and soil conditions, and should be suitable for different places and times. Such as mint, corydalis tuber and other shallow-rooted medicinal plants, their root groups are distributed in the surface layer of soil, and the intertillage is shallow; Deep-rooted medicinal plants such as angelica dahurica can be planted deeper. The intertillage at seedling stage should be shallow, and the plant can be slightly deeper when it grows up. Clay is easy to harden, and intertillage should be diligent; Sandy soil is not easy to harden, which can reduce the number of intertillage. When the weather is dry, it should be cultivated in time to keep moisture, and when the soil surface is easy to harden after heavy rain, it should be cultivated in time. The intertillage frequency of woody medicinal plants is less, but the intertillage frequency of seedling stage and herbal medicinal plants is more.
Generally, no intertillage is carried out when the medicinal plants are scattered or planted intensively. For example, if the seedlings are planted in the nursery, the density of the seedlings is high and it is impossible to intertillage; Coptis chinensis is densely planted, which is not convenient for intertillage. It can only combine weeding and scarifying, or hoeing and scarifying. The creeping stems of Amomum villosum are densely covered by the ground, which is not convenient for intertillage and can only cut weeds.
Recently, we tried to promote less tillage and no-tillage with mulch in agricultural production. No-tillage, also known as zero tillage, refers to a farming method that does not plow or harrow before sowing, and does not use farm tools to manage the soil during the growing period after sowing, and directly sows on the stubble. Less tillage refers to the farming method of reducing the number of soil tillage or planting at intervals in the whole field to reduce the cultivated land area on the basis of conventional tillage. Less tillage and no-tillage have significant effects on preventing soil erosion, reducing the consumption of manpower and material resources in production and increasing agricultural income. According to reports, no-tillage has the following advantages: (1) Because of stubble and straw mulching, water erosion and wind erosion are obviously reduced; (2) Mulching can reduce soil water evaporation and keep water; (3) After covering, the organic matter in the topsoil increases and the structure is stable; (4) Save energy and money. According to the experiment, no-tillage is effective in sloping land, aeolian sandy land and loose soil. With the popularization and application of less tillage and no-tillage in agricultural production in China; In the cultivation of medicinal plants, the methods of less tillage and no-tillage mulching have been applied, such as the no-tillage cultivation of Amomum ginseng. It also has a certain development prospect in the cultivation of other medicinal plants.
Second, weeding.
Weeding is to eliminate weeds, reduce the consumption of water and fertilizer in the soil, and prevent the breeding and spread of pests and diseases. Eliminating weeds in time is an important management measure to make plants grow and develop normally.
Weeding methods include manual weeding, mechanical weeding and chemical weeding. Manual weeding is adopted in a small area, and mechanical weeding can be applied in a large area. With the development of chemical herbicides, China has gradually applied and popularized them on crops. The cultivation of medicinal plants has also been tested in practice. For example, Cao Wenshan and others carried out chemical weeding experiments on medicinal plants and studied the application effects of different chemicals on different medicinal plants. Among them, the chemical weeding effect is better for belladonna, peony and other 15 medicinal plants; There is no obvious change in quality after application, so it can be expanded. Chemical weeding is efficient, timely, labor-saving and economical.
Weeding is usually combined with intertillage. Weeds grow rapidly in spring, summer and autumn, so weeding should be done frequently.
Farming and weeding should be carried out on sunny or cloudy days when the soil moisture is not high. It is not suitable for intertillage weeding in rainy days or when the soil humidity is too high after rain, because intertillage weeding in rainy days will cause soil hardening and weeds will not die easily.
Third, cultivate soil.
Soil cultivation is to limit the soil between rows to the roots of plants. Soil cultivation is mostly suitable for roots and rhizomes. Its main functions are:
(1) Cultivation of soil can improve the yield and quality of underground organs of plants.
Soil cultivation has a great relationship with the yield of some medicinal plants. For example, the rhizome of Coptis chinensis (generally cultivated with smoked soil and humus soil) has the habit of upward growth. If it is not cultivated year by year, it will be difficult to grow into a larger chicken claw shape. Polygonatum odoratum, rhubarb and so on. It must also be cultivated properly to avoid root exposure, promote root growth and absorption, and then improve yield and quality.
During the growth of Amomum villosum, the stolons continuously divide and form new plants, and each mother plant can proliferate 43-46 plants in 1 year. Stolons are densely covered on the ground, so the roots can't penetrate into the soil. Therefore, it is necessary to cultivate soil-covered ground stolons so that Amomum villosum can grow and develop normally.
(b) Raise the ground temperature to protect medicinal plants from overwintering.
Raising the soil will thicken the loose layer of the soil and isolate the cold air from the outside, so that the soil temperature will not drop sharply due to the influence of the cold air from the outside, and the soil temperature will rise relatively, which will protect the medicinal plants from wintering. For example, if Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. And peony need to be cultivated for cold protection and overwinter in winter; Asari should also be combined with autumn fertilizer to cultivate soil before freezing to prevent cold.
Cooling effect in summer
For example, if the bulbs of Fritillaria Taibai grow in soil in summer, some soil can be cultivated to thicken the topsoil, which can avoid the influence of high temperature in summer.
(4) Prevent lodging.
In the late growth stage of cultivated plants, the plants are large and the aboveground parts grow luxuriantly. After wind and rain, the roots are exposed to the soil surface and prone to lodging. In the growing period, soil cultivation and root weeding should be carried out in time to strengthen the foundation of plants and prevent lodging.
⑤ Improve the quality of seed roots and buds. For example, after the cultivation of Scrophularia, the buds on the roots are fertilized and the quality is improved.
Soil cultivation also has the functions of reducing water evaporation, promoting rooting (Pinellia ternata) and promoting bud formation (Pinellia ternata).
The method of cultivating soil depends on the sowing method. Drilling medicinal plants into trapezoidal or triangular "ridges"; Sowing medicinal plants and woody medicinal plants to form a conical "pile"; Promote medicinal plants and plant high-density plants, such as Coptis chinensis. And cultivate soil by sowing soil between plants. Different medicinal plants have different ridging time, and annual and biennial medicinal plants ridged in the middle and late growth stage; Perennial herbs and woody medicinal plants generally use antifreeze before winter.