How to plant the Great Cangjiao Temple

sowing

Seed selection

Before sowing, the seeds must be selected first. Whether the seeds are selected well is directly related to the success of sowing.

It is best to use seeds harvested that year. The longer the seeds are stored, the lower their germination rate.

Choose seeds that are full and not damaged or deformed.

Choose seeds that are free of pests and diseases.

disinfect

Disinfection includes two concepts, one refers to the disinfection of seeds, and the other refers to the disinfection of the substrate used for sowing. To disinfect seeds at home, we usually soak them in hot water at about 60℃ for a quarter of an hour, and then use warm water to germinate them for 12 to 24 hours. The best way to disinfect the substrate used for sowing is to heat it in a pan, which can kill any pests and diseases.

Germination

Soak the seeds in warm water (about the same temperature as washing your face) for 12 to 24 hours until the seeds absorb water and swell. For common seeds that germinate easily, this work can be omitted.

sowing

For tiny seeds that are difficult to pick up with hands or other tools, you can wet one end of a toothpick with water, stick the seeds one by one on the surface of the substrate, covering the substrate with a thickness of 1 cm, and then put the sowing pot into the water. The depth of the water should be 1/2 to 2/3 of the height of the pot, and let the water slowly soak up (this method is called "pot immersion method"); for larger seeds that can be picked up with hands or other tools, place the seeds directly into the substrate and sow them at a spacing of 3×5 cm.

Cover with substrate after sowing, the thickness of which should be 2 to 3 times that of the seed. After sowing, you can use a sprayer or fine-hole sprinkler to wet the sowing substrate. When the pot soil is slightly dry, water it again. Still, be careful not to water too hard to avoid washing the seeds away.

Management after sowing

After sowing in late autumn, early spring or winter, when encountering cold waves and low temperatures, you can wrap the flower pots with plastic film to keep warm and moisturize; after the seedlings emerge from the soil, remove the film in time and expose the seedlings to sunlight before 9:30 am every day or after 3:30 pm, otherwise the seedlings will grow very weakly; after most of the seeds have emerged, they need to be thinned out appropriately: pull out the diseased and unhealthy seedlings so that the remaining seedlings have a certain space between each other; when most of the seedlings have grown 3 or more leaves, they can be transplanted.

Cuttings

In late spring and early autumn, young branches are often propagated by cuttings of branches grown that year, or in early spring, old branches are propagated by cuttings of branches grown last year.

Cutting medium

It is the nutrient soil or river sand, peat soil and other materials used for cuttings. Due to limited conditions, it is difficult to obtain an ideal cutting medium for home cuttings. Medium-coarse river sand will work, but it must be rinsed with clean water several times before use. Do not use sea sand or river sand from saline-alkali areas as they are not suitable for the growth of flowers and plants.

Selection of branches

When carrying out softwood cuttings, when the plant is growing vigorously from late spring to early autumn, choose strong branches of the current year as cuttings. After cutting the branches, select the sturdy parts and cut them into 5-15 cm long sections, each with more than 3 leaf nodes. What needs to be noted when cutting cuttings is that the upper cut should be cut flat about 1 cm above the top leaf node, and the lower cut should be cut obliquely about 0.5 cm below the bottom leaf node. Both the upper and lower cuts should be flat (the knife should be sharp). When carrying out hardwood cuttings, after the temperature rises in early spring, select last year's strong branches as cuttings. Each cutting usually retains 3 to 4 nodes, and the cutting method is the same as that for softwood cuttings.

Management after cutting

The optimum temperature for rooting of cuttings is 20℃ ~ 30℃. Below 20℃, rooting of cuttings is difficult and slow; above 30℃, the upper and lower cut ends of cuttings are easily infected by pathogens and rot, and the higher the temperature, the greater the proportion of rot. When encountering low temperatures after cuttings, the main measure for heat preservation is to wrap the flower pots or containers used for cuttings with film;

When the temperature is too high after cuttings, the main cooling measure is to shade the cuttings, blocking 50-80% of the sunlight. At the same time, spray the cuttings 3-5 times a day. On sunny days when the temperature is higher, the number of sprays is more. On rainy days when the temperature is lower and higher, the number of sprays is less or no spraying.

Layering

Select strong branches and peel off a circle of bark about 15-30 cm below the top. The width of the wound should be about 1 cm and the depth should be limited to just peeling off the epidermis. Cut a piece of film 10-20 cm long and 5-8 cm wide, put some wet garden soil on it, and wrap the ring-barking area like wrapping a wound. Tie the upper and lower ends of the film tightly and bulge in the middle. Rooting will take about four to six weeks. After taking root, cut off the branches and the roots together to form a new plant.

Potting or transplanting

When potting seedlings or repotting large plants that have been grown for several years, first place a 2-3 cm thick coarse-grained substrate at the bottom of the pot as a water filter layer, sprinkle a layer of fully decomposed organic fertilizer on it as base fertilizer, about 1-2 cm thick, and then cover it with a thin layer of substrate, about 1 to 2 cm thick.

Then put the plants in to separate the fertilizer from the roots and avoid burning the roots. The substrate for potting can be one of the following: garden soil: slag = 3:1; or garden soil: medium-coarse river sand: sawdust (vegetable residue) = 4:1:2; or one of paddy soil, pond mud, and leaf mold. After potting, water it thoroughly and place it in a shaded environment for a week.

When transplanting seedlings, first dig a planting hole and sprinkle a layer of organic fertilizer at the bottom of the planting hole as base fertilizer (basal fertilizer), about 4 to 6 centimeters thick. Then cover it with a layer of soil and place the seedlings in to separate the fertilizer from the roots to avoid root burn. After placing the seedlings, backfill the soil to cover the roots, tamp the soil down with your feet, and water it thoroughly.

Precautions

Pot preparation

Choose a flower pot of appropriate size and cover the bottom hole of the pot with two tiles or a thin foam sheet to ensure that the soil in the pot is not washed away by water while allowing excess water to flow out in time. Place a layer of expanded clay or broken red bricks on the tiles or foam as a water filter layer, about 2-3 cm thick. Fertilizer is placed on the drainage layer, about 1-3 cm thick, and a thin layer of substrate is placed on the fertilizer, about 2 cm thick, to separate the roots from the fertilizer. Finally, put the plants in and fill them with nutrient soil, leaving about 2-3 cm from the mouth of the pot.

humidity

It prefers a humid or semi-arid climate environment and requires the relative air temperature of the growing environment to be between 50 and 70%. When the relative air humidity is too low, the lower leaves will turn yellow and fall off, and the upper leaves will become dull.

temperature

Because it is native to subtropical regions, it has strict requirements on winter temperatures and stops growing when the ambient temperature is below 8°C.

illumination

It has strong adaptability to light. When keeping it indoors, try to place it in a place with bright light, such as a living room, bedroom, study room, etc. with good lighting. After keeping it indoors for a period of time (about a month), you should move it to a shaded place outdoors (with insulation conditions in winter) for a period of time (about a month), and alternate between the two places.

Fertilizer

For potted plants, in addition to adding organic fertilizers when potting, proper fertilizer and water management should also be carried out during normal maintenance. Spring, summer and autumn are its peak growth seasons. Fertilizer and water management should be circulated in the order of "fertilizer water" - clean water - "fertilizer water" - clean water. The interval period is about 1 to 4 days. The interval period is shorter on sunny days or during high temperatures, and longer or no watering on rainy days or low temperatures.

During the winter dormancy period, the main thing is to control fertilizer and water. Fertilizer and water management should follow the cycle of "fertilizer water" - clean water - clean water - "fertilizer water" - clean water - clean water. The interval period is about 3 to 7 days. The interval period is shorter on sunny days or during high temperatures, and longer or no watering on rainy days or low temperatures.

prune

When the plants enter a dormant or semi-dormant period in winter, the weak, diseased, insect-infested, dead, or overcrowded branches should be cut off. The branches can also be arranged in combination with cuttings.

Repotting

As long as it is properly maintained, it will grow very fast. When it grows to a certain size, you should consider changing it to a larger pot so that it can continue to grow vigorously. The culture soil and component ratio for repotting can be one of the following: garden soil: slag = 3:1; or garden soil: medium-coarse river sand: sawdust (vegetable residue) = 4:1:2; or one of paddy soil, pond mud, and leaf mold.