Which month is the best to sow shepherd's purse?

Shepherd's purse, also known as ground rice vegetable or ground vegetable, is a popular wild vegetable with many different ways of consumption. Not only can it be used as dumpling filling, but also can be enjoyed as a healthy vegetable in hot pot. Shepherd's purse is a natural and healthy food. For farmers, growing shepherd's purse is also a crop with good economic returns. Let’s learn together which month is the best for sowing shepherd’s purse?

Which month is the best to sow shepherd's purse?

Shepherd's purse has a short growth cycle, which allows it to be planted multiple times a year and harvested continuously. It prefers a cool and sunny environment. It can grow rapidly at a temperature of about 15°C and sufficient sunlight, while its growth rate will slow down at temperatures above 22°C. Compared with their wild counterparts, the height of artificially cultivated shepherd's purse plants can exceed 20 cm, and the weight of a single plant can reach about 15 grams, which is 1 to 6 times that of wild varieties, and their leaves are wider and more tender.

In the south, shepherd's purse can be grown almost all year round, especially in autumn. Spring sowing is usually carried out from late February to late April. If the temperature is low in early spring, you can use plastic film to cover it for warmth, and then remove the film after the seedlings emerge, or use a small arch shed to maintain the temperature. At this time, it is suitable to choose late-bolting variegated varieties. The harvest period is generally from early April to mid-June.

Summer planting is carried out from June to August. It is necessary to build a shade shed and use a shade net to reduce the temperature and prevent erosion by heavy rain. At this time, flat-leaf varieties are suitable.

The late autumn planting period is from September to October, at which time both variegated and flat-leaf wild shepherd's purse varieties can be used.

Key points of shepherd's purse planting method

1. Seed collection

Shepherd's purse can be divided into flat leaf type and variegated leaf type according to the shape of its leaves. Growers can choose appropriate varieties according to the needs of the planting season. For first-time shepherd's purse planting, you can collect seeds from naturally growing wild plants. In late summer to autumn, when shepherd's purse seeds are ripe, they should be picked in time. Since mature shepherd's purse seeds easily crack, they should be picked before they are fully mature, and then dried together with the pods and properly stored. When picking, you should choose healthy plants that are free of diseases and insect pests as the source of seeds.

2. Soil preparation

Choose fertile, well-drained, moist land with few weeds for growing shepherd's purse. After cultivating the land, build high ridges with a width of 1.3 meters and apply fully decomposed organic fertilizer , applying 2500 to 3000 kilograms per mu of land as base fertilizer. Such soil conditions help shepherd's purse to thrive, make its leaves more tender and increase yield.

3. Field management

After sowing and during the growth period, irrigation should be carried out by fine water spraying. When shepherd's purse grows two true leaves, you can apply diluted human and animal feces water, and then decide whether to continue applying feces water or urea based on the growth condition of the plant. Apply concentrated manure water once 7 to 10 days before harvest, and apply top dressing after each harvest. At the same time, pay attention to the prevention and control of downy mildew and aphids.

Because shepherd's purse seedlings are relatively small and the sowing method is broadcasting, weeds and shepherd's purse grow together, making weeding difficult. Herbicides can be applied before sowing and combined with weeding during the subsequent harvesting process.

4. Harvesting and seed preservation

When the plant has 10 to 13 true leaves, or the flower stem is less than 1 cm in height, it can be harvested with a knife. Larger plants should be given priority, leaving smaller ones behind. Shepherd's purse sown in autumn can be harvested after 35 to 50 days. It can usually be harvested 3 to 5 times, with a yield of 2,500 to 3,000 kilograms per mu. Shepherd's purse sown in spring can usually only be harvested 1 to 2 times, with a yield of about 1,000 kilograms.

For shepherd's purse sown in October, it will bloom and produce pods in the spring of the following year. When the seed pods turn yellow, they are harvested, dried and threshed for the next season's planting.

The above is an introduction to the sowing time and planting points of shepherd's purse. In the past, shepherd's purse was a very common wild vegetable in rural areas, but now many vegetable farmers cultivate it artificially.