Growth habit: The flowering time and honey secretion of mint are greatly influenced by climate. During flowering, people generally like high temperature and humidity, sunny days, plenty of sunshine and no drought. When the temperature is above 30 degrees Celsius and the highest is 35 to 37 degrees Celsius, the honey secretion is large. Mint flows honey all day, but it is the most around noon, and bees are active in collecting honey and entering honey quickly. When it rains at night, when it is sunny during the day, it will be sunny after the rain, and the amount of honey secretion will increase significantly. If it is rainy or dry for a long time, honey secretion will be significantly reduced or stopped. In case of storm, the unopened flowers will be delayed, and the opened flowers will wither ahead of time. In summer, honey sources are scarce in many areas. Using this honey source, bees can not only maintain the potential of bee colony and develop bees, but also effectively prevent "summer decline" and produce more high-quality commercial honey. So it plays an important role in beekeeping production in midsummer.
Mint honey is dark in color, dark amber, and has a strong mint special smell. Has high medicinal value.
In the case of natural growth, it blooms once a year. Under the condition of artificial cultivation, it is generally harvested twice a year and bloomed twice (except for some varieties and some regions), and the flowering period varies with varieties and regions.
The flowering peak in a day often changes with the climatic conditions. If the weather is fine, it is usually 6:00-9:00 in the morning, postponed on cloudy or rainy days, and closed in the afternoon.
Generally speaking, self-pollination of mint can not bear fruit, and it can only bear fruit by cross-pollination of wind or insects. It usually takes about 10 ~ 15 days from budding to flowering, and about 20 days from flowering to seed maturity. Seed setting rate varies with varieties and environmental conditions. A flower can bear up to four seeds and store them in a bell-shaped calyx. Nutlets are oblong and oval in shape, and the seeds are small and light brown, weighing only about 1g, and each kilogram of seeds can reach about 5 million.
light purple
Lavender, also known as vanilla, vanilla and yellow vanilla, is called Lavender in English. Lavender in Labiatae is a perennial evergreen cold-resistant semi-shrub, native to Mediterranean coast, Europe and Oceania islands, such as Provence, France, and later widely planted in Britain and Yugoslavia.
The northern foot of Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang is at the same latitude as France, and the climate and soil conditions are similar. It is a lavender planting base and the hometown of lavender in China. Lavender in Xinjiang has been listed as one of the eight famous varieties in the world.
Its leaves are beautiful and elegant, and its blue-purple inflorescences are beautiful. It is a new perennial cold-resistant flower in the courtyard, which is suitable for flower diameter cluster planting or strip planting, and can also be potted for viewing. It is also an important flavor raw material in the world today. Lavender can also be used as medicine, and it is also a good honey source plant.
Lavender was a very common herb in Roman times, and it was called "second only to vanilla" because of its most effective.
Lavender, also known as "aromatic herb", is suitable for any skin, promoting cell regeneration, accelerating wound healing, improving acne, abscess and eczema, and balancing sebum secretion. It has miraculous effect on burn and sunburn, and can inhibit bacteria and reduce scars. It has been widely used in medical treatment since ancient times. Both stems and leaves can be used as medicine, which has the effects of strengthening stomach, sweating and relieving pain. It is a good medicine for treating cold, abdominal pain and eczema. It has a wide curative effect and can treat at least more than 70 diseases. Widely distributed and easy to obtain, it was called "the herb of the poor" in the era of lack of medicine and medicine in ancient times.
Lavender is also called "quiet perfume plant", and the flower language is "fragrance". The whole plant is fragrant, the fragrance of the plant remains unchanged after drying, and the flowers can also be used as sachets. Its fragrance can refresh the mind, improve eyesight, make people comfortable, and repel mosquitoes and flies. Put some hay in the wardrobe and bookcase, which can repel insects and prevent moth, and the fragrance can last for several years. 1999 Lavender was selected as an annual herb by the International Vanilla Association.
morphological character
Lavender is a perennial herb or small shrub. Although it is called grass, it is actually a purple-blue flower. Lavender is leafy and usually grows upright. According to different varieties, the plant height is 30 ~ 40 cm and 45 ~ 90 cm. In mountainous areas with quite high altitude, a single plant can grow to1m. Leaves alternate, elliptic-lanceolate, or large needle-shaped, and the leaf margin rolls back. Spike terminal, 15 ~ 25 cm long; Corolla lower tubular, upper lip-shaped, upper lip 2-cleft, lower lip 3-cleft; The flowers are about 1.2 cm long and have blue, deep purple, pink, white and other colors. The common color is purple-blue, and the flowering period is from June to August. The whole plant has a faint aroma with a slight woody sweetness. Because the villi on flowers, leaves and stems contain oil glands, they will burst when touched lightly and release fragrance.
Common varieties
There are 28 kinds of native lavender in the world. Lavender in Provence is mainly divided into three categories:
Primitive lavender: also known as British lavender, it has the best quality and is mostly used to make high-grade perfumes and spices, with thin leaves and short spikes.
Lavender with long spikes: Also known as mint lavender, it has wider leaves and longer stems and spikes.
Mixed lavender: it is a mixture of the above two kinds and has been cultivated in large quantities. Nowadays, lavender in the flower fields of Provence is mostly this kind.
In addition to the varieties that specialize in refining essential oils, there are some varieties that can be used as cut flowers or flower beds. At present, there are common lavender, feather-leaf lavender, tooth-leaf lavender and true-leaf lavender.
The winner of the National Flower Variety Breeding Award, Mrs. Lavender, is the most eye-catching among the combination potted plants. It is most suitable for annual cultivation, sowing this autumn, blooming luxuriant and fragrant flowers next spring, and keeping the neat and consistent plants blooming.
Lavender in Munster has light blue flowers from June to August every year, and its leaves are gray-green, lace and fragrant. Flowers bloom later than "Mrs. Lavender" and the uniformity is not as good as "Mrs. Lavender".
Cultivation management
It is a perennial shrub and can be used for about 10 years. Wide variety, easy cultivation, sunshine-loving, heat-resistant, drought-resistant, cold-resistant, barren-resistant and salt-resistant. The cultivation site needs sufficient sunshine and good ventilation.
Time from sowing to flowering (or harvesting): 18 ~ 20 weeks. Lavender should be cultivated in large containers. But in order to prevent it from getting too wet, you can use a pottery jar or a smaller plastic jar, and don't use a big jar unless it is quite large.
Lavender can't stand high temperature and humidity, and it will die after being flooded for a long time. When planting outdoors, be careful not to let the rain directly rain on the plants. After May, it is necessary to move the place out of direct sunlight, increase ventilation to reduce the ambient temperature and keep cool, so as to spend the hot summer safely.
Pay attention to sunshine, moisture, temperature and patience.
land
Suitable for weak alkaline or neutral sandy soil. Special attention should be paid to the selection of substrates with good drainage, which can be mixed with 1/3 pearl clay, 1/3 vermiculite and 1/3 sphagnum moss. If it is cultivated in the open field, pay attention to the drainage of the soil, and raise the mound into a border before planting.
water
Lavender doesn't like to keep water in its roots. After the first watering, water should be supplied when the soil is dry. The surface medium was dry and the inside was moist, and the leaves wilted slightly. Water in the morning, avoid the sun, and don't splash water on leaves and flowers, otherwise it will rot and breed pests and diseases. Continuous humid environment will make the roots grow poorly, there is not enough air to breathe, and even the whole plant will die suddenly. This is often the reason for the failure of lavender cultivation.
illuminate
Lavender is a full-day plant, which needs sufficient sunshine and suitable humidity environment. The environment that can give full sunshine is better, and it can grow in half sunshine, but there are few flowers. In summer, at least 50% sunlight should be blocked, ventilation should be increased, and the ambient temperature should be lowered, so that although the growth is weak, it will not die. Lavender can also grow well on the flat ground in winter, so it should be cultivated in sunny conditions.
temperature
Lavender is semi-heat-resistant, cool, and likes to be warm in winter and cool in summer. The optimum growth temperature is 15 ~ 25℃, and it can grow at 5 ~ 30℃. Limit temperature: above 35℃, above 38 ~ 40℃ for a long time, and the top stems and leaves turn yellow. In northern winter, when the temperature is lower than 0℃ for a long time, the seedlings begin to hibernate, during which the seedlings can tolerate the low temperature of -20 ~-25℃.
Fertilize soil or land
When applying fertilizer, you can put bone meal as base fertilizer (once every three months) and seedling Shihuabao No.2 (20-20-20) in the pot soil, and then apply a fertilizer with higher phosphorus fertilizer such as Huabao No.3 (20-30-20). Apply light fertilizer.
decrease
Lavender flower is the most abundant in essential oil, and it is mainly used in flowers or inflorescences. In order to facilitate harvesting, some small inflorescences in the early stage of cultivation may wish to be leveled with scissors, and the newly grown inflorescences are of the same height, which is conducive to one-time harvesting. Some varieties can be as high as 90 cm, and this method is also used to make plants low, promote more branches and flowers, and increase harvest. Pruning must be carried out after flowering, and the plant can be pruned to 2/3 of its original size, so that the plant type will be stronger and conducive to growth. Pruning should be carried out in cold seasons such as spring and autumn, generally in spring, and pruning in autumn will affect cold tolerance. When pruning, be careful not to cut off the lignified part, lest the plant weaken and die.
breeding method
There are four propagation methods of lavender: sowing, cutting, layering and rooting. Cutting and sowing are the main methods.
Seed propagation
Lavender seeds are small and suitable for seedling raising and transplanting. Generally, the sowing date is in spring, March-June or 9-165438+1October in warm regions, April-June in cold regions and winter in greenhouses. The germination days are about14 ~ 21d. The optimum temperature for germination is 18 ~ 24℃. Proper light is needed after germination, and weak light is easy to grow white.
Because of the long dormancy period of seeds, seeds should be soaked with 12 hour before sowing, and then soaked with gibberellin for 2 hours before sowing. Before sowing, level the land, water it, soak it underwater and sow it evenly, then cover it with a layer of fine soil with a thickness of 0.2 cm, and cover it with grass or plastic film to keep it moist. Keep the seedbed moist at 15 ~ 25℃, and sprout in about 10 days. It takes a month to germinate without gibberellin treatment. It takes 1 ~ 3 months to germinate below 15℃.
Pay attention to spraying water at seedling stage. When the seedlings are too dense, they can be properly thinned and transplanted when the seedling height is about 10 cm.
cutting
Cuttings are usually carried out in spring and autumn. Softwood cuttings can also be used in summer. The cutting substrate can be 2/3 coarse sand mixed13 sphagnum moss.
Select the well-bred plants with vigorous development, select the terminal buds of one-year-old semi-lignified branches with short pitch and no pilling, and cut at the top 8 ~ 10 cm. The cut of the cutting should be close to the stem node, so as to be smooth and not break the phloem. Remove the leaves from the lower two nodes, soak them in clear water for 2 hours, then cut them into the soil and take root in about 2 ~ 3 weeks. You can also choose 8 ~ 10 cm annual branches and take root in about 40 days under the conditions of good drainage, humidity and bed temperature of 20 ~ 24℃.
Don't use the terminal bud of inflorescence to cut, because the aging of flower branches will have an adverse effect on future growth.
Plastic film cutting, soil preparation and soil preparation. Cover with plastic film after watering and cut immediately. 5 ~ 8 cm deep and 20 ~ 25 cm row spacing. Pay attention to raising ground temperature and promoting root development; Prune extended branches frequently, remove spikes in time, promote branching and cultivate strong seedlings. The plant spacing is 60cm, and the row spacing is 120cm. Water immediately after planting.
fissiparity
It can be carried out in both spring and autumn, with 3-and 4-year-old plants, and mature old roots are used to divide plants in March and April in spring, and each branch has bud eyes.
disease control
There are almost no pests and diseases, and no need to spray pesticides.
Utilization mode
The utilization part is mainly dried flowers or flowers. When harvesting, cut the inflorescence with scissors. Generally, sunny day 10 am is the best harvesting time. If you want to preserve it and dry it for later use, you can also put it indoors for incense.
Pharmacologically, lavender has the functions of calming the nerves, treating insomnia and promoting appetite, but the suitable dosage for one day is 3 ~ 5g, and the essential oil is 1 ~ 4 drops. Bathing and burning incense are not allowed.
1. Cut flowering branches can be directly inserted into vases for viewing, and dried branches can also be woven into fragrant garlands.
2. Fill a small cloth bag with about100g lavender and flow it into the bathtub with hot water. Be careful not to get too hot. Too hot will make the skin sweat and unable to absorb effective ingredients. After washing, the whole body will be fragrant and comfortable, and then have a good sleep. The whole spa will be completed. Helps blood circulation and has the effect of avoiding mosquitoes and flies.