Epimedium is eaten with fresh purple or pink buds (actually flower buds), which are very beautiful and red as small bamboo shoots. How to eat: first, cold salad, blanched with boiling water or roasted on fire until half cooked, and mixed with salt or soy sauce and monosodium glutamate; Second, stir-fry, with meat or simply stir-fry; The third is pickling, making pickles or pickles. It has beautiful color, unique flavor, special taste, rich flavor and endless aftertaste.
Medicinal value:
According to Compendium of Materia Medica, epimedium can not only be eaten as a vegetable, but also has the effects of promoting blood circulation, regulating menstruation, relieving cough and eliminating phlegm, relieving swelling and detoxifying, resolving food stagnation and invigorating stomach, and has special effects on treating constipation and diabetes, and has high medicinal value.
Herba Epimedii contains a variety of amino acids, protein and rich cellulose. The cellulose contained in it is also a polysaccharide nutrient that does not generate heat energy. If eaten regularly, it is beneficial to keep the digestive tract unobstructed and maintain the normal defecation function. It can treat constipation, promote digestion and strengthen the stomach, and has special effects on diabetes. Therefore, epimedium is a kind of pure natural dietary fiber food which can be used as both food and medicine.
Epimedium is wild, tempered by harsh conditions, with strong vitality, basically no pests and diseases, generally no need to use pesticides, and it is a real pollution-free green food. Canned food, pickles, drinks, etc. made from it can be supplied to the market.
Cultivation techniques: Epimedium is one of the unique vegetables in China, mostly in areas around 800 meters above sea level. Generally, the seeds are scattered sporadically in the fertile and humid places in front of and behind the farmers' houses or under the shade of trees. The key points of its cultivation technology are as follows:
1, choose the suitable planting environment. Yang Huo likes fertile, loose, moist and cool environment, and is more resistant to shade, high temperature and strong light. Therefore, it is best to choose the two high mountain areas with abundant rainfall, more clouds, cool summer and high soil organic matter content for planting epimedium in a large area. Large-scale planting of epimedium in low mountains can be interplanted with trees or tall crops.
2. Apply sole fertilizer and farm manure again. After planting epimedium for one year and benefiting for many years, in order to obtain high yield and high efficiency, it is necessary to apply sufficient base fertilizer and re-apply farmyard manure according to the growth demand of epimedium. Generally, 4,000-5,000 kilograms of soil miscellaneous fertilizer or manure and 50 kilograms of compound fertilizer (or 40 kilograms of calcium superphosphate and potassium sulfate 10 kilograms) are applied to the bottom of each mu. It is better to furrow and apply the base fertilizer deeply, and the flat land can also be spread evenly and then turned deeply. It is best to open a trench with a width of 60-80 cm and a depth of 40-50 cm along the horizontal line on the sloping land in mountainous areas, spread the base fertilizer in the trench, and then backfill the topsoil and transplant epimedium.
3. Split propagation and reasonable close planting. Epimedium is mainly propagated by splitting. Pay attention to 2-3 complete buds for each bud. Transplanting can be carried out in September-1October in autumn or March-April in spring, with large row spacing of 60 cm, small row spacing and plant spacing of 30 cm, and planting about 3300 acres.
4. Post-planting management and harvesting. After the planting of epimedium grandiflorum, it should be watered with enough root water. The temperature is high and the light is strong in low mountains in summer, so proper shading must be considered in the first year of planting. After transplanting, after seedling emergence every spring, combined with intertillage weeding, dilute manure water is used to raise seedlings to promote robust and consistent seedling growth. Before the bud is unearthed every year, it is necessary to apply the "bud-promoting" fertilizer again to promote the bud hypertrophy and improve the quality and yield. Before overwintering, 2,000-3,000 kg of farm manure and 50 kg of compound fertilizer (or 40 kg of calcium superphosphate and potassium sulfate 10 kg) should be applied in combination with deep ploughing to ensure the safe overwintering of plants and increase the annual output in the next year.
When harvesting epimedium, the bud should be broken off before it blooms. Early harvest has good quality but low yield, and late harvest has coarsened fiber and deteriorated varieties. Generally, you can harvest buds1000-1500 kg per mu. The market price per kg is 2-3 yuan, and the output value per mu is about 3,000 yuan. Because epimedium can be harvested continuously for many years in one year, except for the large investment in the first year, the investment in the next year is low, and the benefits are considerable. After 3-4 years of continuous harvesting of epimedium, some seeds should be dug out and properly divided, on the one hand, it can prevent the failure caused by excessive density, on the other hand, it can use the dug seeds to expand the area.
Pest control: there are few pests and diseases in epimedium, so attention should be paid to drainage to prevent flooding. When abnormal death of plant leaves is found, the roots should be immediately irrigated with fungicides such as thiophanate, dixone and transplanting spirit, and the leaves should be sprayed with "green milk copper" for protection.