Large-scale participating farms use the cut forest land to grow ginseng, and after the big trees are removed, they can be ploughed by machines. Small-scale participation in farms or self-employed households adopts manual excavation. Soil preparation is an important basic operation to create soil conditions suitable for ginseng growth. Generally speaking, the land preparation of the participating areas should be carried out two years in advance, commonly known as using soil every other year. That is, cut down trees last winter, dig the ground this spring, plant ginseng next autumn, and let the woodland soil mature in the ground for two years. If you cut down trees last winter, turn over the ground this spring, and plant ginseng in autumn, it will be called the present soil. Planting ginseng in soil every other year is the basis of increasing ginseng yield and cultivating ginseng.
Soil preparation in advance can promote microbial activities, fully decompose organic matter and increase available nutrients in soil. In addition, it is also very beneficial to improve the physical and chemical properties of soil, enhance the ability of soil to absorb and maintain water, and promote the growth of ginseng. Soil preparation in advance can eliminate some pathogens and pests and reduce the harm.
Tillage or digging time, the soil used every other year can be ploughed every spring, summer and autumn, but it is best to finish it before the first autumn and use it again in the second autumn. If there are special circumstances and there is no land in the next year, it is best to dig the land in spring, dump it in summer and use it in autumn, so as to make the excavated soil have a long time to fully mature.
At present, most farmers plant their heads in the summer and autumn of the year before planting ginseng, and carry out the second soil planting in July of the year before planting ginseng as nursery and sowing ground. If it is a transplanting place, it is best to dig the soil for the second time in September of the year of transplanting.
The depth of tillage depends on the thickness of soil layer and the height of bed. Where the soil layer is thin, dig up the available black soil layer and active loess layer as much as possible, and the dead soil at the bottom can't be dug; Where the soil layer is thicker, it can be determined according to the amount of soil used at different border heights. Generally, the transplanting place can be planed to the depth of 15 ~ 20 cm. Due to the high height of ginseng and the large amount of soil, it is appropriate to dig about 25 cm deep. If the forest humus layer is too thick, the living loess below should be planed and mixed with humus soil. The thickness of humus layer is good, but it is also problematic to be too thick. Experience in participating in agriculture: black soil refers to humus soil with high fertility, and ginseng roots grow big, but there are many diseases and poor seedling protection; Loess has few diseases and good seedling protection, but low fertility and small ginseng roots. Therefore, in practice, it is very effective to mix loess in places with thick black soil to enhance fertility, reduce diseases and increase ginseng yield.
Ploughing method: After the stumps are dug out in the flat land and gentle slope hills, 75 tractors can be used to plow and plow when conditions permit. At present, the mountain area is still manually planed, and it can be turned up on the ground by planing along a certain direction with a pickaxe. In a flat place, it can also be piled into a ridge to facilitate soil solidification. All the roots should be planed, and the pits formed by tree holes should be filled with loess to prevent the ginseng roots from rotting away by water.
After the planed soil is ripe, before sowing or planting ginseng, the soil should be ploughed and broken, commonly known as "ploughing". The ploughing time is mostly carried out in the spring and autumn and dry seasons to avoid damaging the soil structure in rainy days. The general method of covering soil is to dig out the soil with two teeth and break it, thoroughly remove stones, roots and other sundries, and water it twice if it fails once until it meets the requirements of seed ginseng. In places with flat terrain and conditions, mechanical harrows can be used instead of dumping.
Excellent forest land can be topdressing in time without applying base fertilizer.
In barren forest land, pig manure and deer manure should be combined with ploughing and harrowing, with 5- 10 kg per square meter, 200 g of calcium superphosphate per square meter, and 5- 10 kg per square meter of decomposed leaves.