How to grow Ivan tea in the garden. Reproduction of Ivan tea. Landing in open ground

Ivan tea is a herbaceous perennial plant. Among gardeners, the narrow-leaved fireweed is called. The plant is popular not only for its attractive appearance. Caring for Ivan tea is simple, and the flower brings a huge amount of benefits. If you keep, planting fireweed is a must. Fireweed honey has unique medicinal and taste qualities and is appreciated among amateurs. The plant itself is dried and brewed like tea: in folk medicine it is used as an anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and sedative.

Planting ivan tea

Growing willow tea from seeds is a long and painstaking work. Seeds are harvested within two weeks of flowering in early fall. Then the seeds are dried, freed from the characteristic cannon and hidden for the winter in a dark place. The planting of willow tea begins in early spring, but the seeds of the fireweed are so small that those planted immediately into the ground will be blown away by the wind and birds. To grow willow-tea seedlings, pick up convenient boxes, prepare a soil mixture consisting in equal parts of sand, peat and humus. It is not necessary to deepen the seeds, it is enough to scatter them over the surface and sprinkle the ground abundantly with warm water. Cover the drawer with plastic wrap and keep warm. The first shoots will appear after 5 days. Spend fireweed seedlings in separate pots after the appearance of two real leaves, but planting ivan tea in open ground will have to wait until the first days of summer. Remember that transplanting seedlings can be carried out on a cloudy or rainy day, after hardening the plant for one week.

Ivan tea care

Fireweed is an unpretentious plant, but I do not advise you to neglect the procedures for caring for willow tea, since the plant grows quickly and turns into a weed that cannot be gotten rid of.

• Enclose the area set aside for ivan tea by digging the slate layers into the ground to a depth of about 1 m.
• Ivan-tea loves the sun, choose an open area for planting fireweed. But since the height of the flowers reaches 1.5 m, in order to avoid breaking the stems by the wind, it is convenient to plant the plant along the fence or wall of the house.
• Watering ivan tea is moderate, if the weather is cloudy - water the beds 1 time per month, in hot weather, increase watering up to 2 times a week. If the summer is rainy, forget about watering. Loosen the soil once a month, immediately after watering, while the soil is damp.

• Ivan-tea does not need additional dressing, it is enough to pour complex mineral fertilizer 1 time at the beginning of the season.
• In the fall, prune willow tea. Leave the shoots no more than 15 cm high to renew the plant and also protect against stem breakage in the snowy winter.
• Blooming of Ivan-tea begins in the second year of life, lasts a month and a half, after which the seeds of Ivan-tea are formed. The seeds dry quickly and fly away, so if you do not want self-seeding of fireweed on the site, collect them in advance, in an unripe form.

Collection and storage of Ivan-tea

Collect willow tea leaves at the end of summer, from July to September. The collection stops with the end of the flowering of the plant. Do not cut off one stem entirely: in order not to harm the plant, collect several leaves from each stem. Check carefully that the flower is healthy, there should be no dark spots or traces of pests on the leaves. For drying leaves, a warm, dry room without drafts is suitable. In addition to drying, there is a popular harvesting method called fermentation of willow tea leaves. To do this, rub each leaf in your hands until juice appears, put it in a bowl, cover with a damp cloth and let it brew for 24 hours at an elevated temperature. Then put the leaves on a baking sheet in one layer and send to dry in the oven at a minimum temperature (no more than 50 degrees). Leaves, ready for storage, break when pressed with a finger, rather than crumbling into dust. Store dried willow tea leaves in paper bags or a glass jar in a dark room.

Growing ivan tea in the country is an occupation that is useful not only for humans. Fireweed has a positive effect on the soil on which it grows, saturating it with useful substances and getting rid of weeds.

Ivan tea (Chamaenerion) is a perennial herbaceous culture, the height of which is 0.5m-1.5m (sometimes even up to 2m).

Rhizome is thick in shape, creeping behavior; feature - both on vertical and horizontal roots there are numerous buds, they contribute to active vegetative reproduction. The structure of the stem is erect, round, simple, glabrous, with many leaves. Arrangement of leaves is alternate, sessile, sometimes with short petioles. The leaves are linear-lanceolate, simple, pointed, tapered to the base, wedge-shaped, the length of the leaves is 5-12 cm, and the width is 0.6-2 cm.

The color range and shape are glandular-toothed at the edges, there are solid ones, and from above they are shiny, dark green, - from the lower part they are gray-green or purple-red, pale pink are found. The flower is pale pink, rarely white. The nectar placement ring is located in a ring around the post. The flowering time is the second half of summer, the period is about a month.

The fruits are fluffy, slightly curved capsules that resemble pods. Naked seeds, oblong, with long, white hairs on top, are placed inside the capsules. The ripening time for Ivan tea is August - September.

Ivan tea - care:

Lighting:

When creating the best growing conditions for Ivan tea, make sure that the soil is as mineralized as possible, and the presence of sunlight is maximum during the day.

It is also worth noting that the plant loves an abundance of sunlight, but at the same time it does not tolerate arid places. Ivan tea can germinate on arid soil, but it should be borne in mind that the plants will grow low, the leaves will be small.

Temperature:

Ivan tea can be called photophilous, for fast seed germination, an air temperature is needed within 25-27 ° С (2-3 days and steams appear), Longer (within 7-10 days) when 15-20 ° С.

Watering:

It is worth watering Ivan tea during spring sowing, after the emergence of shoots, you should not allow the soil to dry out, when the grass reaches a height of 10 cm, watering can be reduced to once a week, then you just need to make sure that the plant does not drown out the weed and it is enough to water once a month.

Humidity:

For Ivan tea, there should be high humidity in the air, especially at night. Therefore, it is advisable to plant a plant near a fountain, drainage ditch or other body of water. This will create the optimal air humidity necessary for them next to the plants.

Top dressing:

Ivan tea is one of the unpretentious plants and does not require very frequent feeding or care.

Transfer:

For accelerated reproduction of Ivan tea, seeds are used. To do this, they are planted in a box in early spring. An excellent soil for seedlings will be a composition of river sand, fine humus and crushed peat. Water the seedlings abundantly, but very carefully so as not to overflow. When several leaves appear, then the plant can be transplanted into a large spacious container; it must be planted in the ground in cloudy weather.

Reproduction:

Ivan tea can be bred both by seeds and by a vegetative method. The offspring for transplantation is separated from its creeping rhizome of the mother plant and each is seated separately.

Some features:

Ivan tea is one of the best honey plants, therefore, the honey from this plant is considered especially healing. Since it turned out to be not only healing, but also delicious in use, Ivan tea is recognized by both apitherapists and herbalists.

Since the plant contains a lot of trace elements and useful bioactive components, it has a beneficial effect on the human body and health. Tea from Ivan tea is used for cleansing from toxins and toxins, as a sedative, anti-inflammatory, and also such that it has diaphoretic and antibacterial properties.

Ivan tea - diseases and pests:

Ivan tea is a useful weed for other plants.

(Koporye tea or fireweed) is a herbaceous perennial with a straight stem up to 1.5 m high, large lilac-purple flowers, collected in beautiful pointed sultan clusters, and fruit-capsules in the form of long narrow pods with numerous small seeds.

Young shoots, leaves, flowers and rhizomes of Ivan tea are widely used in medicine, pharmacy, everyday life and cooking. In ancient times, stalks were used to make fibers, from which very strong canvases and ropes were woven. In some villages, pillows and mattresses were stuffed with fluff fireweed (and they are still stuffing).

Young shoots of fireweed are used instead of cauliflower and asparagus, and they are also added to soups. Dried and ground rhizomes are used in the preparation of pancakes, flat cakes, bread and porridge. Moreover, bread with the addition of ivan tea has a pleasant aroma and does not stale for a long time. But the most famous and widespread way of using willow tea is to prepare delicious and healing from its flowers and leaves.

From the history of ivan-tea

The first mention of Ivan-tea can be found in historical chronicles dating back to the 12th century. There is information that Russian sailors, going on long journeys, always took Koporye tea with them in order to drink it on board the ship and distribute it as a gift in foreign ports.

Some unscrupulous merchants used willow tea to counterfeit Peking (Chinese) tea, mixing fireweed leaves with subtropical teas and passing off this mixture as a very expensive oriental curiosity. Such forgeries were considered fraudulent in pre-revolutionary Russia and were strictly prosecuted by law. Merchants convicted of such acts were put on trial, often accompanied by loud scandalous trials.

However, this did not diminish the popularity of Ivan tea, and already in the 19th century it was a powerful competitor to Indian tea. It is surprising that in those distant times the first place in the list of exported goods of Russia belonged to rhubarb, the second to Ivan-tea, and only after them came fur, gold and other Russian riches.

It is important to note that fireweed practically, while green tea contains about 4%, black - about 6%. According to some studies, consuming large amounts of caffeine not only leads to increased blood pressure and insomnia, but also gives the skin an unhealthy gray tint and contributes to its premature aging. For this reason, many French, English, Prussian and Danish ladies, trying to prolong their youth and look spectacular and presentable, preferred Koporye tea. This drink was no less popular among men, who, with its help, strengthened their health, increased potency and increased efficiency.

Growing ivan tea on the site

Ivan tea can be found in almost all parts of Russia. Its favorite habitats are clearings, clearings, edges, embankments and conflagrations. It grows willingly near ditches and along roads. In household plots, willow tea is grown as an ornamental plant, and is also used to anchor the soil on embankments and slopes.

Ivan tea is unpretentious, not requiring special care and breeding. Fireweed loves the sun, but it can grow in partial shade, responsive to fertilizers, propagates by seeds and vegetatively by dividing rhizomes. Blooms from June to September. At the beginning of flowering, you can break off the flowering tops of the willow-tea panicles and the plant will give even more shoots, and, consequently, more harvest from one bush.

How to collect and store ivan tea

Collecting flowers and leaves of willow tea is best done at the beginning of flowering, since by the middle of flowering, fluff appears in the place of the faded lower flowers. Ivan-tea should be dried in a shaded place or in a well-ventilated area, spreading the grass in a layer, the thickness of which does not exceed 5 cm. Periodically, Ivan-tea should be stirred to prevent "burning".

The rhizomes of fireweed are harvested in the fall: they are dug up, cleaned of the earth and dried in the sun. If necessary, the rhizomes can be dried in the oven at a temperature of 50-65 ° C. The fact that the raw material was prepared correctly is evidenced by the following facts: dry willow-tea shoots should be crushed, but not ground into dust, and the roots should break, but not bend.

It is best to store ivan tea in a cool, dark place, in tightly closed glass containers, paper bags or cloth bags. If all the conditions for harvesting and storage are met, the aroma and taste of Ivan tea are most fully revealed only a month after collection. The shelf life of willow herb is 1-2 years, rhizomes - 2-3 years.

- a perennial herb of the fireweed family up to 2m high. It has a creeping rhizome of medium thickness (1.5-3 cm), which creates stolons up to 2 m long at a depth of 10-15 cm with a large number of shoots. Stem erect, simple or weakly branched, round, bare.

The leaves, sitting on very short petioles, are arranged alternately, up to 15 cm long, pointed at the apex, with pronounced thin veins.

The inflorescence is a rare conical raceme, the length of which can reach 50-70cm. The upper part of the stem, pedicels and calyx are reddish or pink. The color of the flowers captivates the eye with its decorative forms and a variety of shades: from purple-red to pale pink.

In its natural environment, willow tea spreads over considerable distances thanks to its very small and fluffy seeds, which, even in weak winds, are carried for tens of kilometers.

The plant takes root well in open moistened clearings in coniferous and mixed forests. It grows best on fertile black soil, sandy loam and loamy soils with a high humus content. It can be successfully grown on a personal plot.

Reproduction

Ivan tea is propagated both by seeds and vegetatively.

When propagating by seeds, difficulties arise due to their high mobility, therefore, before sowing, seeds with fluff are collected in a paper bag 10x15cm in size. Then the bag is cut into strips and moistened with water from a spray bottle. The seeds are carefully pulled off the paper and laid out in grooves to a depth of 1-1.5 cm. Sprinkle on top with loose earth and carefully watered from a watering can with small holes.

Distance between grooves 65-90cm, and between plants in a row 30-50cm after thinning (you can leave 2 plants side by side).

The vegetative way of growing willow tea is more convenient. Transplanting seedlings and dividing stolon roots significantly save time when caring for plants. Such seedlings quickly build up the vegetative mass, which allows you to get raw materials and seeds at an earlier date.

The most favorable time for transplanting willow-tea plants is early spring (late March-early April) and early autumn (September-early October). Plants can be transplanted at the end of spring, but at the same time it is necessary to provide them with good care - timely watering, feeding.

Care

When sowing in spring (March-April), the soil moisture must be maintained until the emergence of shoots. Then watered less often, but the soil is not allowed to dry out.
At the age of 1-1.5 months, the plants reach a height of 10-12 cm. Watering is reduced to once a week. During the entire growing season, fertilizing is carried out during watering.

By the middle of summer, the plants take root well and actively grow green mass, become strong and unpretentious, capable of withstanding sudden temperature changes. But when the temperature is too high, they need moisture at least once a week.

Ivan tea blooms in the second year of vegetation, under good conditions - in the first year of life. Duration of flowering is 1.5-2 months, from late June to mid-August. Forms a seed capsule 8-10 cm long with very small seeds.

Ivan tea harmoniously fits into any landscape composition. It is very beautiful and bright in sunlight, especially against the background of other plants, and before the rain, its flowers close, warning of bad weather.

Making tea

In July-September, in dry weather, healthy leaves of the plant are harvested for making tea. The leaves are dried up within a day, sprinkling them in a thin layer, then twisted by hand into tubes until the juice appears. Lay out on a sheet, cover with a damp cloth and incubate for 7-10 hours at a temperature of 25 ° C. Then dried in an oven at a temperature of 100 ° C for 40 minutes. Store tea in a dry place for up to 2 years.

Memory knots

• Ivan tea is a wonderful honey plant and beekeepers willingly place their hives in the places where it grows.
• When properly dried, the leaf produces a golden yellow aromatic tea with a slightly astringent taste.
• When drying the sheet, do not allow it to burn.

Koporye tea in modern life appeared not so long ago, or rather, it returned to it after almost a century break.

Did you know that fermented fireweed or ivan tea before the beginning of the twentieth century was the most valuable product exported to most European countries and valued there on a par with Chinese black tea? The name of the world famous tea "Koporsky" gave the area of ​​the same name Koporye, which is geographically located in the Leningrad region. We have outlined historical facts about Ivan tea in the article.

Since you are reading these lines, you are probably interested in tasty and healthy Ivan-tea, popularly nicknamed "heroic". Experienced Russian herbalists claim that regular drinking of a fragrant and aromatic drink makes us healthier, stronger, harder, younger, more energetic, slimmer and even wiser. Yes, the use of fermented Koporye tea has an amazing effect on the body, improving health to a heroic one.

According to phytotherapists, Ivan tea occupies a leading position among medicinal herbs of the middle band in terms of the strength of their influence on the human body.

Officially, a perennial herb, filling the first places of forest fires and living on the edges, glades, slopes and embankments, is called narrow-leaved fireweed ( Chamerion angustifolium)... But there are many other names for this amazing forest culture, which can become a full-fledged replacement for the traditional black and green leaf tea. He is called by the people placun,digger, virgin grass, willow-grass, wild hemp, hoop-grass, wild violet, field sage and other original names.

You can get full information about the amazing properties of a drink prepared according to all the rules of tea ceremonies by reading the article . It turns out that a healing elixir made from independently collected and properly dried raw materials has a miraculous effect on all organs and systems of the body, slowing down the aging process, strengthening defenses, charging the body and soul with life-giving energy and restoring the digestive system.

Today it is not difficult to find Ivan tea on the Internet or buy it in modern tea shops. However, many zealous owners harvest the wild-growing narrow-leaved fireweed on their own, since the unpretentious culture grows throughout the territory of central Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. By the way, Ivan tea does not contain caffeine, which makes it indispensable for all people who are contraindicated to drink coffee and black tea due to medical prescriptions.

Fireweed leaves and peduncles are harvested from early summer to autumn, fermented and dried in a Russian oven or conventional oven. You can read more about the collection and preparation of Koporye tea in our material. Some summer residents have long mastered the cultivation of a lump in their own garden, which allows you not to waste time and energy walking in the forest, especially if you have to travel far, but to collect leaves, buds and tea flowers, without interrupting household chores in their possessions.

Why is ivan tea grown in summer cottages?

At first, herbaceous flower perennial - excellent raw material for making tea followed by fermentation and oven drying. Having an Ivan-tea plantation in your possession, you will always be provided with unique plant raw materials, useful in all respects for all family members.

Secondly, planting narrow-leaved fireweed is advisable in the presence of empty fields, on which the cultivation of other plants is not planned in the coming years. With such a plantation, you can not only provide the whole family and loved ones with Ivan tea for the whole year, but also earn extra money by selling raw materials on the side.

Thirdly, own land, planted with a digger, help solve the problem of feed for livestock and poultry... Herbivores, like geese, ducks, turkeys, happily eat both juicy greens, rich in vitamins, minerals and biologically active phytonutrients, as well as harvested silage fireweed.

And if bees live on your site, then the best summer honey plant (July-August) for your hardworking pollinating insects cannot be found... Fireweed honey, saturated with all the components of medicinal raw materials, has a light shade of greenery, a delicate taste, a refined aroma of summer meadows and amazing therapeutic properties. According to experienced beekeepers, the productivity of Ivan tea is more than 600 kg of ready-made honey from each hectare, because more than 40 million flowers bloom on such a field.

Well, fourthly, Koporye tea is a plant amazing in its beauty and grace, capable of ennobling any area. The use of narrow-leaved fireweed in landscaping the territory is becoming more and more popular among landscape designers and home owners with a refined taste.

Tall and erect bushes, which are crowned with a long "flower panicle" of bright pink shades, fit perfectly into any landscape. They can act as a background when creating landscape compositions, and at the same time stunted decorative crops are planted in front, or they themselves can become blooming islands in different corners of the summer cottage.

The plant, which blooms from late June to August, is capable of creating a summer joyful mood and decorating the landscape of plots made in a variety of styles, ranging from classics and country country to Baroque and French Provence. At the same time, flower stalks can act as a natural barometer, since fireweed flowers instantly close before precipitation.

Before starting to grow willow tea in a summer cottage near an apiary, on an empty field or in a free area adjacent to country estates, all novice tea growers should familiarize themselves with the peculiarities of the plant's agricultural technology.

What does Ivan like tea?

So, the main conditions for the growth of a perennial for a long (from 5 years or more) period of time:

• the plant prefers well-structured light soils with good moisture, which can be organized by regular watering;
• narrow-leaved fireweed tolerates drought and heat well, but is very picky about the presence of moisture in the soil at the beginning of the growing season (April-May);
• watering the Ivan-tea plantation during hot periods 2 times a week (early in the morning or after sunset), in cloudy weather - 1-2 times a month, with precipitation that falls more often than once a week, watering is not required at all;
• erect tall bushes of fireweed grow well and with the walls of buildings, since the presence of a fence protects the stems from winds that can break them;
• the place for planting a culture is allocated sunny, illuminated throughout the day and without the slightest shading;
• the best predecessor of fireweed is considered to be other nightshade crops, as well as zucchini, pumpkins, squash, and;
• it is recommended to apply fertilizers, necessarily mineral, under the crop no more than once a year;
• autumn pruning of stems (mowing) is recommended to a height of about 15 cm from the surface of the garden;
• when placing plantings near a vegetable garden or garden, it is desirable to underground branch of the Ivan-tea plantation with the help of sheets of slate or iron dug around the perimeter of the beds to a depth of about 1 m, since the plant tends to grow rapidly, capturing neighboring lands.

Site selection and site preparation

First of all, you should seriously take care of choosing a place, because the plant will exist on the allotted area for at least 5 years. Immediately, we note that heavy clay soils that are not structured by introducing a large amount of river sand of high doses are of little use for fireweed. Even those that still illuminate part of the day will not work. The culture simply will not take root on them. Flooded and swampy areas are not suitable either, since, despite the love for an abundance of moisture, the roots of the fireweed rot under conditions of stagnant water, and the plant dies.

Then the selected place should be enriched with ash... To do this, in calm weather, a fire is made on a site previously dug up and freed from the roots of perennial weeds, adding to it all the plant residues available on the farm: firewood, garden trimmings, leaf litter, peat, tops and stems of any crops, moss, wood products, etc. .d. After the fire has extinguished, the burning coals are scattered over the site. This technique helps to burn out the remains of weeds and create conditions as close as possible to favorable for the reproduction of fireweed, which prefers to populate places after forest fires. After leveling the surface of the plot with a rake, the earth is qualitatively moistened and the landing grooves are cut.

Planting methods ivan tea

Narrow-leaved fireweed reproduces vegetatively, that is, with the help of cuttings and root processes with additional buds, and seeds, ripening on the clusters of peduncles after flowering, approximately in September.

The fruits of the plant are a fluffy box, shaped like a pod, filled with elongated seeds with whitish fine hairs. Have you come across fluffy panicles dotting tall willow-herb thickets? This is the seed material, "equipped" by Mother Nature with a light fluff, which facilitates the movement of seeds with air currents over long distances.

Those who decide to plant fireweed on the site should decide how will you sow - with the help of seedlings, stolon roots, seedlings or seeds... As practice shows, the easiest way is to dig a seedling or rhizome in the forest, divide it into fractions and plant in early spring or autumn in the designated place. Such a plant has a high survival rate in a new place, quickly builds up its vegetative mass and begins to bloom the next season, providing the summer resident with medicinal herbal koporka tea.

However, if the area for willow tea is large, then it is advisable to sow the crop with seeds (in rows or randomly). They are sold in garden points, nurseries, online stores, or harvested independently by collecting and further drying in wild plantings of fireweed or in a fireweed field. With proper agricultural technology, flowering is ensured in 2-3 years, and if favorable conditions are created, for the next season.

Planting ivan tea with seeds

The culture reproduces perfectly in a seedling and non-seedling way. In the conditions of the middle lane, the beginning of April is considered the optimal planting date for a plant. Also, the culture can be planted before winter in mid-autumn. Choose the best day by.

Since the seeds of the plant are light and have increased volatility, they are sown in a fixed form. For example, The paper strip sowing method has been tried many times from newspaper or toilet paper, about 2 cm wide, on which fluffy grains of willow tea are glued with flour paste or diluted starch every 7 cm.

Paper strips with seeds rolled into rolls are laid out in grooves cut at a distance of 12 cm from each other, about 3 cm deep. The strips are laid on the edge in the ground, and then sprinkled with a mixture of 1 part of ash and 2 parts of coarse river sand. Over the beds, spill water as carefully as possible from a watering can with a strainer, trying not to erode the sandy-ash substrate. In a wet state, the plantation should be maintained for 10 days, watering by fine sprinkling in the absence of precipitation.

Another way of sowing narrow-leaved fireweed is mixing seeds with coarse sand... Sowing is carried out in grooves, about 2 cm deep, as if adding salt. On top of them, they are covered with a substrate of plant ash and sand (1: 1), and then watered from a watering can with a strainer.

Mass shoots of Ivan tea appear after 15-25 days. With regular watering, loosening and weeding, the plants will take root over the season and enter the flowering phase for 2 or 3 years.

In one place, fireweed grows for about 7 years, after which it degenerates and dies, making room for other plants or re-sowing.

Growing fireweed using seedlings

Planting seedlings in open ground leads to an extension of the growing season and acceleration of adaptation processes in a new place. That is, planting pre-grown, fed and hardened seedlings planted on prepared beds in the spring, under favorable circumstances, can lead to the fact that the bushes will bloom already in the current season.

As planting containers, boxes, flowerpots or pots are used, which are at the disposal of the owners. A centimeter drainage layer of expanded clay or broken shards (clay, brick, etc.) is poured at the bottom of each container. The soil for seedlings of fireweed is prepared light, moisture-permeable and structured, mixing universal soil with river sand and humus in equal proportions.

The surface of the "fluffy" earth is sprinkled with seeds (evenly), and on top it is as if added with a thin layer of humus. The soil is moistened from a spray bottle, preventing it from drying out. The containers are covered with foil or glass until shoots appear, remembering to regularly moisten the ground. It is better to put the boxes in a warm place, for example, near a radiator. The first shoots will hatch in 7-14 days.

Sow fireweed for seedlings in January-February so that by the time of transfer to the plantation, the plants are strong enough. When the fourth leaf is formed, a pick of Ivan-tea seedlings is carried out in a larger container, leaving a distance of at least 3-4 cm between the plants.

To strengthen the seedlings, 2 weeks after the pick, they are fed (1:30) or (1:15). It is possible to water the seedlings with a urea solution (20 g / 10 l of water). From the first decade of March, the plants are taken out on the balcony for several hours, always in sunny weather for hardening. The hardened seedlings are transferred to the beds in mid-April - early May. By June, the height of powerful shoots reaches 15 cm.

Planting and subsequent reproduction of wild plants dug in the forest

The root system of the bushes is spreading and can reach up to one and a half meters in length. Therefore, the plants are dug out together with a large earthy clod, preserving the integrity of the root processes. The bushes are transferred to the beds in dug planting holes of not very deep depth. The earthen lump should fit into a hole previously spilled with water.

The voids are covered with sand or fertile soil, lightly tamp the soil with your hands, shed water and mulch the plantings with a thick layer of straw or dried grass. Planting is carried out in spring or autumn. The roots of a plant that has taken root in a new place grow rapidly, which makes it possible to separate parts of the roots with clearly visible living buds and propagate ivan tea vegetatively (see the section "planting by roots").

Planting by roots

The soil for planting fireweed roots obtained by dividing stolon roots is prepared as for vegetable crops. Then, grooves are cut with a depth of about 15 cm and a width of 2 cm. A living kidney must be present on each root. The furrows are covered with fertile soil mixed with sand and ash (1: 1: 1). Plants are planted at a distance of 15 cm from each other in a row. This method is suitable for planting crops before winter..

Regardless of how you planted narrow-leaved fireweed, planting care is standard for most cultivated plants. Further care of the willow-tea plantation consists in organizing watering, especially in spring and early summer, removing weeds, loosening plantings, fertilizing with mineral or organomineral fertilizers.

At the beginning of the season, experienced gardeners, after scheduled watering, apply a complex mineral fertilizer, for example, a nitroammophoska solution prepared at the rate of 50 g of product per standard bucket of lukewarm water. Liquid fertilizer is applied at the rate of ½ bucket for each running meter. A spill of plantings with an ash infusion enriched with ammonium nitrate (3 glasses of ash per bucket of water, leave for 3 days, plus a tablespoon of nitrogen composition dissolved before watering) at the rate of 1 bucket of nutrient solution for each square meter of plantings is also suitable.

Do you already grow Ivan tea in your garden? Share in the comments your invaluable experience in cultivating, collecting, fermenting, storing and brewing Koporye tea. Let the forest and country phyto-pharmacy help you become younger, more energetic and healthier!