Instructions for using Cuscuta

To be honest, I never knew about the existence of dodder. Although I like Chinese medicine very much, I am not trained in this field, so “it’s like a mountain between two different fields”. In fact, there are many Chinese medicines that we have never seen. If you think about it, this isn't surprising. After all, there are so many wonders in this world, how is it possible for us to understand them so thoroughly?

Dodder is also known as silk-spinning seed, motherless vine, rootless vine, and rose seed. Dodder is a parasitic plant with a special physiological structure. Its cells do not have chloroplasts. It uses a vine-like structure to cling to other plants. It extends sharp spines from the part where it contacts the host and pierces the host directly into the phloem, absorbing nutrients to survive, and further storing them as starch granules in the tissues. The Chinese medicine Cuscuta is the seed of the dicotyledonous plants Convolvulaceae, including Cuscuta australis, Cuscuta australis, and Cuscuta australis. It has the effects of nourishing the kidney and essence, nourishing the liver and improving eyesight, and consolidating the fetus and stopping diarrhea.

Medication Instructions

1.

Agricultural prevention and control: Combined with the cultivation management of nurseries and orchards, carry out inter-row cultivation and weeding before the germination period of dodder seeds, and bury the seeds deep in the soil below 3 cm to make it difficult for them to germinate and emerge from the soil.

2.

Manual control: In late spring and early summer, check nurseries and orchards frequently. Once dodder seedlings are found, they should be removed and burned in time. In May and October every year, the orchard is inspected regularly, and pruning is carried out to cut off branches infested with dodder or to remove all vines.

3.

Chemical control: For orchards and tall fruit plants where dodder occurs frequently, spray the pesticide 1 to 2 times as appropriate from May to October. Effective agents include: 400-600 times diluted 10% glyphosate aqueous solution plus 0.3%-0.5% ammonium sulfate, or 600-800 times diluted 48% dimethoate emulsifiable concentrate plus 0.3%-0.5% ammonium sulfate.

4.

Note: It is strictly forbidden to throw dodder vines onto fruit trees. Do not spray pesticides during the new shoots and tender leaves stage, or the flowering and fruiting stage of fruit trees to avoid pesticide damage.

After understanding the usage instructions of Cuscuta chinensis, many people should no longer feel that Cuscuta chinensis is unfamiliar. Including me, I no longer think that Dodder is that difficult to understand. Understanding Cuscuta is like understanding a person. The impact it has on me is different. I don’t know how you all feel, but I now feel that Cuscuta is like a friend I know.