GROWING
ECHINACEA
By Jodi Naegeli
Have you heard about the herb Echinacea? Ever wonder how it was grown, or where it came from? Well, it is also known as the Purple Coneflower. The roots are used in the herbal form, and the seed is also used. It has actually been used for centuries; the North American Indians had used it to ease the pain of insect bites, snakebites, various infections, toothaches, cuts and many other ailments. Lately though, it has been used to help enhance out immune system, and to fight microbial infections. It is used for such things as the flu, sore throats and cold symptoms. It is a relatively new herb on the market, and growers are still learning how to successfully grow it. I have found a few tips on how to grow the Purple Coneflower, which has already begun to bring in a lot of money to growers.
Echinacea prefers a dry, sandy
soil with a high pH (about 6) content.
You should cultivate the land one year in advance to planting this crop;
this should help to minimize your weeds.
Echinacea is wanted as an organic crop, so you can’t use chemicals to
kill weeds or insects. This means that
predator bugs are going to be needed to control your pests. The bugs you can use to help your problem
are: Praying Mantis, Lace Wings and
Lady Bugs. To help your weed problem,
you can use commercial grade landscape fabric between the rows or a mulch. The mulch sometimes brings in more cutworms,
so that might not be a good idea. If
you want to spend a lot of money there is a wood fiber from Canfor, which
decomposes over a period of 2-3 years.
Even though the purple coneflower likes dry soil, some type of
irrigation system will be needed, for the critical times during transplanting.
You can plant this crop from seed
or with small seedlings. Not many
people have done the direct seeding, so results may not be that good at this
time. Your best bet, is to plant small
seedlings. In the early spring, seeds
should be planted, and then transplanted into plug trays. From there they go into the greenhouse until
they have reached the 2-4-leaf stage, and then they are off to the field to
grow into beautiful plants. In the
field, spacing ranges from about 2”- 6” apart and 1’-1.5’ spacing between rows.
As I said before, Echinacea is
grown for the root and seed that it produces.
You must grow the roots for 3-4 years, before harvesting them in the
fall. It is important to harvest after
a frost, this helps the active ingredient, to be at it’s peak. Then the roots are dried out of direct sun,
until they are 65% dry. Make sure to
remove rot, if there is any on the root.
The root sells for $40-$45 per
pound. So one acre could bring in
$80,000. So, what about the seed? This ranges from $10,000-$15,000 for one acre. Does that convince you to grow Echinacea?
Don’t get your hopes up to high
yet, there are a few problems with this new crop. There are 3 different species that are grown, for medicinal
purposes, and sometimes they are hard to identify. They are Echinacea angfustifolia, Echinacea pursuer and Echinacea
pallida. Don’t plant them all together,
because they will cross-pollinate, or even a few miles apart. It is best to grow one species. Most seed houses sell Echinacea purpurea as
a seed, and this is probably the one you have in your garden. ID of this one is not to hard, but the other
two species are not always identified correctly.
It is important to be aware of
what you are getting into, some seed producers grow more then one type of Echinacea
and do not know which seed they are selling to you. Make sure that the seed is identified, and the plant has been
botanically identified too. After your
crop has flowered it is a good idea to have it identified to make sure you have
the right seed.
So, the important things to have
are: A botanical Identification certificate, an organic certification (must be
considered organic by a third party organization) and make sure you do
laboratory tests to determine how much active ingredient is in the roots, be
careful, because it varies!
Good Luck and remember to stop
and smell the Echinacea!
http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/lants/page1.html
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