Black Sesame · Note 01
The ground it
grows on
Province
Henan
Prefecture
Zhumadian
Coordinates
32.98° N, 114.02° E
Elevation
60–90 m
Mean temp.
15.1 °C
Rainfall
950 mm
Frost-free
About 220 days
Soil
Sandy loam
Soil pH
6.5–7.5
The plain
Zhumadian lies between the Huai river and the Tongbai hills, on ground flat enough that nothing is terraced. Fields run to the horizon in every direction, broken only by tree lines planted as windbreaks.
That flatness matters more than it sounds. Sesame is harvested by cutting whole plants and standing them upright to dry, and that is only practical on ground you can walk a cart across.
The water
950 millimetres of rain a year is generous, but the figure hides the shape of it: most falls in July and August, in heavy summer storms, and then it stops. The crop needs exactly that — water while it is setting seed, then a dry spell long enough to cut and stack.
The soil
Sandy loam at pH 6.5 to 7.5, laid down by the Huai over a very long time. It drains fast, which is the requirement — sesame rots at the root in standing water before it ever sets seed, so the crop goes on the higher parts of a field.
This page describes a plant and its place in Chinese herbal tradition. It is not a description of what our products do, and nothing here is medical advice.
