Chapter 94 Harvest
Old man Chen has been growing crops all his life and has long realized the importance of good seeds.

Before the opening up, everyone used their own seeds, and the corn yield per mu was only more than 300 kilograms.

In recent years, with the advancement of seed commercialization, the per-acre yield of corn has been increasing year by year, and it is not uncommon to harvest eight or nine hundred kilograms of corn per acre.

The same goes for vegetables. Experienced farmers will not save money on seeds and seedlings.

Old man Chen has been buying vegetable seedlings for so many years, and he has only heard of people selling fake seeds and seedlings at low prices, but he has never seen anyone selling them at high prices.

Old man Chen’s house was not far away. After riding the tricycle for half an hour, he arrived at his own field.

The old woman was already preparing the land. The ridges were straight and the soil was wet. It looked quite pleasing to the eye.

Seeing Old Man Chen coming back, the old woman came over to help unload the seedlings.

“This seedling looks good.”

"It's 5 cents a plant, and one acre of land costs or yuan for seedlings."

"So expensive?"

"It's expensive for a reason. We only have one or two acres of land. What's there to be afraid of?"

They are an old couple. After growing vegetables for so many years, the old woman knows that some foreign seeds are very expensive, so she no longer worries about it.

The two worked together to plant pepper seedlings.

According to the planting pattern instructed by Tianhe technicians, 4000 plants of Tianjiao No. 3750 and plants of Chihong No. need to be planted per acre.

It took them three days to finish planting two acres of land. The old woman looked at the still somewhat empty land and asked worriedly.

“Isn’t it a bit too thin?”

"probably not."

Old man Chen wiped his sweat, packed up his stuff with one hand, and added.

"The seedlings are strong and the yield is high."

But in fact, he also had some concerns, as the spacing between rows and plants was indeed a bit wide.

On the way back, we passed by Zhao Mingzhi's vegetable field again.

More than 100 acres of land have been planted for the most part. Zhao Mingzhi and his wife and several migrant workers are busy in the fields, some are planting seedlings, and some are watering.

Old man Chen wondered, "In the past few years, this couple planted cucumbers, cauliflowers and the like. Why did they suddenly want to plant peppers this year?"

Old man Chen looked at Miao for a while. His eyesight was not very good, and Miao looked at him blankly from a distance.

Always feel something is not right.

"Who cares?"

The two returned home.

Old man Chen poured two taels of wine, grabbed some peanuts, and fell asleep alone, waiting for his wife to prepare the meal.

at the same time.

At Zhao Mingzhi's vegetable market, the workers have already gone off work, but the couple are still busy watering the plants.

By the time we were almost done, it was already eight o'clock and it was getting dark.

Zhao Mingzhi frowned, half-knelt on the ground, and looked at a pepper seedling.

Seeing him like this, his wife yelled angrily, "What are you standing there for? Collect the water pipe."

There was no movement for a while, and the fat woman was spitting all over the place.

"Zhao Mingzhi, it's almost dark, what are you doing? I'm so unlucky to be with you!"

Zhao Mingzhi was also furious and shouted, "What do you know? There's something wrong with these pepper seedlings. I shouldn't have listened to you and bought cheap seeds."

"You dare yell at me again!"

Zhao Mingzhi turned his head, his momentum weakened, but he still looked at the chili seedlings without saying a word.

Seeing this, the fat woman calmed down a little.

"What's wrong with Miao?"

"The earliest seedlings planted are three or four days old, and there is still no sign of aging."

"That's it. Why are you making such a fuss? Just go to the seed station and ask tomorrow and you'll know."

the next day.

After coming out of the seed station, Zhao Mingzhi breathed a sigh of relief.

After analysis by the seed seller, the reason for the slow seedling growth was found.

In May, the ground temperature is still low, so it is not appropriate to water the plants after planting. However, watering the plants after planting will cause the ground temperature to drop, which is not conducive to the acclimatization of the seedlings.

The fat woman pursed her lips.
"You don't do your job and are suspicious all the time. What problems can there be in the seeds you buy from the seed station?"

"I was overthinking it. Didn't he think that the seeds we bought didn't have a certificate of inspection? Plus, Old Man Chen's seedlings were growing well, so he was anxious."

"Humph, the seed station is more reliable than the certificate. I think Old Man Chen is going to make a big mistake this time. If the eunuch seedlings don't bear fruit, he will cry."

Zhao Mingzhi nodded repeatedly.

Tianhe seedling base.

Duan Haitao accompanied Guo Yang on a tour of the base. In the empty greenhouse, workers were busy cleaning up waste and disinfecting.

"Boss, this season we have grown a total of 1.18 million seedlings, but we only sold 150 million of them. The rest were supplied to the demonstration base and the greenhouse in Minqin."

Guo Yang was quite surprised, "Those 150 million shares were bought by retail investors?"

"Not really. A professional vegetable planting cooperative bought more than 1 acres of Red No. sweet pepper seedlings."

"Oh? Aren't there many people saying that we are 'eunuch seedlings'?"

"Those were spread by seed companies and other nursery bases. Seeing our aggressive approach, they worried that their seedlings wouldn't be sold, so they secretly spread rumors."

Guo Yang smiled indifferently. The hot pepper seedlings grown this season would basically be consumed by Tianhe and Shahai, so they had no intention of exporting them.

Moreover, many professional growers and cooperatives are cautious because of their large areas. Even if they know it may be a rumor, they will choose to wait and see. Therefore, the big growers still use the previous varieties or choose more expensive foreign seeds.

As for whether Tianhe's seedlings are "eunuch seedlings" that do not bear fruit, won't we know in two months?

But by then, wanting to buy Tianjiao No. 5 and Chihong No. 1 at 1 cents a plant would be nothing but a pipe dream.

……

in the subsequent time.

Zhao Mingzhi and his family get up early and work late every day, working hard on the farm.

In contrast, Old Man Chen gets up early in the morning to work in the fields, and then goes out to play cards in the afternoon.

At first, Zhao Mingzhi would go to Old Man Chen's land from time to time to compare them.

Old man Chen's peppers are growing well, but the peppers in his own field are also growing well, so it looks like there will definitely be a good harvest.

Zhao Mingzhi's family was very happy and relieved.

After some time,

One day, Zhao Mingzhi suddenly discovered that small white flowers had bloomed between the stems and leaves of the pepper seedlings in Old Man Chen's field.

However, the pepper seedlings in my own garden have yet to bloom, and even the leaves on the lower side have begun to turn yellow.

Zhao Mingzhi asked around.

When he learned that the peppers grown by farmers in the surrounding area were all in bloom, he became a little anxious.

Started arguing with my wife.

There was a small quarrel every day and a big quarrel every three days, and even the seed station was affected.

It's July.

Guo Yang, who has returned to the netherworld, received good news from all over the country.

There are three hot and sweet pepper demonstration bases, the Minqin solar greenhouse, and cooperatives and individual investors who have purchased Tianhe seedlings. The pepper plants are tall and strong, the fruits are plump and full of vitality, and the harvest scene is like a bright picture.

At this point, the large-scale growers who were waiting and watching were completely dumbfounded and regretted believing the rumors.

In Old Man Chen's field, it is time to harvest the first batch of fruits.

Green screw peppers hang down from the branches. The fruits are bright in color and look delicious. The air seems to be filled with enticing aroma.

The same thing happened in the bell pepper fields. The peppers were very large but had not started to change color.

At night, taking advantage of the moonlight, the old couple picked two baskets of screw peppers and sweet peppers, preparing to sell them at the market the next day.

Old man Chen felt that the process of selling peppers in the morning was ordinary and not as thrilling as playing cards in the afternoon.

While Old Man Chen was playing cards, his wife returned to the village with the money from selling peppers, smiling at everyone she met.

When passing by Zhao Mingzhi's house, he boasted to passers-by in an exaggerated manner.

"One green pepper weighs one pound."

Unlike Old Man Chen's home, Tianhe's hot pepper demonstration base was already crowded with merchants and elites.

(End of this chapter)