1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 10 Disease Prevention
During the meal, the second sister advised Chen Jiazhi not to harvest the vegetables today. The idea was that the meat had been eaten and the weather was fine, so let the vegetables grow for two more days.

But Chen Jiazhi was also very determined and insisted on buying the dish. The two siblings almost had a falling out.

"Brother, do you want to play chess?"

Yi Dinggan's words gave Chen Jiazhi a way out. "Give me a handful, just a handful. We have to spray pesticides and harvest vegetables in the afternoon, so it's a lot of work."

Chen Jiafang cursed and started to clean up the dishes with Li Xiu.

While setting up the chess board, Chen Jiazhi offered Yi Dinggan some cigarettes. He'd bought Bai Yang Cheng, a brand produced by a local tobacco factory, on his morning trip to the agricultural supply store. Actually, they preferred Wu Niu, but that was hard to find in Huacheng.

"Alright, alright, I'll just give you one, I'll kill you!"

Yi Dinggan was in high spirits, but after more than ten minutes he began to doubt his life. "This shouldn't be the case. It was clearly a 50-50 chance before."

After the game, Chen Jiazhi felt a little proud. Brother Yi was an old hand at playing chess and cards, and he was very good at it. He had suffered a lot in his previous life.

"No need to go downstairs. I'll get some more sleep and then go back to work. Brother Yi, the vegetable prices are pretty good these days. You can also collect some vegetables to sell first."

"Well, the quarrels between you two siblings aren't enough, you have to make me quarrel with your second sister too, right?"

"Tsk, are you afraid of my second sister? You're just lazy~"

Brother Yi's vegetables don't have a small greenhouse, and leafy vegetables can hardly withstand the high temperature and high humidity environment. Chen Jiazhi directly confronted him, but his second sister Chen Jiafang couldn't convince him, so she could only work on Brother Yi.

He felt that Brother Yi should know how severe the plum rain in Huacheng is, after all, he has been here for several years.

His brother Yi is not a man who is afraid of his wife.

In fact, among this group of Xichuan vegetable farmers, except for Liu Minghua who was suppressed, the men still made the decisions in other families.

Because they often have to go out to sell vegetables, buy agricultural supplies, etc., and most rural women do not know how to ride a bicycle. Even if they can, they cannot carry hundreds of kilograms of vegetables.

Yi Dinggan looked at me with disdain, "Brother, you are lucky to have married Li Xiu, who doesn't understand my suffering. If it were someone else, he would have been beaten to the ground by your second sister long ago."

"..."

Chen Jiazhi looked behind him innocently.

"Why are you still blowing the shell? Don't you have to work in the fields?!"

The second sister Chen Jiafang came in from the back door and looked at Yi Dinggan with a very unfriendly look. Li Xiu also stood aside and chuckled. It was obvious that the two of them had overheard the conversation just now.

The sky was clear and the temperature was not too high, less than 30℃. Most people who did not go to sell vegetables in the early morning went to work in the fields without taking a lunch break.

After taking a short nap, Chen Jiazhi went out with a hand sprayer and the newly bought pesticides.

Although the temperature was high, Chen Jiazhi decided to take a risk and spray the medicine.

He was worried that it would rain again in the afternoon or evening, and the medicine might not be able to be sprayed, or he might have to spray again after applying it.

I don’t know what’s wrong with God today, but it suddenly cleared up.

They make vegetable farmers mistakenly believe that the rainy days are over, and then make a surprise attack. They are very professional in defrauding farmers.

...

There is a pond in the southwest corner of Dongxiang Vegetable Market, which was also dug by the original company. It is very close to Chen Jiazhi’s No. 4 plot, and further north is No. 3 plot. Both plots of land are planted with bean and melon vegetables.

No. 3 and No. 4 together cover almost exactly 1 acre, so the medicine is easy to mix with water.

50g of mancozeb + 25ml of chlorpyrifos, diluted with 30 liters of water per mu, is exactly the capacity of the sprayer.

Mancozeb is a protective fungicide that needs to be used before or in the early stages of the disease. It only forms a protective film and does not penetrate into the vegetables.

There are currently no diseases or insect pests in plots 3 and 4. Spraying pesticides is mainly to prevent various pathogens caused by continuous rain and to kill insects at the same time.

In fact, it can also be mixed with metalaxyl, but Chen Jiazhi thinks mancozeb is enough for the time being.

The yield of bean melons this season will definitely be affected. Rainy days will affect flowering and pollination and reduce the fruit setting rate.

At the same time, for cowpeas, there is a saying that as long as they are not killed by drought, they should never be watered. If there is too much water, the bean sprouts will grow too tall and affect the yield.

It's rained a lot recently. Chen Jiazhi's cowpeas are growing too long, as are his bitter melons, loofahs, and green beans.

It's time to control the prosperity.

Only then did he realize that he had not bought enough pesticides and had forgotten to buy paclobutrazol and brassinolide. He would have to go to the agricultural supply store again in a few days.

However, at this time, there are probably very few people who use chemicals to control the growth of vegetables, perhaps because the technology in this area is not yet mature.

This may be an advantageous knowledge point.

Chen Jiazhi walked in the loofah field with a sprayer on his back. Now the plant density is low, and the spray can cover the entire plant, which is just the right amount of spraying.

After two or three days when the liquid medicine has been fully absorbed by the plant, you can set up a frame to guide the vines.

While spraying the pesticide, Chen Jiazhi was planning his farm work so as to avoid making mistakes in a hurry.

After spraying the medicine, Chen Jiazhi sweated a lot. The temperature was a bit high, but it should not exceed 30℃. This made him feel a little relieved, and there should be no high temperature damage to the medicine.

After just a few hours, the liquid medicine will form a protective film and there is no need to re-spray even if it rains again.

When Chen Jiazhi carried the sprayer back home, he saw from afar that Li Xiu was already cutting vegetables in the No. 1 cabbage field.

He put down the sprayer and walked over. Li Xiu had already cut a small half of the frame, but the empty space had increased a lot.

At the current rate of producing more than 100 kilograms of Chinese cabbage a day, this piece of land can be cleared in two or three days.

The yield of harvesting four to five hundred kilograms of vegetables from three acres of land is indeed low.

The subsequent leafy vegetables were also sown two days apart, so the yield would not be much higher when harvested.

As the villagers thought, they could indeed harvest more vegetables by waiting for a few days, but God did not give them the opportunity.

"Jiazhi, Brother Yi just said that you bought imported pesticides, and the price is very expensive. The old people said that the money was not worth it."

Chen Jiazhi had just squatted down to pick the vegetables when Li Xiu started to ask. While he was catching up on his sleep, Yi Dinggan also sprayed pesticides and happened to discover imported pesticides, which spread quickly.

After listening to what Li Xiu said, Chen Jiazhi felt a little helpless. Living in the same house was not only inconvenient, but Brother Yi and Second Sister often couldn't keep secrets.

“Yes, we bought imported pesticides, which are a bit expensive, but they are less toxic and more effective in preventing root rot and leaf spots.

I also bought some vine cabbage seeds, which I will plant after I harvest the Chinese cabbage. The money I earned from selling them yesterday is almost all used up.

But the vegetable prices have been good these past few days, so I'm going to sell some vegetables tonight to save some money and buy more agricultural supplies. Society is changing so fast these days, and I have a feeling that agricultural supplies will skyrocket in price. I have to buy them in advance; if I buy late, I'll definitely lose out."

After a pause, Chen Jiazhi continued, "The house is full of highly toxic pesticides. It's not good for you and your children in the long run."

After hearing what he said, Li Xiu swallowed back all the words in her heart. She didn't have high demands, and it was good enough to listen to his patient explanation.

They kept picking vegetables until it was almost dark, and then they went back.

My second sister made dinner. She fried carrot slices with the leftover twice-cooked pork. The carrots absorbed the aroma of the twice-cooked pork and tasted delicious and went well with rice.

After dinner, Yi Dinggan wanted to play chess again, but Chen Jiazhi refused and took the vegetable basket and flashlight to go pick some more vegetables.

"You're still harvesting vegetables. You must be over 200 kilograms."

"Pick up more. They sold well last night. Let's get more today and improve the food tomorrow."

Seeing Chen Jiazhi taking the frame to the field, discussions in the dam started again, and many people came to ask Li Xiu to persuade Chen Jiazhi.

"I can't persuade him. Once Jiazhi makes a decision, he never goes back. But he has been diligent these past two days and has done a good job. I am satisfied."

"Hey, it's all because of what he's done since he was little. This young master has a temper like a bull. He insists on buying good pesticides. My husband said that the pesticides Jiazhi buys are at least twice as expensive!"

"It's so expensive, the money he earns from selling vegetables is not enough for him to build it."

"Xiu, why did you fall for Jiazhi in the first place?"

"She was just good-looking, but now she's been dragged into this too, and the baby in her belly is suffering as well."

(End of this chapter)