1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 24 Pollination at Night

When they heard that they were to be a matchmaker for Luffa, everyone let out sad and regretful noises.

Li Mingkun: "Scholar, this is too boring. Do you need someone to act as a matchmaker for this loofah?"

Chen Jiazhi saw a few women who were watching the fun coming over, so he raised his voice:

"How can it be boring? Using loofah as a matchmaker can greatly increase the yield. Those of you who grow loofah and cucumber can go home and try it after learning this.

It has been raining continuously for some time recently, and the plants have grown very tall, making it difficult for the fruits to set firmly. Although it is sunny today, it is inevitable that it will rain later. Rainy days are not conducive to insect pollination, which will lead to poor natural pollination results.

Artificial pollination can improve the pollination success rate, ensure fruit set, increase yield, and correct fruit shape to reduce deformed fruits."

The vegetable farmers were not completely confused. After hearing what he said, they all understood.

Li Mingkun's family grows cucumbers, and some vegetable farmers grow loofahs at home. The women all urged Chen Jiazhi to tell them about it quickly.

"First of all, we need to consider the right time and location, and choose male and female flowers that are open on the same day."

"For example, my ribbed loofah doesn't start blooming until around 5 or 6 p.m. and starts to wither around 8 or 9 a.m., so pollination needs to start around 5 a.m."

"Ordinary loofahs without ridges are usually pollinated between 7 and 9 in the morning, and cucumbers also bloom in the morning."

In Guangdong Province, only loofahs with ridges are called loofahs, while ordinary loofahs without ridges are called water melons. Vegetable farmers know this, but they are not really clear about the difference in pollination time.

After telling the time, Chen Jiazhi picked up the male flower in his hand.

"When you see this flower, you know how to choose it. The flower is large, the stamens are well-developed, the anthers are spread out, and there is a lot of pollen..."

"I see. Isn't this the same thing you men compare in the shower every day?"

"..."

Chen Jiazhi looked at Aunt Juan in disbelief. The women around her moved away a little. Li Xiu and others who were thin-skinned blushed. Even the men were a little surprised. They looked at Qi Yongfeng and then at Huang Juan.

Huang Juan put her hands on her hips and said, "Why, you guys are allowed to talk about it every day, but we're not allowed to discuss it? Everyone here is married..."

"Ahem, let's get down to business~ Let's get down to business."

Chen Jiazhi quickly interrupted, "Male flowers don't produce fruit, while female flowers do. But you should also choose flowers with well-developed, straight-shaped fruits."

Aunt Juan might have been getting excited, and she continued, "I understand. You men say that women should be beautiful and have smooth lines."

"And they have to be well-matched."

Li Mingkun added, and then found a female flower on the loofah rack next to him, "This one looks pretty good, scholar, come and demonstrate it."

"Yes, Jiazhi, hurry up and get on it."

Chen Jiazhi: “…”

Brother Yi, you really can't stand being lonely!
But the female flower that Li Mingkun saw was indeed good, so Chen Jiazhi walked over with the male flower and started pollination.

"When pollinating, expose the anthers and gently apply the pollen to the stigma. Make sure to apply it evenly and consistently."

Everyone was looking at him. Chen Jiazhi looked up and saw Yi Dinggan and Qi Yongfeng covering their mouths and laughing. The others also seemed to be feeling a little strange.

"You scoundrel, if you have something to say, then say it seriously!" Chen Jiafang cursed. Li Xiu's face was already red as she slowly retreated behind the crowd.

"I'm being serious. What are you thinking? You're the ones who have the wrong ideas. It's none of my business!"

Chen Jiazhi spoke with confidence. He had not originally thought in that direction, but now he had to think in a wrong way.

He found another beautiful, smooth female flower and said, "One male flower can usually pollinate two to three female flowers... Don't laugh, what's with all the talk about having three wives and four concubines? Let's be serious."

Chen Jiazhi ignored everyone else and continued pollinating. Then he tied a red rope around the pollinated loofah as a mark.

This job is only suitable when you have a lot of free time and it must be a sunny day.

That’s why marking is necessary.

Next, he talked about pinching and replacing the tops of loofahs. He had already topped the other cowpeas, green beans, and bitter melons once.

When the vine has 15 to 20 leaves, top it and remove the top, leaving two or three fruits, and remove all the side branches and flowers.

"The purpose of doing this is to allow these two or three melons to expand rapidly. They can grow into commercial melons in just 10 days. At the same time, the side branches will grow 6 to 7 leaves in 10 days, and then we can pinch off the tops and replace them."

After hearing this, Yi Dinggan said, "Jiazhi, this is a bit troublesome."

Chen Jiazhi: "If you want a high yield, you can't be afraid of trouble. This crop of melons has already been delayed by the previous rain. If we don't make up for it, the yield will be very low later."

Yi Dinggan: "They say the eldest son should be the heir, but with your heart-removing and head-changing skills, you're going to destroy every melon that has made great contributions. Forget it, forget it, it's not suitable for me, I'm leaving first."

Everyone was familiar with his temper, and it was also related to the fact that Yi Dinggan did not grow loofah.

The explanation of pollination basically ended here. Some people went back to the fields to work, while others stayed to practice it before leaving.

It only took twenty minutes.

At this time, the loofah buds began to open in large numbers, and Chen Jiazhi and Li Xiucai began to move around in the loofah field to pollinate.

The advantage of having less land is that it can be managed more carefully. In the future, there will also be special pollination water. Pollination can be completed very quickly by just dipping the female flower in the water.

There's no need to bother with that now.

Then he smeared the pollen of a male flower on the stigma of the female flower. Chen Jiazhi looked at Li Xiu's back again.
Throat is a little dry.

Damn it~
Everything was fine originally, but now these people made him angry again. Feeling a little bit high down there, Chen Jiazhi stopped pollinating, ran to the side of the ditch, picked up the cup and took a sip of water.

"What's wrong, Jiazhi?"

Seeing him running in a hurry, Li Xiu turned around and asked curiously, and then saw the tent.

"Bah~ You can't even do your job properly!"

I~feel so wronged!

It’s really good to have a young body. Although I am often exhausted during this period of time after being reborn, I often have thoughts about that.

But Li Xiu is still pregnant~
There's nothing I can do.

So it’s better to work hard every day. When you are tired, you don’t have any thoughts about that. As a result, the pollination of the loofah was ruined.
It's so hard.

After taking a few big gulps of water and calming down for a few minutes, the anger gradually subsided.

It was very hot at that time, and I started sweating profusely after drinking water. Chen Jiazhi also eliminated interference and accelerated the pollination speed. These two or three hours had to be made good use of.

He was not in a hurry to do the pinching and re-heading later. He did the pollination first, and the pinching and re-heading could be done at other times.

I kept working until it was dark and I could no longer see.

Under the moonlight, Chen Jiazhi saw Li Xiu slowly walking from the vegetable garden to the road and called out, "Xiu, go back and cook first. I'll go water the vines."

Li Xiu: "Let's go together. It's better to water the cauliflower as well. It will be faster if there are two of us."

Chen Jiazhi: "No, I can go alone. It's just the right time to use up my energy so I won't have any random thoughts at night."

"why?"

Li Xiu reacted as soon as the words came out of her mouth, but in the dark, she couldn't see her expression, only her voice could be heard: "Then I'll go back first."

Watering consumes energy.
After going back to have dinner, Chen Jiazhi continued to water the plants to vent all his energy.

As a result, when I was dozing off at night, I suddenly heard the creaking sound of the bunk bed.

At first he thought it was Brother Yi and Second Sister, but after listening he found out it was from next door.

Qi Yongfeng and Huang Juan also seem to have planted ribbed loofahs, and they probably pollinated them in the evening. Turns out they still had to pollinate late at night.
Damn it~
Before long, there were a few more squeaks.

Chen Jiazhi found that he had too little land, was not tired enough, and could not sleep at night.

(End of this chapter)