How to Grow Autumn and Winter Vegetables? The Ministry of Agriculture Issues National Production Technology Guidance

Editor's note: Once White Dew has passed, the important period for planting autumn and winter vegetables arrives once again. Whether this crop is grown well or not has a direct bearing on the vegetable supply for this autumn and winter and for next spring, and on the annual income of vegetable growers. Compared with spring vegetables, autumn and winter temperatures are low, sunlight is relatively insufficient, and pests, diseases and weeds occur frequently, so good field management is especially important. How should vegetables be grown at this time? In this issue we offer you two suggestions.

Ministry of Agriculture Issues National Autumn and Winter Vegetable Production Technology Guidance

Promote Intensive Seedling Raising and Strengthen Green Prevention and Control

At present, all parts of China have successively entered the autumn and winter vegetable production stage. This is one of the most important crop seasons in China's vegetable production, and is of great significance for guaranteeing market supply in autumn, winter and spring and for stabilizing vegetable growers' incomes. In order to strengthen autumn and winter vegetable production management, the Ministry of Agriculture recently issued the "2015 National Autumn and Winter Vegetable Production Technology Guidance."

The autumn and winter vegetable production technology guidance was formulated by the Ministry of Agriculture vegetable expert steering group based on the climate characteristics of autumn and winter, the occurrence patterns of major pests and diseases, and the occurrence of meteorological disasters, combined with consumer demand in the winter and spring vegetable market. Corresponding high-yield and high-efficiency measures were proposed respectively for major production links such as variety selection, crop season arrangement, seedling raising, cultivation management, and pest and disease prevention and control.

The Ministry of Agriculture vegetable expert steering group suggests that in terms of variety selection, in addition to choosing vegetable varieties with good marketability, high quality and high yield, and high and multiple resistance with targeted immunity, attention should also be paid to the rational combination of early-, mid- and late-maturing varieties, and vegetables for long-distance transport should use varieties that store and transport well. Light is one of the main limiting factors for high-quality, high-yield and high-efficiency production of facility vegetables in winter, so light inside the facility should be increased through measures such as cleaning the shed surface, removing excess branches and leaves, and artificial supplementary lighting.

Autumn is a period when pests, diseases and weeds occur frequently, so agronomic, physical and biological control techniques should be given priority for prevention and control. Apply distant-relative crop rotation and paddy-upland rotation comprehensively according to local conditions, demonstrate and promote soil disinfection and remediation technology to control soil-borne diseases, and strictly prohibit the use of chicken manure and pig manure with excessive harmful elements.

At the turn of summer and autumn, typhoons, rainstorms, high temperatures, drought, pests and diseases occur frequently and at high rates; late autumn frost, and winter and spring chilling injury, freezing, rain and snow disasters occur from time to time. Agricultural departments in all localities should actively communicate with meteorological departments, do a good job in forecasting and early warning, and prepare for rainy days. The Jiangnan and South China regions should pay attention to defending against waterlogging, high temperatures and drought, while North China and Northwest China should pay attention to guarding against continuous autumn and winter drought. The northern regions should make preparations to guard against strong winter temperature drops, and adopt emergency temperature supplementation measures when necessary, strictly preventing the occurrence of freezing injury.

Beijing Autumn and Winter Chinese Cabbage Planting Says Goodbye to Seed-by-Seed Sowing, A Reporter's Visit

Chinese Cabbage Can Also Be Grown with Intensive Seedling Raising

Right now, it is once again the season for planting Chinese cabbage. Some vegetable growers in Beijing's suburban districts and counties have abandoned the old method of relying on manual seed-by-seed direct sowing in previous years and are trying a new planting model.

Recently, at the vegetable base of the Shunyi District Institute of Agricultural Sciences in Beijing, a reporter saw a vegetable transplanter drive across the field, and two rows of neat cabbage seedlings were planted firmly in the ground, achieving one-stop operations of ridging, laying drip irrigation pipes, covering with film, planting seedlings and watering.

Unlike traditional planting methods, what are the characteristics of this new model? What changes can it bring to autumn and winter Chinese cabbage production?

In the past, 45,000 seeds were used per mu; now only 3,000 are needed

Changing the cultivation method of single-ridge direct sowing of autumn and winter Chinese cabbage to an intensive seedling raising method is a new model for autumn open-field winter-storage-type Chinese cabbage planting demonstrated and promoted this year by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Agriculture agricultural technology extension station by integrating professional resources such as seedling raising, cultivation, agricultural machinery, water saving and plant protection at Shunyi Lvfengnong Cooperative, the Shunyi Institute of Agricultural Sciences base, Yanqing Maoyuan Guangfa Cooperative, and Daxing Ziranlv Vegetable Planting Center.

Experts told the reporter that the traditional direct sowing method for Chinese cabbage requires about 150 grams of seed per mu, about 45,000 seeds, and after emergence the weak and small seedlings are eliminated through thinning, which both wastes seed and takes time and labor.

With the intensive seedling raising method, raising enough Chinese cabbage seedlings to plant one mu of open field requires only 3,000 seeds, and compared with the traditional method, the seedlings raised are uniform and consistent.

At the seedling stage alone, 120 cubic meters of water are saved per mu

“As the old saying goes, to grow Chinese cabbage well, at the seedling stage you need to use the furrow irrigation method of ‘three waterings to bring the seedlings out evenly and five waterings to establish the plants,’ generally requiring 5 waterings, with an average of more than 30 cubic meters of water per mu each time, and more than 150 cubic meters of water needed at the seedling stage alone.” Qi Wenjie, a vegetable grower at Lvfengnong Cooperative in Mulin Town, Shunyi District, told the reporter.

According to experts, the main function of the traditional “five waterings” at the seedling stage is to lower soil temperature; the seedlings actually absorb very little water, and the water use efficiency is relatively low. At the same time, because the irrigation volume is large, fertilizer use efficiency is also relatively low, resulting in excessive fertilization; a large amount of unabsorbed fertilizer enters groundwater through leaching, causing adverse effects on the environment.

Compared with this, Chinese cabbage seedlings raised by the intensive seedling raising method use a basically negligible amount of water at the seedling stage, requiring only 1 watering at transplanting and settling in, reducing 4 heavy irrigations, and at the seedling stage alone more than 120 cubic meters of water can be saved.

Reduced pests and diseases, saving 300 yuan in labor costs per mu

“In the past, growing cabbage meant rising early and staying up late; ridging, sowing, thinning, weeding, watering and fertilizing all required manual operations, taking time and labor and being very hard work.” Shi Shukun, who has worked in agriculture for most of his life at the Shunyi Institute of Agricultural Sciences vegetable base, said with much feeling when talking about the traditional Chinese cabbage planting method.

Today, the intensive seedling raising method for Chinese cabbage organically combines agronomy and agricultural machinery, achieving large-scale cabbage planting, and old Shi greatly appreciates the labor-saving advantage of this planting method. He told the reporter: “By adopting intensive seedling raising, mechanized one-stop operations and integrated water and fertilizer management, each mu can save 300 yuan in labor costs compared with the traditional method.”

Experts also told the reporter that the traditional direct sowing method watered more at the Chinese cabbage seedling stage mainly to lower soil temperature and prevent the occurrence of viral disease, whereas adopting intensive seedling raising not only reduces the number of waterings, but also, because the environment is controllable, is conducive to pest and disease control, greatly reducing plant protection costs. At the same time, using facilities and equipment during the off-season for seedling raising is also conducive to the operation of intensive seedling raising farms.