Tearing down Chinese juniper greenhouses to plant cherry blossoms, growers in Nanhu, Rizhao, Shandong change their trade

As the earth warms up and the weather turns mild and sunny, it is the perfect time for planting trees. The seedling base in Nanhu Town, Donggang District, Rizhao City, also rode the wave of the “3·12” Tree Planting Day and welcomed a sales peak. On March 4, reporters learned during interviews in Xujiaping, Kanjiazhengzi and other villages in Nanhu Town, Rizhao, that these growers, who had just recovered from the “get-rich myth” and the “Waterloo of dashed dreams” of Chinese juniper, have now set their sights on cherry blossom seedlings. The still decent price has led many to tear down their Chinese juniper greenhouses and switch to growing cherry blossoms. But many are starting to worry again: as growers rush in en masse, will cherry blossoms follow in the footsteps of Chinese juniper?

Before Tree Planting Day, cherry blossoms sell like hotcakes

“A tourist area is being built on the hill behind our village, and it needs a large number of seedlings. Our family's cherry blossoms have all sold.” On the morning of the 4th, Old Ye of Xujiaping Village, Nanhu Town, was busy digging up cherry blossom seedlings with his wife. Old Ye said that with Tree Planting Day approaching, market demand for seedlings is quite high. Not only are buyers coming for roadside greening, but many are also buying for urban construction, and large nurseries come to buy as well. Old Ye said that last year at this time he had grown cherry blossom seedlings on a few fen of land, and they were snatched up without him even needing to go out and sell them.

On the hillside nearby, five or six villagers were digging up cherry blossom seedlings in the field. Some used picks to dig out the cherry blossoms, the women bundled them up, and others loaded them onto vehicles, all bustling with activity. Villager Brother Li said that the day before, someone had called saying they needed over a thousand for landscaping, so they had found people to help early in the morning. “These are all one-year seedlings, cuttings from this time last year, and they already sell for 5 yuan each. In one morning we made over 5,000 yuan.”

Reporters saw along both sides of the road that villagers were busy everywhere, and the most harvested were cherry blossom seedlings.

Tearing down Chinese juniper greenhouses, switching to cherry blossoms

Villager Ding Peishu, however, was not too happy. When reporters met Ding Peishu, he was tearing down his Chinese juniper greenhouse with his wife. Seeing others selling cherry blossoms well, he too was preparing to stop growing Chinese juniper.

“I still have 140,000 to 150,000 Chinese juniper seedlings on hand. I'll sell them at 1 mao 5 each right now.” Pointing to a greenhouse full of Chinese juniper seedlings beside him, Ding Peishu said that he had not sold a single one, and no one was coming to buy. Reporters learned that very few customers are coming to buy Chinese juniper seedlings now; occasionally someone comes, with prices between 1 mao 5 and 2 mao 5, and at such prices it is impossible to break even.

He said that if the seedlings then suffer from pests and diseases, some lose tens of thousands of yuan in a single year.

Ding Peishu had of course also enjoyed the good times. In 2011, at a price of 8 mao 5 per plant, he was counting money until his hands cramped, earning over 100,000 yuan in a year. But as growers rushed in madly, from the second year on, the market took a sharp turn for the worse. “Now the Chinese juniper greenhouses in the village are down by 2/3 from the peak. Cherry blossoms currently have relatively high profits, so everyone is growing cherry blossoms.”

Will the market soon become saturated?

Regarding the practice of “switching from Chinese juniper to cherry blossoms,” many villagers feel very uneasy. “Everyone is switching to cherry blossoms now. I'm just afraid that next year there will be too many cherry blossoms to sell, the price will drop again, and then there will be nowhere to cry.” Ding Peishu said that cherry blossoms are actually like Chinese juniper: the barrier to planting them is not high.

Back then, Chinese juniper seedlings were so profitable that in just two or three years, Chinese juniper in Nanhu Town exceeded 10,000 mu.

But now, as villagers plant cherry blossoms, they have no confidence while doing so. “Back then, one mu of Chinese juniper seedlings could earn 200,000 yuan, and we produced quite a few millionaires all at once. The cost of one mu of Chinese juniper was no more than 70,000 yuan. With profits that high, it was certainly abnormal, and the price was bound to be pulled down. Cherry blossoms are ornamental seedlings, and demand from urban construction is far lower than for Chinese juniper seedlings. I'm worried the market will soon become saturated.”

Billboards large and small line both sides of the road into the village. They used to be uniformly Chinese juniper, but now most have been replaced by cherry blossoms.

What should be planted next year? Thousands upon thousands of growers are anxiously guessing. The growers feel that what they lack most now is market supply and demand information, and a solid grasp of market conditions. They hope the government can establish an information exchange platform so that growers can escape blind planting.

News background

The “get-rich myth” of Chinese juniper seedlings

Starting in 2009, Xujiaping and surrounding villages in Nanhu Town, Donggang District, began developing Chinese juniper seedling cultivation on a large scale.

In what was originally a poor small mountain village, a “get-rich myth” was created.

In 2011, the most profitable year, one mu of Chinese juniper seedlings cost 70,000 yuan but could bring in over 200,000 yuan, an extremely high profit.

In 2012, Xujiaping Village alone produced twenty or thirty millionaires all at once. Influenced by this, villagers from Zhoucun who had previously come to work as hired hands doing cuttings started their own businesses one after another.

With no land left available nearby and no workers left to hire, villagers had no choice but to drive minivans to places like Wulian and Sanzhuang to find people, renting land in other villages to grow seedlings, and Chinese juniper seedling cultivation developed frantically.

Starting in 2012, hit by the market impact of a large influx of growers, the price of Chinese juniper seedlings slid all the way down.

From a peak of 8 mao 5, it fell to 6 mao, 5 mao, 3 mao. Now growers are willing to sell unsold one-year-old Chinese juniper seedlings at a loss for 1 mao 5. An investment of tens of thousands of yuan per mu is not small in rural areas, and many growers have been trapped, with many of those who entered later losing money.

Solar greenhouse cucumber cultivation techniques in Rizhao

Over the past two years, off-season cucumber cultivation in greenhouses has become fairly well established. Greenhouse cucumbers often use sunlight to increase photosynthesis. The editor shares the solar greenhouse cucumber cultivation techniques as follows:

(1) Variety selection

For the winter-spring crop, choose disease-resistant, cold-tolerant varieties such as Jinchun No. 3 and Jinyou No. 2. Sow and raise seedlings in mid-January, transplant in mid-February, begin harvesting cucumbers in mid-March, and pull up the vines at the end of June.

(2) Seedling raising

1. Nutrient soil formula

50% decomposed organic fertilizer, 50% fertile field soil (soil that has not grown cucumbers within three years), and 80 grams of 50% carbendazim added per cubic meter of nutrient soil.

2. Sowing

Cucumber seeds should be sown 7 days earlier than black-seeded pumpkin. Before sowing, soak the seeds to promote germination. Use 10*10 cm nutrient blocks or cut-block seedling raising. For cut-block seedling raising, the plant and row spacing is 10*10 cm. Use heating wires to raise the temperature as conditions require.

3. Seedbed management

The seedbed should be covered with plastic film to raise the temperature, maintaining 28°C-30°C during the day and around 18°C at night. Seedlings emerge in 3 days. After emergence, remove the film as conditions require. Before transplanting, appropriately lower the temperature to harden the seedlings. After full emergence, pay attention to disease prevention.

Sowing and cultivation techniques for camellia impatiens

Camellia impatiens germination suitable temperature: 22-30°C, growth suitable temperature: 15-32°C. Scatter the seeds on the growing medium and lightly cover with about 0.3 cm of soil. They germinate after 5-6 days. When there are 3-4 true leaves, they can be transplanted into flower pots or flower beds with a plant spacing of 30 cm. The best growing soil is fertile, well-drained sandy soil with ample sunlight. After transplanting, pinch off the growing tips when the plants are about 10 cm tall. During the growth period, appropriately apply additional compound fertilizer and organic fertilizer.

The specific planting method is as follows:

Camellia impatiens can be sown in all four seasons, either by broadcasting or by dibbling. For dibbling, use 128-cell plug trays. The suitable sowing temperature is around 20°C, and seedlings emerge in about 1 week. When the sown seedlings are 5 cm tall, carry out the first transplant, moving them into 8 cm nutrient pots. When they are about 12 cm tall, transplant them into 15 cm pots. The soil mix is 2 parts peat moss, 1 part vermiculite or river sand, and 1 part cinder, and an appropriate amount of sheep manure etc. can be added as base fertilizer.

For the occasional species and varieties with poor branching, such as New Guinea impatiens, the tips should be appropriately pinched during the seedling stage. High temperature and dryness will make impatiens leaves thicker and less spread out, with shorter internodes, affecting plant shape and even stopping growth in severe cases. Therefore, during the summer, keep the environment cool and provide appropriate shade. Too strong sunlight will scorch the leaves, while too weak light will cause the plants to grow leggy, with thinner leaves and a light green color.

For flowers to be used on “National Day,” besides choosing more heat-tolerant varieties, you can also sow in June and place the young seedlings on mountains at an altitude of about 800 m to spend the summer in July and August. In winter and spring, impatiens needs sufficient light, so no shading is needed.

During the growth period, ensure a supply of water. Especially in summer, watering should be timely and sufficient, keeping the potting soil moist but not waterlogged. When the potting soil dries out, the plants very easily wilt, and watering only after they show wilting can easily cause rot. Waterlogging easily causes root rot. Throughout the growing season, maintain a certain air humidity. In summer, you can spray water on the leaves and ground to increase air humidity. Apply a light fertilizer once every 10 days. To control plant height and shape, besides applying more nitrogen fertilizer in the early stage, control the application of nitrogen fertilizer before and after flowering.

Camellia impatiens can also be propagated by cuttings year-round. Select healthy growing branches, cut off about 8 cm as cuttings, maintain a temperature of 20°C, and they will root in about 20 days. Water propagation in summer also roots easily.