Tech enthusiast cultivates multiple varieties through cross-species grafting

▲Wang Wenqing shows reporters the linear chili pepper successfully grafted onto an eggplant seedling.

▲Looking at the beans that grew from a graft onto pigweed vine, Wang Wenqing could not have been happier.

▲The cotton grafted onto henna is growing well.

On August 19, the reporter drove to the seedling base of Shaanxi Fuqiang Landscape Group, where Wang Wenqing is located in Group 9, Zhongwang Village, Hujiacun Township, Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi, and conducted an interview. Wang Wenqing is a genuine farmer past the age of 60. He has not received a formal education, but what he has is a love for the land and curiosity and pursuit of new things. For many years he has worked at sunrise and rested at sunset, toiling on this hot land of Zhouzhi. When asked why he does seedling grafting, he gave a simple, honest smile: "I just like tinkering with things. I find it interesting."

It is reported that for more than ten years he has been in his own field, farming while pondering how to graft different kinds of plants onto different rootstocks and have them survive and even bear fruit. Every success excited Wang Wenqing, and every failure let him accumulate experience. He would pat himself off and keep trying.

During the interview, Wang Wenqing told the reporter that he had previously seen pigweed (Cayratia japonica) growing in the field with vigorous vitality, and he thought that if green beans were grafted onto the stems and roots of pigweed, they should be able to survive. So he conducted an experiment, and unexpectedly, it actually succeeded, and the pigweed bore many beans, with a good taste as well. This grafting of green beans onto a different species gave him great encouragement. In the days that followed, he also tried grafting peppers onto the stems and roots of eggplant (black nightshade), and his hopes were not disappointed. It succeeded too.

Afterwards, Wang Wenqing took the reporter to the field to see the cotton he had grafted onto henna (Impatiens balsamina). He said: "Although the graft survived, what color flowers the cotton will produce is still unknown. I can only wait patiently."

And so, because he likes flowers and likes exploring, year after year, this man has tried grafting crops onto different species. There have been successes and failures along the way, but Wang Wenqing takes joy in it all. (Staff reporter Wang Haiming, intern reporter Ding Yifeng)