A hundred mu of withered and rotten apple trees bear good apples

Zhao Qinghai applying the "Yidaofeng" nutrient package to his fruit trees

During the Minor Snow solar term, the sunlight warmly shone over the Wumeng land. In Haibian Village, Yongfeng Town, Zhaoyang District, a patch of apple trees was still lush and verdant with flourishing branches and leaves. Zhao Qinghai, a fruit farmer in his 70s, was applying the "Yidaofeng" nutrient package to the soil around the roots of the fruit trees, within a radius of about two meters. He said, "If not for a lucky coincidence that led me to use the 'Yidaofeng' nutrient package, these old trees of mine, over 30 years old, would have long since withered and died!"

"Small apples" grown with traditional techniques fill the branches, yet nobody wants them

Increased yield without increased income, fruit farmers suffer in silence. Haibian Village is a traditional apple-growing area in Zhaoyang District, with over 40 years of cultivation history. At present, the village has more than 5,000 mu of apple orchards, of which over 4,000 mu entered the full-bearing period this year, with 5 specialized cooperatives and about 10,000 tonnes of apples. Due to the large planting area, extensive and unscientific management, and poor market sales, among other reasons, this year in Zhaotong's apple orchards there emerged a "fire and ice" phenomenon: high-end large apples sold briskly at 3 yuan per market jin, while low-end small apples at just a few mao per market jin found no buyers at all. Meanwhile, the long-term use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and hormones has led to the aging of fruit trees, frequent pests and diseases, and low apple quality. This year, about 30% of the small apples in Haibian Village are still hanging on the trees, with no one picking or buying them.

Chen Jingquan and Zhao Qinghai happily harvesting "sugar-heart big apples"

Apply "Yidaofeng", and withered trees "meet spring again". In recent years, Zhaotong Tuladai Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., in response to the current situation of aging, withering and disease-related death of Zhaotong's apple trees, has devoted itself to biological disease prevention and treatment, and developed the "Yidaofeng" nutrient package and management technique, which was initially provided free of charge to some fruit farmers in the Zhaolu apple-producing area. Zhao Qinghai of Haibian Village, Yongfeng Town, was one such fortunate elderly man. In 2014, just when more than 2 mu of his 30-year-old trees were falling ill and withering one after another, he happened to meet Chen Jingquan, general manager of Zhaotong Tuladai Company, and others who had come to Haibian Village to promote "Yidaofeng". Hearing that the "withered and rotten trees" could be saved free of charge, Old Zhao was overjoyed and offered 25 of his own trees to Chen Jingquan and his team for experimentation. Unexpectedly, one year after applying the "Yidaofeng" nutrient package, all these old diseased trees "met spring again", grew many new roots, became lush with branches and leaves, and produced fruit that was large, crisp and fine-textured with a very good taste, known as "sugar-heart big apples", which are in short supply on the market.

The "tree king" from which 1,080 market jin of big apples were harvested

"Sugar-heart big apples" improve quality and increase income. In 2015, Zhao Qinghai boldly invested more than 6,000 yuan and applied "Yidaofeng" to all 2 mu of his old tree orchard. This year the apples ripened early, and out-of-town buyers rushed to his orchard to snap up his "sugar-heart big apples", paying about 3 yuan per market jin for the entire orchard, and the 2 mu sold for 24,000 yuan. Among them, the largest "tree king" yielded 1,080 market jin of big apples. At present, Zhao Qinghai, having tasted the "sweetness", is applying "Yidaofeng" to another 3 mu of his land. Driven by the demonstration of Zhao Qinghai and others, more than 50 households in Haibian Village are now using "Yidaofeng" on nearly 100 mu of apple orchards. Recently, Haibian Village has been seeking approval from higher authorities for 500 mu of orchard renovation targets to promote the use of "Yidaofeng", planning to take two to three years to turn all 5,000 mu of the village's apples into "sugar-heart big apples" and become a Zhaotong pollution-free ecological apple demonstration base.