Late-maturing varieties come late but sell well
Editor's note: In recent years, there have been more and more early-maturing varieties on the market. People pursue early maturity of crops, hoping to enter the market early, sell at a good price, and earn a bit more money. However, when everyone wants to seize the initiative all at once, there is no advantage to be had. On the contrary, because late-maturing varieties have a longer growing period, not only is their quality more assured, but they also avoid the concentrated market period and can actually fetch a good price. In fact, early- and late-maturing varieties each have advantages and disadvantages. Farmers should simply judge rationally and adapt to the times and local conditions.
Nectarine: Zhongyou No. 8 goes on the market off-peak, selling for 15 yuan per jin
“My two greenhouses of late-maturing nectarines sold more than 4,000 kg in just 7 days, bringing in more than 100,000 yuan. I never expected them to sell so fast, it's just that I planted a bit too few.” On August 13, **Li Cuimei, a farmer from the 29th Regiment in Korla City, said happily as she looked at nectarine trees covered with fruit.
Years ago, Li Cuimei ran a shop, grew cotton and raised pigs, and the whole family's life was always very difficult. Even her child's tuition had to be helped by the regiment's trade union. Once, the 29th Regiment trade union held a Winter of Science and Technology activity, which gave Li Cuimei hope. She used the 3 months of winter slack time to learn greenhouse cultivation techniques. At the beginning of spring, Li Cuimei borrowed 100,000 yuan from the bank, built two greenhouses, and bought more than 1,300 late-maturing nectarine saplings of “Zhongyou No. 8,” planting them at a spacing of 3 m × 3 m. In order to take good care of the late-maturing nectarines, she simply moved her home into the greenhouse. Every flowering season, she paid to rent several boxes of bees, letting these little angels serve as pollinators to ensure every tree would set full fruit. To help the fruit color early and color well, and to increase sweetness, more than a month before picking, Li Cuimei also carried out “clearing the canopy” on the peach trees to ensure the peaches received full light.
After several years of careful tending, Li Cuimei succeeded in growing late-maturing nectarines. They ripened two months later than local nectarines, matured and went on the market in late July, and the market period lasted more than 20 days, exactly filling a gap in the market. When this writer interviewed her, her greenhouse was filled with the fragrance of fruit and heavy with abundant fruit. The brightly colored, sweet and juicy nectarines attracted many tourists to come and pick and taste them. Without leaving her greenhouse or lifting a finger, Li Cuimei's nectarines were snapped up. Her nectarines yielded 2,000 kg per mu and sold for 25~30 yuan per kg, with an average income of more than 60,000 yuan per mu, seven to eight times higher than growing cotton or wheat. Having tasted the benefits, Li Cuimei and her husband discussed it and planned to build two more greenhouses to expand the planting area.
Today, Li Cuimei has become a well-known local nectarine grower and has been rated by the regiment and company as a civilized moderately prosperous household. Villagers have come one after another to ask her for advice. Whether they were from her own company or from other townships, Li Cuimei taught them the techniques without reserve. It is understood that nectarines are climacteric fruit and are mostly not easy to store. To regulate market supply and extend the supply period, the main approach is to rely on breeding and promoting varieties with different maturity periods to meet consumer demand.
Grapes: after Kyoho comes Longan, the relay baton never drops
On August 31, this writer came to Guo Yulan's vineyard in Baozi Gou Village, Gebo Town, Lulong County, Hebei Province. Clusters of already ripe Kyoho and Muscat Hamburg grapes were plump and full, with rich fruit fragrance, very tempting. Guo Yulan was busy picking and packing fresh grapes into boxes. Next to them, the late-maturing Longan grapes were lush green, as if water could be squeezed from them. They were quietly absorbing the essence of sun and moon and accumulating nature's gifts.
When it came to grapes, Guo Yulan opened up. Her family had been growing grapes for more than 30 years, with diverse varieties. This late-maturing variety, Longan grape, was introduced from elsewhere. It has the characteristics of bright color, thin skin, high sugar content and good taste, and is also suitable for winemaking. She
said that Longan grapes do not begin to go on the market until October, avoiding the local concentrated grape sales period, and the price is higher than during the concentrated grape market period.
While cleverly creating a time gap, Guo Yulan also worked hard on grape quality. All the family's grapes used green, pollution-free cultivation. In addition, Guo Yulan also implemented “family planning” for the grapes, focusing on thinning flowers and fruit and strictly controlling yield, making the grapes rounder and plumper. Grapes pruned in this way were not only beautiful in shape but also good in taste. Because they grew near the mountains with ample sunlight, her family's grapes were sweeter and deeply loved by consumers.
Last year's market was not very good, and grape prices were low. Talking about this year's market, Guo Yulan said: “This year the prices of Kyoho and Muscat Hamburg grapes are also not ideal, and there was a lot of rain earlier. Grape vines in low-lying areas were soaked by rainwater because drainage was poor, and the grapes rotted on the trellis. Looking at cluster after cluster of spoiled grapes really hurts. Now I just hope more buyers will come and sell the already ripe grapes on the trellis as soon as possible, and then carefully tend these late-maturing grapes.”
It is understood that in recent years, Baozi Gou Village has made full use of mountain resources, opened up mountain land for farming, and planted greenery wherever possible. The village's grape planting area has reached 1,500 mu, and grape growing has become an effective way for farmers to increase income. While expanding the scale of grape planting, the village has paid more attention to improving grape varieties and learning new planting techniques. Some villagers have also strengthened the selection and breeding of late-maturing grape varieties, increased planting, staggered market entry, enriched the market, and earned price differences. The village has also strengthened technical training and guidance for villagers, improved their scientific planting level, and focused on building the “Baozi Gou grape” brand.
Apples: Red Fuji sells into the market gap and lasts until Spring Festival
Late-maturing Red Fuji in Dawangzhai Town, Zhanglu Town and other townships in Shenxian County, Shandong, will gradually go on the market in October. The soil here is sandy and the climate is suitable, making it uniquely suited to apple growing. Precisely because of this, Shenxian County has actively introduced and promoted new apple varieties and new technologies. While improving fruit quality, it has also extended the apple supply period and sold into market gaps to seize the market.
“Only by choosing a good variety and finding a good path can you truly keep up with the pace of development,” said Pan Zhenhe of Dachangji Village, Dawangzhai Town. With the continuous progress of planting techniques, transportation methods and storage technology, the seasonal differences of fruit have become smaller and smaller. How to give play to the advantages of late-maturing varieties and let fruit farmers earn the greatest benefits was something Shenxian County fruit farmers explored in depth.
In 2015, apples had a bumper harvest, but sales met with a “cold” market. Pan Zhenhe saw it and worried. During the National Day holiday, his child working in Beijing came home to visit relatives. Over tea and meals, they talked about the apple sales problem, and everyone unanimously proposed selling “online,” but the foundation had to be excellent quality and a good reputation.
When it came to apple quality, Pan Zhenhe was confident. In 1988, Dawangzhai Town was rated by the Shandong Provincial Department of Agriculture as a provincial-level model orchard. After more than 30 years of development, it has become a high-quality apple production base with 60 million mu of “high-selenium” Red Fuji and an annual apple output of 50 million jin. The fruit has entered markets in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Wuhan and other places.
Since sending out the first order last October, Pan Zhenhe has sold 60,000 jin of apples using the WeChat e-commerce platform. Pan Zhenhe's booming sales formed a sharp contrast with the current apple market. This year, apple-producing areas generally had high yields, and many growers encountered the awkward situation of increased production without increased income.
Our late-maturing “Red Fuji” here is resistant to storage. Under normal temperature and ventilation, it can be stored until March of the following year, so our apples can also catch the good sales point of Spring Festival. During last year's Spring Festival, Pan Zhenhe sold more than 10,000 jin online and made a hefty profit.
The internet broadened the sales channels for apples and also raised the value of apples. Based on indicators such as apple diameter, smoothness and color, Pan Zhenhe divided apples into categories such as premium fruit, ordinary large fruit and small fruit, and set retail prices. Last year, normally ripe fruit sold offline for 1.3 yuan/jin, while late-maturing fruit sold online for about 3 yuan per jin after excluding logistics and packaging. “Special-grade fruit with a diameter of 9 cm, 9 per box, can sell for 45 yuan a box.” Pan Zhenhe said happily.
Watermelon: New Red Treasure matures 25 days late and sells well as soon as it hits the market
In recent years, a group of tech-savvy farmers in Gutian Town, Liancheng County, Fujian Province, have grown melons, fruits and vegetables no longer according to the traditional farming calendar's “four seasons song.” Instead, they changed their thinking by introducing late-maturing varieties and delaying harvest, ensuring that the agricultural products produced are good in quality and high in benefit.
Shen Shunhuan and other farmers, science and technology demonstration households at the Gutian Town Science Popularization and Benefit-Farming Service Station, introduced the late-maturing watermelon variety “New Red Treasure.” Compared with medium-maturing watermelon varieties, this variety staggers the harvest period by about 25 days. After the product went on the market, it again became a hot-selling item, with a wholesale price at the production area of more than 2 yuan per kg.
“New Red Treasure” has a growing period of 110~120 days. It is sown in early April and harvested in early August. The melon shape is oval, the rind is alternating green, with green netting, and a single melon weighs about 12 kg. This variety has strong adaptability, vigorous growth, and is relatively resistant to fusarium wilt, anthracnose and downy mildew. The flesh is deep pink, not prone to hollow heart, with a sugar content of about 12%, juicy and sweet, resistant to storage and transport, and yields about 4,000 kg per mu.
Before sowing “New Red Treasure,” use nutrient cups to cultivate strong seedlings. The specific steps are to put the melon seeds into a ceramic basin, soak them in clean water for about 5 hours, then drain off the water, wrap them well in a clean semi-dry wet towel, and place them in a cool place to germinate. For the nutrient soil for cultivating melon seedlings, choose fine-grained organic matter soil from a loose, well-ventilated plough layer. Use seedling nutrient cups the size of a bowl mouth, fill them four-fifths full with soil, and then arrange them on an already leveled seedling bed. Put two sprouted melon seeds into each nutrient cup, then cover with 2 cm of topsoil. After all sowing is completed, spray water to retain moisture, and retain moisture again about every 3 days.
After the melon seedlings emerge, pest and disease control work must also be done well. The pests and diseases throughout the watermelon growth period are seedling fusarium wilt, anthracnose, and chewing-mouthpart pests. Fungicides and insecticides can be mixed and sprayed. Once the melon seedlings grow 4~5 coarse leaves, or the root system extends out of the nutrient cup drainage hole, they can be transplanted. The planting density of watermelon varies according to variety and soil fertility, and about 450 plants per mu is suitable.
After the seedlings are planted, apply seedling-promoting fertilizer, vine-spreading fertilizer, fruit-strengthening fertilizer and first-melon fertilizer according to different growth stages. After the first batch of melons is picked, in order to grow the second and third batches of melons well, it is also necessary to apply second-melon fertilizer to increase the fruit-setting rate. From young melon to fruit maturity, watermelon needs about 35~40 days, with accumulated temperature of 900~1000°C.
Timely harvesting is the key to ensuring quality and, without missing the opportunity, cultivating the next batch of melons to increase total yield. Therefore, melon farmers generally adopt methods such as observation and dissection to harvest one batch as soon as it matures.