Summer Black grapes hit the market off-season with good planting returns
In the photo, Zhang Mingqi is harvesting "Summer Black" seedless grapes.
As Start of Autumn arrives, which fruit is the most popular? On August 9, walking into the picking garden of Zhang Mingqi, a villager at the fruit and vegetable base in Zhaodong Town, Zhaodong City, Heilongjiang Province, the grapes giving off bursts of fresh sweet fragrance presented an irresistible temptation. Clusters of grapes hung all over the trellis, crystal clear and full under the setting off of green leaves. Standing among them, the summer heat suddenly disappeared.
Starting in 2011, relying on 6 plastic greenhouses and 3 greenhouses, Zhang Mingqi planted all of them with purple-black "Summer Black" seedless grapes, strengthened his "strong point," and explored a differentiated planting path of "off-season production + high-quality varieties"; making up for his "weak point," he grew a "flagship product" with no worries about sales, "what others do not have, I have; what others have, mine is better." He achieved a win-win outcome for picking, tourists, brand and farmers.
"With my grapes produced by this 'one earlier and one later' method, not only have I achieved off-season marketing, but I can also effectively extend the grape production period, and the planting benefit is three to four times higher than before the off-season approach." Zhang Mingqi said: "This year the grapes grown in the greenhouse matured in mid-July. Because local grapes were not on the market at that time, my grapes sold for 15 yuan per jin, and still demand exceeded supply; now the greenhouse grapes are also on the market, at 8 yuan per jin. Pickers coming from all directions are enjoying themselves tremendously. Look at this momentum, these 6 greenhouses can produce more than 24,000 jin of grapes, and it is still not really enough to sell."
"We have come here to pick grapes for the third time. It is a completely different feeling from buying them at the market. Here it is closer to nature. We can experience the joy of labor, breathe fresh air, and also taste grapes that delight the heart and spleen. It is many gains in one trip!" Ms. Zhang, who picked thirty or forty jin of grapes, praised the grapes here without stint.
Zhang Mingqi took over the conversation, "The 'Summer Black' seedless grapes I produce here have thick and crisp skin, mellow and fragrant flesh with no astringent taste, thick bloom, and purple-red sweet juice with a strawberry aroma. Every day they can attract twenty or thirty consumers to come picking, and at the most about 300 jin are sold per day." Once again it is the season when grapes mature in a year. The "feast" of self-picking, tasting freshness, and savoring grapes has begun, so Zhang Mingqi's vineyard has had a steady stream of guests since it just opened. Merchants and tourists from many places such as Harbin, Daqing, Suihua and Zhaodong have come in droves to place orders and pick grapes.
"When city people come here to pick, they are not only experiencing farming life, but even more want to taste fresh and safe grapes." Zhang Mingqi said, "It looks like there will be no big problem reaching a net income of 120,000 to 130,000 yuan this year."