How Biological Fertilizer-Pesticides Treat Both the Symptoms and Root Causes of Pests and Diseases
Original title: Biological fertilizer-pesticide combinations strike together to treat pests and diseases at both the symptoms and root causes
Illustration: Wu Di
When it comes to biological pesticides, many people have the impression that they are slow to take effect and hard to promote. In the view of Xu Jiang, who has spent many years promoting biological fertilizer-pesticides, as long as biological pesticides and biological fertilizers are organically combined and used together, not only can pests and diseases be effectively reduced and the amount of chemical pesticides greatly decreased, but some problems that chemical pesticides find hard to solve can also be resolved, better improving crop quality and yield. Let us take a look at the experience and insights on fertilizer-pesticide application that Xu Jiang has worked out in practice.
1. Biological pesticides and biological fertilizers should not be separated
Many people have misconceptions about biological pesticides, believing they come in few varieties, act slowly and are unstable, and so on. When discussing biological pesticides, they often separate biological pesticides from biological fertilizers. In fact, just as traditional Chinese medicine has the saying that "medicine and food share the same source," preventing and controlling crop pests and diseases also requires applying medicine and fertilizer together; the fertilizer even plays a role focused on treating the root cause, while the medicine focuses more on treating the symptoms. Only by organically combining medicine and fertilizer will good results be produced. So I believe that biological pesticides in the broad sense should include biological fertilizers, or simply calling them biological fertilizer-pesticides would be even clearer.
In recent years, new, high-quality and highly efficient biological fertilizer-pesticides have kept emerging, each with its own unique advantages. Combining them organically and applying them throughout the entire process of crop cultivation (from fertilizer preparation, land preparation, fertilization, seedling raising and transplanting all the way to crop harvest), with different products used at different stages to bring out their respective strengths, can achieve high yield, high quality, reduced and alleviated pests and diseases, saved labor, saved time, low cost, high benefit, environmental protection, sustainable agricultural development and guaranteed quality and safety of agricultural products. Practice shows that these goals can absolutely be achieved.
Chemical products have their own advantages and do not need to be completely rejected. While mainly applying biological fertilizer-pesticides, chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides can also be appropriately applied as needed, but the amounts can be greatly reduced. The primary-secondary relationship between chemical fertilizer-pesticides and biological fertilizer-pesticides should be reversed, changing from using only chemical fertilizer-pesticides to mainly applying biological fertilizer-pesticides with a small amount of chemical products appropriately used in coordination. I believe this is the direction of future development!
2. Good products and new technologies cleverly matched are more efficient
In recent years, the development and research of biological fertilizer-pesticides has advanced rapidly, with new products and new technologies constantly emerging. Organically combining them and properly studying their application techniques can indeed solve various problems throughout the entire process of crop growth, and even solve some problems that chemical products find hard to solve. Below are detailed examples of products and key technical points that have been applied relatively well in practice.
Using biochemical fulvic acid to achieve rapid fermentation of farmyard manure. Unlike the common mineral-source humic acid, biochemical fulvic acid is obtained through microbial fermentation and contains highly active humic acid with large amounts of various beneficial microorganisms. After being mixed into farmyard manure, it ferments very quickly, and the high temperature produced during fermentation can kill the pathogens, insect eggs and weed seeds carried in the farmyard manure, and degrade hormones and heavy metals.
Mix the fermented farmyard manure with biochemical fulvic acid and microbial inoculants and apply it into the soil as a base fertilizer. Once these three enter the soil, they can greatly improve the soil's ecological environment, increase organic matter, expand beneficial microbial communities and loosen the soil, laying a good foundation for crop growth and the prevention and control of soil-borne diseases.
At the seedling raising and transplanting stages, mix biochemical fulvic acid, Paenibacillus polymyxa and chitosan preparations evenly and drench the roots. This measure can ensure that the seedlings have well-developed root systems and robust stems and leaves, effectively preventing and controlling soil-borne diseases at the seedling stage and later growth stages.
During the entire growth stage, use biochemical fulvic acid several times together with some microbial fertilizers resistant to continuous cropping for root drenching, flushing application or drip irrigation. This can ensure loose soil, well-developed crop root systems and prevention of soil-borne diseases.
Throughout the entire growth stage, continuously use foliar fertilizers such as Landi multi-functional biological preparations, Qiyin plant gene activator, wood vinegar, Kenyi, Woye and Aipuda. Landi Duobang is a research achievement of the national 863 Program; it contains more than 30 ingredients, and with continuous use throughout the whole process, crops not only grow robustly but also rarely become infected with diseases. Qiyin is a product that fully activates the crop's own potential; it can both promote crop growth and improve the crop's disease resistance and stress resistance. Wood vinegar is a plant extract, Kenyi is a microbial preparation, Woye is a new type of compound fertilizer developed in Israel, and Aipuda is a new type of product developed in Switzerland with a unique mechanism that promotes crops to absorb more carbon dioxide. Reasonably matching these products together ensures high yield, high quality, fewer diseases and high benefit!
In the middle and late stages of crop growth, use Haizhonggai, Guiduofeng and chitosan preparations several times respectively. These new types of biological fertilizers have very unique advantages and effects. Haizhonggai is a by-product of chitin production; it not only contains highly active organic calcium but also retains many nutritional elements from crab shells. It can be completely absorbed by crops and quickly moves to the parts of the crop that need calcium supplementation, with a calcium-supplementing effect far exceeding ordinary calcium preparations.
Guiduofeng is soluble silicon that can be completely absorbed by crops, and its role in supplementing silicon far exceeds ordinary silicon preparations. After application, crop stems and leaves are firm and upright, resistant to pests and diseases, and the fruits are heavy with excellent taste. Chitosan preparations applied during the fruit ripening stage have an excellent effect on increasing sweetness and color!
Use biological pesticides such as oligosaccharide acid iodine, Trichoderma and emodin to prevent and control diseases. Oligosaccharide acid iodine is an innovative product developed by Researcher Wang Shikui of the Agricultural Planning and Design Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture; it is a broad-spectrum fungicide made by complexing amino-oligosaccharin with 20% organic iodine, and it has good preventive and control effects on fungal, bacterial, viral and other diseases. Trichoderma is a microbial pesticide with good effects on preventing and controlling diseases such as gray mold. Emodin methyl ether extracted from emodin has a very good effect on preventing and controlling powdery mildew. Once a disease occurs, these biological pesticides can be applied first, and early prevention gives even better results!
Use azadirachtin to prevent and control insect pests. Azadirachtin is a plant-source broad-spectrum insecticide with a unique insect-repelling function; continuous use before pest outbreaks can prevent pests from occurring.
3. Promoting biological fertilizer-pesticides: "the key is prevention, the value is in persistence"
Promoting biological fertilizer-pesticides means "the key is prevention, the value is in persistence." These eight words are specifically reflected in the continuous application of a whole set of biological fertilizer-pesticides throughout the entire process of crop cultivation, which I call the "package concept and package technology." In recent years I have consulted experts and absorbed farmers' experience in use, and have summarized biological fertilizer-pesticide packages for the cultivation of various crops. Many farmers, bases and farms across the country are applying them, and generally good results have been achieved.
For example, farmer Zhang Yulong of Yangshibao Township, Liaozhong County, Shenyang City, Liaoning, has persisted in using the package for several years, and he has even made some innovations on the basis of the package technology I formulated. The green beans, zucchini and tomatoes he grows all grow particularly well and rarely suffer from pests and diseases. Because of the high yield and good quality, the green beans from one greenhouse can sell for 10,000 yuan more than others'.
Farmer Gao Caiyun of Sandaogangzi, Xinmin County, Shenyang City, has also persisted for many years in systematically using biological fertilizer-pesticides throughout the whole process. The grapes she grows have good appearance and taste, and the traders who purchase them all pay in advance and offer a slightly higher price. As another example, farmer Guo Weiqing of Dagushan Township, Donggang City, Liaoning, began systematically using the main biological fertilizer-pesticide products in July last year, and his strawberries grew well. In particular, this year he used Guiduofeng; last year his strawberries developed aphids, which were very hard to control, but this year there are none. Now the strawberry stems and leaves are firm, the fruits are also firm, the single-fruit weight is high, and the taste is good, making them very popular.