How does Zhu Xianglin, the grape king of Liangzhou, grow grapes?

    He has a forward-looking sense of market management, and he is not satisfied with the plain life of "making money by growing mushrooms and earning a little for oil and salt by farming." Two years ago, he built 6 solar greenhouses and planted them all with Red Globe grapes. He is Zhu Xianglin, a villager of Huating Village, Xiying Town, Liangzhou District, affectionately called the "Grape King" by the villagers.

In the 1990s, Zhu Xianglin already had the idea of getting rich by growing crops in solar greenhouses. In 1999, with the help and guidance of the Xiying Town Agricultural Technology Station, the two semi-pit solar greenhouses he operated successively tried cultivating edible fungi such as oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, and button mushrooms, and obtained relatively good returns. "At that time, the income from two greenhouses was equivalent to that from 10 mu of wheat, and the benefit was very considerable."

In early 2007, a chance opportunity tied Zhu Xianglin to grapes. That year, the town organized some local solar greenhouse growers to visit Huanzang Temple Town in Tianzhu County for observation and study. At the solar greenhouse demonstration site in Huanzang Temple Town, the greenhouse full of grapes left him staring in amazement. According to the local farmers, the yield of one grape greenhouse could reach 1500 jin to 2000 jin. Calculated at the lowest market price of 10 yuan per jin, the income would be 15000 to 20000 yuan. At this point, Zhu Xianglin was excited. After returning, he learned further from television and newspapers that the Wuwei area had both the natural geographical conditions for cultivating Red Globe grapes and a market advantage, so he decided to devote himself to learning grape cultivation techniques. This move by Zhu Xianglin received strong support from the Xiying Town Government. That year, he took out 55000 yuan in savings, plus a 25000 yuan loan coordinated by the town government and 25000 yuan borrowed from relatives and friends, and built 6 solar greenhouses at once, all planted that year with Red Globe grapes.

Last year, Zhu Xianglin's 6 solar greenhouses, as a demonstration site, received regular technical guidance services from the Liangzhou District Forestry Technology Center. That year, the fruiting rate reached 30%, the yield was 1350 jin, and the income reached 10500 yuan. Zhu Xianglin told the reporter: "Because of the fruiting rate, Red Globe grapes will not show much benefit within two years; the benefit will only come in the third year. It is expected that this year the yield from the 6 greenhouses can reach more than 6 thousand jin, and the income can reach more than 60000 yuan. Compared with farming, growing Red Globe grapes has three major advantages. First, it saves water; second, the benefit is good; third, it saves labor. When I used to farm, all 4 people in the family were busy in the fields all day, yet there was hardly any benefit in a year. Now I alone can take care of 6 greenhouses, and the benefit is still very considerable." At the same time, he also told the reporter that this year he would build another seedling greenhouse, so that in the future he could provide grape seedlings to the whole town.

After years of practice, Zhu Xianglin understood a principle: if farmers want to get rich, they likewise cannot "wait, rely, and ask"; only through their own active efforts can they effectively raise their living standards. Now, the solar greenhouses operated by Zhu Xianglin have become an important technical training base in Xiying Town and an observation site for the development of solar greenhouse Red Globe grapes in the mountain-edge townships of Liangzhou District. Last year, he himself was hired by Xiying Town as a farmer technician and took on the technical guidance work for 80 Red Globe grape solar greenhouses in 4 nearby villages including Shuangzhuang.