The lazy country bumpkin who grew snow peas had his wife in stitches

Pan Dafu usually just sat at home bossing people around, playing cards and drinking every day, lazy and loving good food. The villagers all called him Pan Dalan.

They say fools have fool's luck, and lazy people have lazy fates. Lazy as Pan Dalan was, he had married a hardworking wife.

Pan Dalan was fair-skinned and plump. Looking at him, you would find it hard to believe he was a farmer who made his living tilling the soil. His wife was the opposite: after years of farming under sun and rain, she was dark and thin, and looked a dozen years older than people her age.

Lazy as Pan Dalan was, he had a nimble mind. Whenever he saw villagers making money from something, he was the first to follow suit. Last year a family east of the village made money growing snow peas in a greenhouse, so he immediately told his wife to grow snow peas too.

Pan Dalan bragged to the villagers, saying, "In our family, I'm the general manager, in charge of development direction, and the employee is my wife, in charge of execution."

Pan Dalan's wife was big-hearted and never bickered with him. Whatever he told her to do, she did. Soon the snow pea growing was up and running. Pan Dalan never set foot in the field; his wife managed it all alone. She kept the greenhouse in perfect order, and the snow peas grew well, gradually starting to flower and set pods.

Pan Dalan's sister-in-law gave birth to a big chubby boy, so his wife went back to her parents' home to help look after them for a few days. The management of the snow pea greenhouse could only be left to Pan Dalan.

Before leaving, Pan Dalan's wife specifically instructed him, "Just do what I wrote on the paper. Don't get careless. I'll be back in a few days!"

The moment his wife left, Pan Dalan was called away to play cards. Just like that, people kept calling him to play cards and drink, and the snow peas in the greenhouse were long forgotten!

Two days later, Pan Dalan's wife came home worried to check, and saw that the snow peas in the whole greenhouse had severe flower and pod drop. She was so angry she burst out laughing. Hearing his wife's laughter, the usually self-righteous Pan Dalan felt a chill of fear.

Senior agronomist Teacher Fu: "The severe flower and pod drop in Pan Dalan's snow peas was first likely caused by short-term high temperatures in the greenhouse, without proper ventilation."

During the flowering and pod-setting stage, the most suitable temperature for snow peas is 20-25°C during the day, and no lower than 13°C at night. A sharp rise or drop in temperature will cause flower and pod drop in snow peas.

Senior agronomist Teacher Fu: "The second cause of flower and pod drop in snow peas is excessive dryness inside the greenhouse."

Snow peas have somewhat strong drought tolerance, but cannot tolerate dry air. When soil moisture drops to 10% and relative air humidity is 54%, snow pea flowers wilt rapidly, and flowers and buds drop in large numbers.

Besides proper field management for growing snow peas in greenhouses, growers can spray the leaves with a 0.2% potassium dihydrogen phosphate solution or a 0.1%-0.2% ammonium molybdate solution, using about 50 liters of solution per mu, spraying 2-3 times in total, which can effectively rescue snow peas from flower and pod drop.

When growers plant snow peas in the future, they should first understand the basic growing techniques before planting, to avoid reduced yields.

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