Looking for safe and delicious strawberries? Female farmer Yuan Jingqing leads a team of ecological allies, cutting pesticide and fertilizer use in the orchard by 50%, making strawberries healthier

Strawberries, considered delicate and difficult to cultivate, are a "major offender" when it comes to pesticide and fertilizer use. Yuan Jingqing, a second-generation young farmer in Miaoli, after taking over in her fourth year, gradually improved cultivation methods through rational fertilization, integrated pest management, newly developed seedling techniques, and consulting plant doctors. The strawberry orchard cut pesticide and fertilizer use by as much as 50%, and gained many "ecological allies," such as the predatory mite-eating thrips (Scolothrips takahashii) that can check the two-spotted spider mite, and planting garlic to repel pests. This also earned Yuan Jingqing a nomination for the first IPM Sustainable Good Farmer Award!

A Tainan city girl becomes a Miaoli strawberry daughter-in-law

Dahu Township in Miaoli County produces 80% of the country's strawberries each year and is known as the "Home of Strawberries." The "Kada Li Strawberry Farm" located there has been operating for over twenty years and was taken over by Yuan Jingqing four years ago. "My mother-in-law had hand surgery, my husband is at work, so I took over!" Yuan Jingqing laughed cheerfully from Tainan, showing no sign of being a mother of two, with her eldest already in the first year of senior high school.

Yuan Jingqing, who married into Miaoli 17 years ago, was a typical city girl before marriage. With no farming experience at all, she initially followed her parents-in-law into the fields. "On my first day after marrying in, I went to the fields, helped carry chicken manure for fertilizing, and was knocked out by the smell, even sent to the hospital. The following ten-plus years of carrying fertilizer were truly painful." She recalled, and from that time on, a seed was planted to reduce fertilizer use in the strawberry farm.

During the ten-plus years of helping out, she also worked a job, but after working, she felt her time was not free, so she eventually returned to farming in the fields. "I think I'm very suited to farming, because once the work is arranged, I can have a lot of flexible time." Yuan Jingqing said confidently.

The key to growing strawberries: healthy seedlings and a suitable growing environment

Because strawberries are delicate, in the past heavy fertilizer and heavy pesticides were often applied, and as a result, large amounts of pesticide residue were frequently detected. In the past, her parents-in-law often applied large amounts of chicken manure fertilizer, pesticides, insecticides, etc. "One application of chicken manure was over a hundred bags, each bag thirty or forty kilograms, each time was exhausting." Yuan Jingqing recounted.

Before taking over, she often attended classes at the Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, where she was exposed to concepts such as rational fertilization and IPM. "Actually, growing strawberries well isn't hard, it just requires healthy seedlings and then creating a suitable growing environment." She said with a smile.

The top priority for healthy strawberry seedlings is variety selection. In the 3-fen (about 0.3 hectare) strawberry farm, most are the Xiangshui variety, along with the new variety Meiji and the traditional variety Fengxiang. "Xiangshui (strawberry) can resist powdery mildew!" Yuan Jingqing analyzed. In the past, the major crop was Fengxiang, bred over forty years ago, which can no longer adapt to the current climate, so she chose Xiangshui with high disease resistance.

Second-generation propagation system: 50 seedlings can grow a 3-fen strawberry farm

Another key to healthy strawberry seedlings is propagation. Last year, Yuan Jingqing collaborated with Zhong Peizhe, associate researcher at the Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, and Zhang Zhewei, a graduate student in the Plant Medicine program at National Chung Hsing University, to develop a two-stage propagation system that increases seedling yield by 25%.

In the past, strawberry farmers propagated seedlings by: in December, selecting runners from the field and cutting them for rooting, using them as mother plants for the next strawberry season; after higher temperatures produced runners, they were fixed into small pots as daughter plants; from May to August of the following year they were cultivated; finally, the daughter plants were planted in the field. Yuan Jingqing believes that in the past, the mother plants were as old as 9 months, making them more susceptible to disease.

The two-stage propagation system revises the past propagation method by transferring the original daughter plants into larger pots as second-generation mother plants. The second-generation mother plants produce daughter plants starting in July, and after three months of care, they enter the field as fruit-producing plants. "From sending out runners to going into the soil, only three months passed, so the strawberry seedlings are younger and healthier!" Yuan Jingqing said with a smile.

Each mother plant can send out 30-50 daughter plants. Zhang Zhewei calculated that the two-stage propagation system needs only 25 first-generation mother plants to produce 10,000 fruit-producing plants, enough to supply a 2-fen strawberry farm. Yuan Jingqing responded: "Trying it last year, I only needed to care for 50 pots, instead of having to care for five or six hundred pots like before, much more convenient!"

50% fertilizer reduction, no need to smell chicken manure, easier fertilizing

Returning to creating a suitable growing environment, Yuan Jingqing started first with reducing fertilizer. "I will always remember the day I passed out from the smell of chicken manure, so after taking over I firmly stopped using it!" She found that because the strawberry farm had been over-fertilized for years, it caused fertilizer burn, and the strawberries could not absorb nutrients, causing the plants to weaken.

Therefore, referring to the approved friendly organic materials in the plant protection manual, she chose organic fertilizer and switched to applying fertilizer in small amounts more frequently instead of one heavy application. "My parents-in-law didn't understand at first, thinking how could nutrients be enough this way?" Later, seeing the growing results, her parents-in-law gradually let go.

Regarding the difference before and after the change, Yuan Jingqing believes the monetary cost is about the same, because organic fertilizer is more expensive, but it reduces a lot of labor time. "A bag of organic fertilizer is twenty kilograms; one application of only twenty bags can maintain the same yield." She added that organic fertilizer, unlike chicken manure fertilizer, does not contain moisture but is in granular form that is convenient to spread, making fertilizing much easier.

50% pesticide reduction: pheromones, repellent crops, physical control, and chemicals only as a last resort

As for the use of chemicals, Yuan Jingqing follows IPM (Integrated Pest Management). "For the sake of economic production, it's impossible not to use chemicals, but using chemicals is my last step." She emphasized that even when using chemicals, she confirms whether it is within the safety period, and every half month does rapid screening tests, announcing them to consumers.

Does this transformation cause pressure? Yuan Jingqing believes that when the weather has problems she worries about the strawberries, but that's all. "Unless pests and diseases are really severe, I won't spray chemicals casually!" Compared with the past, pesticide application has been reduced by more than half; in the field she mainly uses pheromones, repellent crops, and physical control.