Starting with vegetable greenhouses in 1988

Chapter 172 The Diversity of Greenhouses

Zhao Bing glanced at Li Weidong beside him and laughed, "Yes, we know each other. We're from the same village. My wife often buys things from his family's general store. Tiger Girl, is that the relative you're looking for?"

"No, no," Tiger Girl quickly waved her hand, "He's my coworker. My dad is the workshop foreman at the Wan'an Town Electric Fan Factory, and I work there too." Tiger Girl blinked her big eyes and pressed on, "How's Lin Xiaohu now? Is he alright?"

"That's good," Zhao Bing said with a smile. "If you want to find him..."

"No, no, no, I'm not looking for him, I'm just asking casually." Before Zhao Bing could finish speaking, Hu Niu interrupted him.

As everyone chatted, the car soon arrived at the north side of Daying Village.

Once the car was parked, Li Weidong and Zhao Bing unloaded the bicycles.

Zhao Bing pointed south and said, "Girl, just follow this road and you'll reach the village committee. Kuai Zui's house isn't far from the village committee."

"Thank you, Brother Zhao and Brother Li, I'm leaving now." Tiger Girl waved to everyone, pushed her bicycle, and walked south along the dirt road.

Just then, a voice rang out from afar: "Brother Li, you're back?"

Upon hearing the voice, Tiger Girl turned her head sharply: "Lin Xiaohu?!"

Lin Xiaohu was startled when he saw Hu Niu: "Hu Niu! You... what are you doing here?!"

"Why can't I come?" Tiger Girl put down her car, walked to Lin Xiaohu's side, looked him up and down and asked, "Xiaohu, is your injury healed? I was worried that you were badly hurt."

Lin Xiaohu wasn't buying it. "Stop pretending. If it weren't for you, would I have gotten beaten up?"

"Then why don't you tell me why I beat you up..." Tiger Girl stared with wide eyes, hesitant to speak.

Lin Xiaohu waved his hand, interrupting her, "Alright, I don't want to talk about this anymore. We're even. You can go now."

Tiger Girl persisted, "I came to see my aunt, take me to her house."

"I won't see you off."

"I want you to deliver it."

"I won't see you off, I still have work to do." Lin Xiaohu turned and ran, heading straight for the newly expanded greenhouse.

"Lin Xiaohu, you come back here!" Tiger Girl stomped her feet angrily, then asked Zhao Bing, who was standing next to her, "Brother Zhao, what is this bright white greenhouse?"

"This is where vegetables are grown," Zhao Bing replied, then asked curiously, "Miss, what's your relationship with Xiao Hu?"

“We’re coworkers, and we’ve always had a good relationship at the factory. I’ve always taken good care of him. Who knew that this ingrate would come back and not recognize me? Humph!” Tiger Girl finished speaking, pushed her bicycle, and stormed off.

The villagers don't have many forms of entertainment, so they all like to watch the excitement, and they inevitably discussed what had just happened.

In fact, many people are curious about Lin Xiaohu's experience working at the electric fan factory in Wan'an Town. Some people have even asked him about it, but Lin Xiaohu has always been unwilling to mention it. Every time he brings it up, he makes up an excuse to avoid it, and if he can't avoid it, he just slips away.

After today's incident, many people have realized that there might be something fishy going on here.

Li Zhe thought to himself, "In my past life, it was I who went to the fan factory. I didn't know Lin Xiaohu and Hu Niu. Hey, human fate is really interesting..."

……

The fast-talking family, north room.

The room was a bit messy, with leftover bowls and chopsticks from yesterday still on the table. The quick-talking wife lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), with several packets of pastries and an opened jar of yellow peaches beside her.

Looking at the things on the kang (heated brick bed), the quick-tongued wife snorted, a hint of dissatisfaction in her voice: "That Zhu Yimin is really stingy. I helped him so much, and all he gave me was this little something. So petty!"
The quick-tongued wife was severely beaten by the Zhou family, and Zhou Yuhu knocked out one of her teeth. Zhou Yuhu was then taken to the police station by the village militia.

Now the Zhou family was scared too, so they went to the town clinic to beg the quick-tongued wife for forgiveness. The quick-tongued wife had been beaten badly, so naturally she wouldn't agree and stayed at the clinic, refusing to come out.

The Zhou family had no choice but to turn to Wang Tietou, the village party secretary, for help.

Secretary Wang was a man of great integrity. He did not limit himself to the conflict between the Zhou family and the quick-tongued wife. In his view, the root of the conflict lay with the Zhou family and Zhu Yimin. Only by resolving their conflict together could the matter be completely resolved and Daying Village be restored to peace.

Secretary Wang still held considerable influence in the village. Under his mediation, the Zhou family agreed to give Kuai Zui's wife 600 yuan in compensation and repay Zhu Yimin's debt of 1500 yuan.

The day Zhu Yimin received the money, he bought a lot of things and went to visit his wife, who was known for her quick wit. His wife was still somewhat dissatisfied, feeling that Zhu Yimin should share some of the 1500 yuan with her. After all, she was credited with getting the money, and even 300 yuan would be fair.

The quick-witted wife was a shrewd woman; she gave Zhu Yimin a hint right then and there. But whether Zhu Yimin didn't understand or simply didn't want to give it, he left after only a few words.

Thinking of this, she became even angrier and snorted: You shorty, you deserve to have your wife leave you!
Speaking of this, she thought of her husband again. That wretched man, he's been gone for almost a year. Apart from sending some money home, there's been no news of him since. Could he have died out there? You know what, after so long, I kind of miss him.

"Knock knock..." A knocking sound came from outside the courtyard. The quick-tongued wife's eyes lit up, thinking: Could it be her husband coming back?

She jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed) and ran happily into the yard to open the door. The door opened, and she froze: "Tiger Girl, what brings you here?" "Auntie, I heard you got beaten up, so I came to see you." Tiger Girl didn't say anything more, just pushed her cart through the door. "Also, didn't you always tell everyone I earn 62.5 yuan a month? I only earned 12 this month, can you make up the remaining 50 yuan for me?"

The quick-tongued wife smiled awkwardly: "Tiger Girl, don't listen to what others are saying. Those guys who toil in the fields are desperate to get a job in a factory. I only said I could help them get a factory job, and they wouldn't listen to anything else. Can you blame me?"

"Auntie, why are you talking so strangely?" Tiger Girl felt that her quick-tongued wife was speaking differently than before.

The quick-tongued wife was a little unhappy, thinking to herself, "My front teeth have been knocked out, how can I speak the same way? This girl really doesn't know how to talk, she always brings up the wrong thing!"
The two entered the house and saw that Tiger Girl was carrying two bags. The talkative wife was a little surprised: "Tiger Girl, why are you carrying so much stuff?"

"Auntie, I brought you two pounds of peach cakes and two pounds of apples. The rest are my clothes. I'll have to stay with you for a while and take care of you."

The quick-tongued wife felt a warmth in her heart: "Tiger Girl, you're a good girl. Auntie is fine, you don't need to take care of her."

"Aunt, I've come here this time because I need your help with something."

"What's wrong? Tell me."

Tiger Girl was silent for a moment, then mustered her courage and said, "Lin Xiaohu and I were dating when he was working at the factory, but now he denies it. What do you suggest we do?"

The quick-tongued wife's eyes widened: "My God, how could this happen? How could Lin Xiaohu be so despicable!" Suddenly, she felt a little scared. She was the one who introduced Lin Xiaohu to the place; in truth, she bore some responsibility. "Does your mother know about this?"

"I don't know yet. If you don't help me, I'll have to tell my mom."

"No, no, no, don't tell your mother." The quick-tongued wife was a little scared. She was only good at talking; her sister-in-law was good at everything.

If she finds out about this, I can forget about going back to my parents' home. She might even come to my house and slap me a couple of times. That old woman is really fierce!

"I'll take care of this for you, and I promise you won't suffer any losses!"

……

North of the village, Li's greenhouse.

Greenhouse No. 20.

This is a newly expanded greenhouse, and one-third of it belongs to Teacher Chen's experimental land.

As soon as Li Zhe returned to Daying Village, Teacher Chen invited him into the greenhouse and pointed to some seedlings that had been transplanted some time ago: "These are Baiyang No. 5 melon seedlings that our university just cultivated this year. They have crisp flesh, are very sweet, and are rich in various vitamins. I think they are more suitable for growing in greenhouses than watermelons."

Teacher Chen squatted down and held the melon seedling's leaves, saying, "But it didn't grow very well after transplanting. The leaves were bent, yellowed, and had small brown spots."

Li Zhe had grown melons before. He parted the seedlings and looked at them. The roots and seedlings were a bit thin: "It should be because the soil temperature is low and the root system is weak, resulting in weak seedlings; in addition, the humidity in the greenhouse is high, which breeds gray mold."

Seeing that Li Zhe had spotted the problem at a glance, Teacher Chen couldn't help but praise him in her heart: "I thought so too. We've already sprayed the iprodione fumigant, which has some effect, but it can't cure it completely. It's a bit of a headache."

Teacher Chen frowned. He knew very well that pesticides could only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. The melon roots were weak because of the low temperature inside the greenhouse; gray mold was caused by the high humidity in the greenhouse, but greenhouses are enclosed, and high humidity is a characteristic of greenhouses, which is difficult to improve.

If the condition cannot be improved, the melons will still get sick even if medication is continued. Reduced yield is the most basic consequence, and in severe cases, the melons may even rot and fall off.

Seeing a small pit and fresh soil nearby, Li Zhe said, "Did they weed this?"

Teacher Chen replied, "Yes, the melon seedlings were already weak, and there were a lot of weeds growing around them. If they weren't removed in time, the weeds would compete with the seedlings for nutrients, and they would grow even weaker. So this morning, Qinghe and Xiaohu helped remove the weeds from the melon seedlings."

Li Zhe stroked his chin. Weeding was the right thing to do, but if the weeds and melon seedlings were too close together, manual weeding could also damage the seedlings.

Li Zhe thought for a while, or rather, recalled something, and said, "The best way to improve the situation of the melon seedlings is to cover them with mulch."

At this point, Teacher Chen became interested.

He knew what plastic film was. The soil in the other vegetable greenhouses was covered with a transparent film. At first, he found it a bit novel. Later, he discovered that the soil covered with plastic film was 2 to 8 degrees Celsius warmer than the soil without it, and the insulation effect was very good.

Then, Teacher Chen felt there were still some shortcomings: "Even if we cover it with a transparent film to improve the condition of the roots and seedlings by increasing the soil temperature, gray mold is still very difficult to control..."

Li Zhe said, "Then let's switch to black plastic film. Covering the plants with it will reduce soil moisture evaporation and lower the humidity inside the greenhouse; at the same time, it can also block pathogens in the soil from infecting the plants, reduce the probability of infection, and effectively improve the symptoms of gray mold; in addition, the black film can also remove weeds."

Of course, compared with transparent mulch film, black mulch film has both advantages and disadvantages, such as lower light transmittance.

However, for melons at this stage, black mulch is more suitable.

"Black plastic mulch!" Teacher Chen was visibly taken aback. Although he had extensive theoretical knowledge and experience in planting, he had only recently begun working with greenhouse cultivation, and Li Zhe's words had given him a great deal of inspiration…

Greenhouses can be used like this?
After careful consideration, he realized that Li Zhe's method could indeed comprehensively improve the growth of melons.

This young man is truly remarkable!
He further realized that changing the color of the plastic film could improve the internal environment of the greenhouse and the growth of fruits and vegetables.

Would changing the color of the greenhouse film improve the greenhouse environment even more? Would it be able to adapt to the growing environments of more fruits and vegetables?
There’s a lot to be done!
(End of this chapter)