Chapter 89: Invitation from the Provincial Research Institute
Soon, all the women and children in the family compound were mobilized.
On the hillsides and along the ditches, people were everywhere mowing grass and catching ladybugs. Although they were puzzled, they were working hard.
Shen Lingning directed everyone to cover the roots of the tea seedlings with thickly cut fresh grass.
"This is called covering the tea seedlings with a blanket. It can retain water, reduce temperature, and the rotten grass can be used as fertilizer!"
Tiedan was called in to act as the head of the group: "Comrade Tiedan, the time has come for the Party to test you. Do you want to take on this task?"
Sweat trickled down Tiedan's red face. He wiped it off with the back of his hand and saluted Shen Lingning seriously.
He responded loudly: "Serve the people and ensure the completion of the mission!"
The dozen or so little guys around him also stood straight: "Serve the people and ensure the completion of the mission!"
There were some good-natured laughter from the adults nearby, but the children were waiting very seriously for their first mission.
Shen Lingling asked them to come over and watch, and carefully poured the red seven-spotted ladybugs they had caught from the can into the palm of her hand, and carefully placed them into the infested tea bushes.
"This is called using insects to control insects. Ladybugs are beneficial insects and they eat the bad ones!"
The stubborn old man watched coldly from the side, sneering from time to time: "You're dreaming! Can a few blades of grass and a few insects really do anything?"
But everyone at the Songtaogou base believed in Chen Lingning, and both adults and children worked together.
He was just waiting for results, but the stubborn old man was waiting for Shen Lingning to give in.
When he got home that night, Zhou Weiguo also asked, "I heard from several leaders that there's a problem with the tea seedlings? Do you need our help?"
As he spoke, he took Fubao, who was sleeping in Shen Lingning's arms, and gently placed him on the head of the kang, and covered his little belly with a pillowcase with peony flowers.
Shen Lingning walked to the table tiredly and opened the meal Zhou Weiguo had brought her from the cafeteria: two cornmeal nests and a plate of stir-fried loofah.
While eating, Shen Lingning talked about the situation in the tea mountain and asked about the situation of technician Niu.
"This old technician has real skills, but he's still not convinced by me. Don't worry, it will be fine after a while. The tea plantation is so big, there will always be capable professionals to manage it in the future."
Zhou Weiguo massaged her shoulders and asked jokingly, "What will you do then?"
Shen Lingning turned around and looked at him confidently: "Of course I have to sell tea! This is my forte. When I was a child, my grandfather always took me with him when he went to buy tea, and I used to go to the tea parties in Shanghai with him..."
Shen Lingning said this with a sense of melancholy. He didn't know how his grandparents and uncles were doing outside.
Which country did he end up going to? No news of him since he left.
——
The stubborn old man didn't believe Shen Lingning's method, but a miracle happened.
The next day, everyone discovered it when they went to the tea mountain.
The thick grass cover effectively reduced the evaporation of soil moisture and the surface temperature dropped significantly.
The roots of the tea seedlings, exposed to the sun, had a chance to breathe. The released ladybugs, like they had found a cafeteria, frantically devoured the tiny black insects.
After just half a day, the effects began to show.
In the area where the tea seedlings were covered, the soil was obviously moist. Although the leaves of the tea seedlings had not fully recovered, they were no longer in a dying state.
In areas where insect infestation is severe, the number of small black insects is decreasing at a rate visible to the naked eye!
The stubborn old man's expression changed constantly from disdain at first, to surprise, and finally to the point where he couldn't help but squat on the ground to take a closer look.
Aunt Sun, Liu Jinfeng, and Wang Shufen hugged each other excitedly, cheering like children: "Success, success!"
The children also spread the word that they had won the battle against pests and nature.
Shen Lingning also generously took out a box of White Rabbit milk candy and asked Tiedan to distribute it to his soldiers.
Now Tiedan and Damao have become the commander and deputy commander among the children in the base, and even Xiao Fubao has become the chief of staff.
The crises of insect pests and high fever were actually brought under control when Shen Lingning led everyone to adopt this unique "combination of Chinese and Western" method!
Although nearly half of the tea seedlings were lost, the remaining half survived tenaciously and began to recover.
The entire Songtaogou base breathed a sigh of relief, looking at Shen Lingning with eyes full of admiration.
Even the stubborn old man, although he still refused to admit defeat, when he saw Shen Lingning again, his critical eyes were somewhat filled with a subtle hint of inquiry and approval.
Just then, an expert inspection team from the Provincial Department of Agriculture arrived.
The team was led by a middle-aged professor named Wu who wore glasses and had an elegant temperament.
They heard that the Songtaogou base had set up a tea mountain project contracted by family members and used some new methods, so they came to take a look.
When Professor Wu and his team arrived at the tea mountain, they did not see the uniform, pesticide-smelling tea gardens they had imagined, but a strange sight:
The rows of tea trees are covered with thick green grass. Women, girls and children patrol the fields carefully, occasionally catching scattered pests with their hands. You can even see ladybugs crawling on the leaves.
"This is……"
Professor Wu squatted down, pushed aside the covering grass, touched the moist and cool soil, and carefully observed the traces of ladybugs' predation on the leaves, with great interest on his face.
This time the stubborn old man didn't interrupt, but stood aside with his arms folded.
Shen Lingning stepped forward calmly and introduced their approach to Professor Wu: "Professor Wu, we call this 'grass mulching to conserve moisture and reduce temperatures' and 'using natural enemies for biological control.'
The summer sun is scorching, and mulching helps retain moisture and cool down the grass. Even if the grass rots, it still becomes fertile. When there are too many insects, we thought of using their 'enemies' to treat them. It's safer than spraying pesticides, and there's no tea residue left."
She didn't say this was the concept of future ecological agriculture, she just said it was a folk remedy that she had no choice but to come up with.
Professor Wu's eyes lit up as he listened, nodding repeatedly: "Great! Great! Adapting to local conditions and fully utilizing the self-regulating capacity of the ecosystem!"
This idea is very advanced! Although the operation is still a bit crude, this concept is completely in line with the direction of sustainable agricultural development! It is much better than relying solely on chemical pesticides!
He turned to the stubborn old man excitedly: "Old Cow, look, this method..."
Lao Jue's face flushed, and he stiffened his neck. Finally, he said in a muffled voice, "Well... yes... there is a trick. At least... the tea leaves are clean, without any residue."
Professor Wu laughed heartily and asked many more questions in detail. Shen Lingning answered them one by one. In some places, he combined the knowledge in the spatial data and explained it in a simple and easy-to-understand way. Even the stubborn old man couldn't help but prick up his ears.
Finally, Professor Wu solemnly extended an invitation to Shen Lingning: "Comrade Shen Lingning, you are very creative and practical in tea cultivation! Our Provincial Tea Research Institute is preparing a project on ecological tea garden cultivation and is in great need of talents like you!
Are you interested in working in our institute?"
Everyone around was shocked!
Provincial Research Institute!
That’s a high-end unit that eats commercial grain!
Everyone looked at Shen Lingning, waiting for her answer. . . .
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