Chapter 330 Catching Bugs
In spring, all things come back to life, and birds and beasts also enter the breeding period. This is true for animals, and in fact, it is also true for humans. In spring, it is very easy to become restless.
Look, Huang Dazhi has taken a fancy to his blind date and is ready to get married, and Gao Mingwan has also taken a fancy to his blind date and is ready to get married.
Huang Dazhi's wedding date is very soon, and it will be in more than 20 days, but Gao Mingwan's wedding date will have to wait a little longer. Wang Xiuxiu's birthday is in June, and the Wang family hopes that Wang Xiuxiu will celebrate her birthday at home before getting married.
But things didn't get better in the following days, so we had to postpone the marriage until August.
During this period, they were busy preparing for their wedding, buying a house and various wedding supplies. Gao Mingcheng, a married man, seemed to be a little more relaxed.
The fruit trees bought from Shimen Village have been planted long ago. After two spring rains, the fruit seedlings are now growing well and there are no problems.
However, when Gao Mingcheng inspected a batch of tangerines planted last autumn, he found that several trees were infested with borers.
Orange trees are most susceptible to borers. People who have grown fruit trees should be familiar with this. Once a fruit tree is infested with borers, it must be cured as soon as possible, otherwise the tree will slowly die.
In addition to orange trees, peach trees are also the most susceptible to insects.
In later generations, peach gum has also become a beauty product and is sought after by people, but how is peach gum produced? When the tree is infested with insects, or infected by fungi or bacteria, the epidermis is damaged, and then the bark will flow with gum. The gum gathers together to form golden peach gum. If it hangs on the tree for a long time, it will turn brown.
Once the peach tree starts to gum up, the peach yield will be reduced, the gum-flowing parts will rot, and even the entire branch or peach tree will wither.
Therefore, planting fruit trees does not mean you don’t have to take care of them after you plant them.
Its field management is also very troublesome. Once you don't manage it, the fruit trees will either die, or produce few fruits, or the fruits will be sour.
Gao Mingcheng's peach trees have just been planted. Every tree is healthy and disease-free, but it is hard to say what will happen in the future.
Many beauties saw Gao Mingcheng holding a thick wire and asked curiously, "What are you doing with this?"
Gao Mingcheng said: "The orange tree is infested with worms. I use this to hollow out the worm holes and then catch the worms out."
"By the way, we need to get pesticides." Gao Mingcheng remembered that he had forgotten to take pesticides, so he went to the utility room where pesticides and farm tools were stored and took the pesticides and some cotton.
"Let me go with you to take a look." Xuanyuemei said with great interest.
During this time back in the countryside, she lived a very comfortable life. All the meals were prepared by Gao Mingcheng. Knowing that she could not eat rice and meat, he prepared vegetarian meals for her in different ways. So although she still felt hungry, it was much better than before.
"Okay, you follow and watch, but once the medicine is applied, move away." Gao Mingcheng instructed, and then brought many beautiful people to the tree with insects.
How to check if a tree is infested with insects? Peach trees, apricot trees, cherry trees, etc., all secrete jelly-like substances. As long as you see these jelly-like substances, you can know that there is a problem with the tree and you need to treat it in time.
But for trees that do not secrete gelatinous substances, you have to observe other places to see if the branches and leaves are wilted and whether there is insect feces under the roots.
These trees were planted not long ago, and even if they were infested with insects, they were not big. Therefore, from the outside, the insect holes were small and the insect feces they excreted were also small.
Gao Mingcheng pointed to the root of one of the trees and said, "Look carefully, there is a small pile of wood chips. These are insect feces. We need to empty the feces in the tree hole and then catch the insects."
As he spoke, he had already squatted down and started working with the thick wire in his hand.
Under his flexible manipulation, the hole hollowed out by the insects was hollowed out little by little. Because the tree was small and the insects were small, the hole was not big. Soon, the thick iron wire pierced a worm and dragged it out of the hole.
The insect was not completely dead yet and its body was still wriggling and struggling.
"Well, it's the larvae of the longhorn beetle. This thing smells delicious when fried in oil. But it seems pregnant women can't eat it." Gao Mingcheng showed it to Xuanyuemei. Xuanyuemei saw the fat white longhorn beetle larvae still twisting and felt nauseous. She turned her head to the side and retched.
Gao Mingcheng killed the insect with regret and buried it with soil.
This pregnant woman can't afford to be hurt.
"Duomei, you should go somewhere else." Gao Mingcheng said, and then prepared to dip cotton in pesticide, and then use branches to stuff it into the insect hole and smear the pesticide everywhere.
Pesticides can kill insects, but if you just dig out the bugs, it won't be a complete cure. After applying the pesticides, Gao Mingcheng blocked the worm holes with wet mud.
This is just like when a person is injured and needs to be bandaged. Blocking the hole with mud can prevent ants from crawling in to build nests, and can also prevent other insects from laying eggs in the tree hole.
Manyuemei walked to the side to see the growth of other fruit trees. Without any interference, Gao Mingcheng moved faster and soon caught a few more longhorn beetle larvae.
One of the worms was as fat as a little finger. It was full of protein!
Gao Mingcheng swallowed inexplicably, remembering that he had eaten a lot of various insects when he was a child. The living conditions were too poor at that time, and he often did not have enough to eat. When he was a teenager, he would feel hungry no matter how much he ate.
So the insects and bird eggs in the mountains suffered. He ate all kinds of bamboo worms, longhorn beetle larvae, cicadas, locusts, and kudzu worms.
If you can’t fry it in oil, just roast it over the fire and eat it while it’s hot. It’s very delicious.
Gao Mingcheng was reminiscing about his childhood, but he had no intention of eating these insects. He was afraid that many people would see them and even dislike the cooking pot.
But he did not throw away the insects. Instead, he put them in a wider leaf and planned to take them back to feed the chickens. Chickens would lay more eggs after eating insects with high protein content.
When passing by his own vegetable garden, he saw a lot of weeds growing in the field, including many dandelions.
It is indeed a good thing that everything comes back to life in spring, but for farmers, weeding in the fields has become a daily routine. Otherwise, if you don’t weed for three or five days, you will be lucky enough to experience Tao Yuanming’s field life - the grass is lush and the bean sprouts are sparse.
Tao Yuanming was not short of money, so he could allow the grass to grow abundantly and the bean sprouts to be sparsely distributed. However, farmers who depended on the land for their livelihood would not dare to do so. They had to weed and fertilize the land diligently, hoping that the crops would thrive and produce food.
Gao Mingcheng also planted the vegetables that should be planted in the fields. He would return to the village every now and then, so the vegetables had to be planted.
If country people go to buy vegetables to eat, they will be laughed at.
Gao Mingcheng first put the insects, pesticides and other things back home. As soon as the insects were thrown on the ground, a fat hen quickly rushed up and pecked at the insects on the ground and ate them. Other hens also rushed over and ate happily.
Gao Mingcheng carried a hoe and a bamboo basket and went out again. He planned to get some dandelions to eat. The dandelions in the field were very tender now and could be eaten as wild vegetables. When the dandelions grew bigger, they could be used as medicine.
But for children, the deepest impression of dandelions is definitely its seeds.
The seeds are white balls, fluffy and cute. When the wind blows, the seeds fall off and are blown away by the wind.
Those seeds are like parachutes. Wherever they fall, a large field of dandelions will grow the next year.
(End of this chapter)
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