Chapter 177 Greenhouse Planting

The first crops grown in greenhouses were mainly cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and beets.

There is no particular reason for choosing these five crops, it is mainly based on suitability considerations.

At present, the development of these five crops is quite successful, at least in the early stages of plant development, they have met the expectations of several professional life players present.

Looking at the plants bathed in emerald green light, the night elf's face was filled with an expression of disbelief.

Although nature magic can make seeds germinate, it cannot make wheat simply produce ears of wheat, nor can it make a newly planted tomato immediately produce abundant fruits.

In fact, there are only a few types of plants that are truly suitable for rapid growth, such as grass and dandelions whose seeds can be found everywhere, soft and changeable green vines, or tenacious wood vines, etc.

These plants all have one characteristic, which is that their life cycle is simple and their characteristics are relatively distinct. They are the optimal solution found by countless nature spellcasters through repeated attempts.

They will grow rapidly and then die quickly, just like a fireball created by an elemental magician.

However, if you want a plant to complete its life cycle, such as flowering, pollination, and fruiting, the power of nature spells alone is not enough.

To do this, they have to communicate with the plants and ask them if they are willing...

However, the spirits of these cemeteries seem to have found a way to replace asking the plants for their opinions.

This is what they call a "card bug".

For example, they first asked themselves to cast nature spells to speed up the flowering of tomato vines, then use artificial pollination to prompt them to enter the next growth stage, and then continue to let themselves use nature spells to speed up the next life cycle of the tomato vines.

This was a way she had never imagined.

Of course, this segmented method of accelerating plant growth is not perfect and impeccable.

As the tomato vines in the petri dish continued to grow, they climbed up the trellis and produced more and more flowers, and finally green fruits grew from the end of the stems.

At first it was like a green grape, condensed under the subtle little flower, and then gradually grew bigger.

However, problems soon arose.

The tomato had only been growing for a short time when it turned from green to orange. Although the color became darker and darker, it stopped growing in size until the fruit finally ripened and fell onto the soil.

The night elf holding the staff stopped casting spells, dissipated the emerald green light condensed on the tip of the staff, looked at the skeleton soldiers and shook his head, indicating that he had done his best.

The player did not blame her, but just stared at the ripe tomato and whispered.

Legendary Patience King: "This is too small."

Legendary Dry King: "Could it be a problem with the variety?"

"That's impossible... I picked these seeds from a big tomato, how could there be a problem?" [Xie Bu Rou De Hou Mi] scratched the back of his head, puzzled and said.

Focus on raising pigs in wild areas: "It's strange. I've spread fertilizer and poured water, but the fruits I've produced seem to be lacking in fertilizer."

[Beast Senior], who had been silent all this time, suddenly had an idea and came up with a suggestion.

“Could it be because the root system is poorly developed?”

Seeing everyone looking at him, he continued to express his guess in an uncertain tone.

"I was just about to say this. Under the ripening spell of the nature system, it seems that only the branches, leaves and stems are growing rapidly, and there is no movement in the soil at all. Is it possible that the roots underneath have not grown much, or that they have grown but cannot keep up with the growth speed of the surface part..."

He is not an agricultural expert, his analysis is purely from a rational perspective.

In his opinion, this root system is like the mouth of a plant for eating. If it only grows in height but not in appetite, wouldn't it be insufficient for nutrition? Several skeleton soldiers exchanged glances, and the soul fire swaying in their skulls gradually became brighter.

“It’s possible.”

[Xie Bu Rou's Hou Mi] simply walked forward and pulled one of the tomato vines out of the soil. The roots underneath were indeed short and weak, only the size of a thumb.

"Wow, it's true!"

"But what should we do?"

"I heard that pruning can help plants take root."

"Is it possible to use nature spells to ripen the branches and leaves at the same time?"

Several skeleton soldiers were stunned and scratched their heads, while others simply went offline temporarily to look up information.

In fact, this is a problem that almost all nature mages will encounter, that is, plants that grow faster often have certain parts that grow faster, and the end result is that the top is heavy and the feet are light.

Only plants that have nurtured the "Spirit of Nature" can communicate with them to achieve truly balanced growth, or concentrate more nutrients in the fruit.

The night elf in charge of casting the spell looked at the undead quietly, curious about how they would solve this problem with their empty heads.

However, to her surprise, when these skeleton soldiers gathered together to discuss, they actually came up with some ideas.

"I don't think pruning branches is reliable. The stimulation speed is too slow and can't keep up with the rhythm of casting spells."

"Indeed! There are too many plants to keep up with, unless you arrange for a necromancer to micromanipulate the skeleton hands."

"There are currently two ideas that seem reliable. One is to use nature spells to speed up the life cycle of the rooting stage, and the other is to try soilless cultivation. I heard that if the soil is replaced with culture solution, the same root system will absorb water better."

"Let's try both together!"

"It would be best to do three sets of experiments to compare which method is more reliable and how much benefit can be added when used together."

“Won’t there be another control group?”

One of the skeleton soldiers looked at the small, hard tomato that had fallen into the soil next to it.

"Isn't this already available?"

The other skeleton soldier chuckled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

“That’s right.”

The night elf standing nearby was secretly amazed. She had never seen an undead that looked so much like a living person.

Realizing this, she couldn't help but feel more hopeful that the skeleton soldiers could solve this problem.

She coughed lightly and spoke in a serious tone.

"If you need anything, just ask me. As long as it is something I can do, I will do my best to help you."

Senior Beast smiled and said, "Don't worry! We won't hesitate to help you when we need your help."

As soon as he finished speaking, [Xie Bu Rou De Hou Mi], who had just returned from looking up information, raised his hand.

"Will the amount of light and carbon dioxide concentration also need to keep up? As far as I remember, the root system seems to mainly affect the absorption of water and nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Sugar still needs to rely on photosynthesis to fix carbon."

“…”

“It seems so.”

"No matter what, let's arrange it and try it first!"

Several skeleton soldiers racked their brains to discuss for a long time, and finally decided to arrange thirty-two sets of experiments for each crop, controlling different variables and combinations of variables in order to find the best growing environment for different crops.

This is a game world after all, and all kinds of crops have slight differences. Real-life experience may not be useful.

The night elves standing nearby stared in amazement at the exchange between the skeleton soldiers.

If she was just surprised before, then at this moment her heart was shocked beyond words.

Although the translator Crystal translated almost every word they uttered, she couldn't find a few that she could understand.

At this time, the skeleton soldier who had spoken to her before looked at her and spoke again.

"By the way, how did you solve the problem of the berries being too small when ripened by magic?"

The real-life experiences have been shared, and [Senior Beast] would like to seek the opinions of the locals.

The night elf suppressed his shocked expression, thought for a moment, and then spoke.

"We generally don't run into this problem. Usually we only use the catalytic growth spell on berry bushes or fruit trees that have grown to a certain age and have borne fruit..."

[Legendary Patience King] said, stroking his chin.

"The organs of this type of plant are generally more mature, so this problem is unlikely to occur."

[Legendary King of Dryness] complained.

"To put it simply, older people can withstand more hardships."

[Beast Senior] did not stop and continued to ask.

"How many years is a certain age? One year? Five years? Or ten years?"

If it takes too long, they can't wait.

The night elf shook his head and answered truthfully.

"Not necessarily. This has nothing to do with time. It mainly depends on whether it breeds the spirit of nature."

Hearing a term he had never heard of before, [Beast Senior] was stunned for a moment and said.

"What is a nature spirit?"

The night elf lady explained.

"You can think of it as a soul. Plants growing near the mother tree of life have a certain chance of giving birth to a soul every spring as their annual rings grow."

After hearing these words, the players around showed incredible expressions on their faces.

"soul?"

"Plants also have souls?!"

“Is it so magical?”

Is it amazing? The expression on the night elf's face was a little subtle.

She thought what was happening before her eyes was even more magical.

In addition, she discovered from listening to the discussions of the dead that life can be divided into many different stages.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Before this, although she had a vague feeling that plants, like elves, had infancy, adulthood, and old age, she had not conducted classified research on different plants in different stages like they did.

Actually, this is normal.

After all, the world has not formed a trend of scientific thinking, and production activities in most regions are dominated by empiricism.

The night elf tribe is no exception.

In addition, their nature determines that they are more likely to become artists rather than scholars.

Rather than wondering why apples fall from trees, they prefer to spend time wondering what plants are thinking.

After some discussion, the professional life players present redesigned the experiment.

[Senior Beast] first summoned a construction team of crypt spiders through his acolytes, and dug more branch caves based on the original greenhouse cave.

The height of these caves is just slightly lower than that of the main cave, and they are like ditches, extending outward along the side of the main cave.

The top of each branch cave is equipped with a crystal engraved with glowing underworld characters, and these crystals are connected to the underworld circuit of the entire greenhouse cave.

Then they increased the carbon dioxide concentration in the cave by burning coal, and took advantage of the fact that carbon dioxide is heavier than air to allow the carbon dioxide to enter the branch cave.

By controlling the input of magic power, the type of petri dish, and the amount of coal used, they can simply control several variables in the experiment.

Although it is impossible to achieve precise control, it is still no problem to control it roughly.

After doing all these things, they placed the remade petri dishes into the branch holes and commissioned the night elf mages to chant the magic to catalyze growth.

As the night elf chanted the spell, a faint green light was released from the tip of the staff and silently blended into the petri dishes.

Some of these culture dishes contain soil mixed with fertilizer, while others contain nutrient solution prepared according to online tutorials.

What surprised everyone was that as time went on, they could clearly observe that under the influence of the "catalytic growth" magic, the root growth rate of the soilless tomato vines was significantly faster than that of the soil-grown tomato vines!

The rapidly growing vine had not yet bloomed, but the roots soaked in the culture solution had already grown to the size of an adult's palm!

Seeing this incredible scene, the night elf in charge of casting the spell couldn't help but feel more confident.

Soon it was time for pollination.

The night elves stopped casting spells.

Several skeleton soldiers jumped into the branch hole and spread the prepared pollen on the small flowers blooming on the tomato vines.

After doing all these things, the night elf raised the magic wand in his hand again, chanted a spell to release emerald green light, and let the life cycle of the tomato vines enter the next stage.

An incredible scene happened!

In one of the branch holes, the tomato vines that covered the support had grown abundant fruits! They were tomatoes grown with culture fluid!

The night elf in charge of casting the spell opened his eyes wide, unable to believe what was happening before his eyes.

At first she thought growing tomatoes in water was ridiculous, but she didn’t expect these undead spirits could actually do it!

"Incredible..." She muttered softly, her eyes full of disbelief.

The skeletons standing next to her also high-fived each other excitedly.

However, they soon calmed down and immediately began to prepare for the next set of experiments.

Looking at these restless skeletons, the night elf showed a confused expression on his face.

“Isn’t this result good enough?”

In her opinion, being able to turn tomato seeds into ripe tomatoes using a catalytic growth spell was already amazing.

These newly sprouted crops clearly have neither souls nor developed root systems. With their current research results, even their ancestor Gray Wind would probably be amazed.

[Senior Beast] smiled when he heard this and spoke without thinking.

"We are just getting started! The experiment has just begun! Next we plan to adjust the carbon dioxide concentration to find the most suitable air ratio."

"Carbon dioxide? Concentration? Air ratio?" The night elf looked at him in confusion, completely at a loss.

[Beast Senior] quickly changed his words.

"To put it simply, we need to figure out how much carbon each cave needs to burn! Now it is no longer a problem to produce healthy fruits, but it is not perfect yet! We need to make the crops we cultivate grow in the best environment and strive to produce bigger and sweeter fruits and vegetables!"

As long as he could find the best air ratio, he could create a few more caves near Beifeng Mountain just like copying and pasting.

Anyway, the cost of digging holes for burrow spiders is very low. As long as they don’t cause landslides in the mountain, it’s almost a business with no capital!

By then, he would dig out hundreds of greenhouse caves, all using soilless cultivation and magic crystal lighting technology, and hire a dozen night elf mages to help him ripen the crops.

By then, not to mention that he will be able to monopolize the agricultural product market in Beifeng City, even reverse dumping in the neighboring Leiming City will not be a dream!

Becoming a farm tycoon is just around the corner!

Looking at the skeleton soldiers who were grinning from ear to ear, although the night elves had no idea what they were saying, they were still moved by his persistent spirit of pursuit.

He is clearly a ghost, yet he still has such a strong passion for exploring the mysteries of life!

What a passionate soul! A trace of emotion appeared in her eyes, and she spoke in an unprecedented serious tone.

"Although I don't quite understand the experiment you are doing, I believe you must have your own plan... If you have any needs, please let me know. I will definitely accompany you to the end!"

I didn't expect that farming could be so sentimental. Senior Beast was so moved when he heard it that he was about to hold the NPC's little hand.

However, before he could stretch out his hand, the [Legendary King of Endurance] at the side swallowed his saliva and interrupted at an inopportune moment.

"Can you ask for anything?"

The night elf was stunned for a moment, and before he could figure out what this meant, he watched the skeleton soldier next to him slap the guy on the forehead.

"It's so annoying. Can you please do something serious?"

Legendary Patience King: "That's right! If you want to die, don't drag us with you!"

Legendary King Nai Gan: "Fuck! Did I say it was astringent? Can't it be for science?"

Thank you for the meatless Houmi: "Bah! I don't understand you!"

"What are you talking about..."

The night elf was about to ask when he suddenly felt his vision spinning and his body felt heavy as if it was filled with lead.

Then, her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground unconscious.

Seeing the NPC suddenly fainted, the noisy skeleton soldiers around were startled and immediately ended the quarrel.

"What the hell! Is this carbon dioxide poisoning!?"

"No, not necessarily. It could be carbon monoxide..."

"Quick! Artificial respiration!"

"What the hell! Do you, a skeleton soldier, have lungs? Get the people out of here!"

Looking at a group of panic-stricken skeletons, it was [Beast Senior] who finally reacted first. He carried the suddenly fainted NPC on his shoulders and ran towards the outside of the cave.

If a night elf died, his plan to expand the beast farm into a bigger and stronger one would be ruined!

But then again, I didn't expect a bronze-level mage to faint from lack of oxygen...

This game is too real! (End of this chapter)