Zhu Gaoding looked confused, while Su Wu stood aside and thought about it. He had indeed never encountered such a situation, and potatoes were a new crop. He didn't know whether to plant more seedlings or turn the original potato pieces into
bigger.
Moreover, this was in front of the emperor, so he had to be careful when speaking, so Su Wu glanced at Zhu Gaoyan and silently retreated behind him.
When the old farmer saw that Zhu Gaotian was still doubting what he said, he became anxious!
"Sir, you are an official and we are farmers. Old cultivator, I have been farming my whole life. Can you not be clear about these things?"
The old man was right here, and he explained to Zhu Gaoyan in a clear-cut manner.
"Sir, if you think about the original planting method, one seedling requires such large potato pieces, and there is not much vaccine that can be cultivated before the spring of next year. But now, with this method, we can even cultivate it before the spring of next year.
It can also double or triple the number of these seedlings!”
"Sir, if we follow this method, we may get ten times the number of seedlings. If we plant ten times the number of seedlings in ten times the land, won't we be able to produce several times the number of potatoes?"
Su Wu on the side listened and nodded, as if this was the truth, just like a grain of wheat and ten grains of wheat.
Although I don’t know exactly, it seems to be true!
Then, when the old man saw Zhu Gaoyan still didn't believe it, he continued.
"Your Majesty, look at the wheat and rice in that field. Even if they plant wheat with very small grains and ears, the grains will be fuller than yours in one acre if they are planted on ten acres!"
Zhu Gaotian slapped his forehead. It turned out that he had forgotten to tell them about this.
The crops grown in the Ming Dynasty are basically grown from seeds. However, potatoes and sweet potatoes are propagated by stems. The root system of the seedlings grown from cuttings develops very late, and there is no time for them to grow into large enough products.
Similarly, if the diameter of the planting is relatively small, sufficient crops will not be obtained.
"I'm confused, how can this potato be compared with ordinary crops!"
After hearing what the old man said, Zhu Gaoying's heart sank. Could it be that other greenhouses are like this? It's over!
I originally thought that I would be able to eat fresh potatoes next year, but now, what I will produce next year are just some small potato eggs, and these potatoes are even smaller than your thumb!
"Why are you confused? You are an adult and you don't understand the old man's wisdom!"
The old man became even more anxious and even started to slap his thigh.
"My lord, if you don't understand, don't give directions blindly. This is the instruction of His Majesty the Emperor himself. If one day, His Majesty comes to inspect in person, he will definitely be happy to death when he sees so many seedlings. He will even reward me with a lot of seedlings."
Treasures of gold and silver!”
Are you confused?
And if I reward you with any gold and silver treasures, I can't wait to chop you into pieces right now and bury you in the soil to see if a few old fools like you can grow up.
“Where are the first batch of potatoes to be planted?”
"It's in the big shed at the far corner!"
Upon hearing the answer, Zhu Gaoxi immediately walked out of Dafang and looked at the greenhouse in the corner, which was the darkest in color and the roughest and turbid in texture!
How could it be planted there?
Zhu Gaoyuan's eyes widened in anger, and he turned to look at the old man. The murderous aura in Zhu Gaoyuan's body was experienced by thousands of troops and countless corpses on the battlefield. He had never seen such an aura before. He was immediately startled.
My heart almost stopped with fear.
"Then...then where else can we live? Anyway, which ones have big roots and enough nutrients, let them finish growing the seedlings first!"
Completely finished!
Zhu Gaotian originally had a glimmer of hope in his heart, but now even the first batch of seedlings has been destroyed.
"What's the use of those first batches? They've been soaked by the sea water, are wilted, and are broken in some places. It's better to plant a new batch..."
At this time, the old man was still whispering in Zhu Gaoying's ear, but Zhu Gaoying was still in the mood to care about him, so he took Su Wu and walked quickly to the shabbiest greenhouse.
Zhu Gaoying's pace was very fast, and Su Wu started running behind him.
"Your Majesty, please slow down and be careful where you fall!"
Zhu Gaoying seemed not to have heard anything. He opened the greenhouse and saw the broken branches and leaves inside. The last glimmer of hope in his heart was shattered.
"Haha, I didn't even think of this happening!"
Originally, Zhu Gaoying thought that the potatoes that had been soaked in sea water could still germinate, but now it seems that only a small part of them have sprouted, and the ones in other sheds were all transplanted from here.
What do you mean this is?
Originally, these potatoes were barely able to germinate, but you took off most of the stems and leaves. How long can the remaining ones survive?
I guess there aren't any potatoes growing on these roots.
It's over. It seems that this year's work will be in vain. If we can develop chemical fertilizers and pesticides next year, maybe we can save the yield of these potatoes.
Otherwise, it may take at least three years of cultivation to get potatoes of sufficient size, except for some particles!
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?"
Su Wu could naturally see that Zhu Gaoying was very angry now, and he was angry as never before!
"Su Wu, arrest all the assistants and those responsible for training..."
Zhu Gaoying raised his hand, wanting to order these people to have a longer memory, but after thinking about it, it seemed that none of these people had done anything wrong, and they were all based on the experience they had summarized previously.
Use the same method of growing food crops to grow potatoes.
"That's all, I can't blame them for this matter, that's all..."
Zhu Gaotian finally put down his hand and walked out of the greenhouse in a daze.
"This is my fault. It's all my fault that I didn't warn them in advance..."
Su Wu followed Zhu Gaoyan. Judging from His Majesty's current situation, I'm afraid there is a big problem with these potatoes.
It may even affect whether potatoes can be harvested in the future!
Thinking of this, Su Wu couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in his heart. If this is the case, then next year's expected grain output will be reduced by at least one-third if the sweet potato crop alone is relied on!
This is undoubtedly a huge blow to the current Ming Dynasty.
"Su, please have these people driven away. Just send someone to water these potato seedlings and turn over the soil!"
"After that, dig these potatoes out of the soil. When planting next year, don't cut them into pieces. Plant them whole. Repeat this for two to three years, and you should be able to recover!"