"Divide into two teams, the ones in the front move out of the shed according to the strings, and the people in the back take the sickle to cut the ginseng leaves, and then start to remove the ginseng."
Xu Shixiang is the captain of the sideline business, so of course he will be the one to lead the work. When he arrived at the head of Shendichi Chuan'er, he arranged how to do today's work.
Chi Chuan'er is also a special term for participating in the land, which is a large soil ridge five or six feet wide.
Due to the shape and terrain of the mountain, as well as the direction of the pond, the length of the pond is variable. The length of the pond can vary from forty to fifty feet, to twenty or thirty feet.
The ridge surface of the ridge is called the pool surface, and the ditch between the two ridges is called the horse trail.
The pool surface should be more than one foot higher than the horse trail to facilitate drainage.
Ginseng likes light but is afraid of light, likes water but is afraid of water, so each soil ridge must be covered with a ginseng shed.
Blocking most of the sunlight and rain can ensure the growth of ginseng and prevent it from rotting.
The current ginseng sheds all have single-sided slopes, and are slightly wider than the pool. Rainwater flows along the ginseng sheds and into the horse path.
Later, when the special plastic film for ginseng ground comes out, the ginseng shed will evolve into an arch shape, with water flowing on both sides, which is more convenient.
To start ginseng, you must first remove the ginseng shed. The ginseng shed is nailed up with wooden boards. The wooden boards can be reused and cannot be damaged at will.
In the past, if someone's family was poor and the person died without material, they would use mallets and boards to nail a coffin.
This Bang Chui Ban refers to the wooden board that is covered with ginseng.
Everyone came with tools, so a few people came forward with hammers, pliers and other tools.
First remove the grass or linoleum on top, then lift the wooden boards and stack them aside.
Behind, someone was holding a sickle, cutting off the ginseng stems about ten centimeters above the ground, and gathering them together from head to tail.
After cutting the ginseng leaves, change the sickle to a three-pronged blade and start digging the soil according to the remaining traces of the stems.
When planting ginseng, trenches are dug according to a certain row spacing. Therefore, as long as the ginseng is planted with three teeth according to the distance between each row, the ginseng in the ground will not be damaged.
The three-toothed rake is different from the rake. It has only three fingers-thick teeth. The teeth are about eight inches long. Each tooth is two or three inches apart and the lower end is pointed.
The three-toothed shovel dug into the ground and then lifted it up. The entire ginseng and soil were dug up.
Then he gently kicked and shook with his feet, and most of the soil was shaken off, and then moved further back and placed it behind him.
Follow the ginseng pickers behind and pick up the ginseng from the soil, shake off the remaining soil, and put it into a sack.
This job sounds easy, but in fact it is very tiring.
The three teeth are not light. I have been swinging them all day long, and my shoulders are sore and painful.
Moreover, the person holding the three-teeth stick must be precise every time, so as not to damage the ginseng in the soil, so the spirit must be concentrated, and it will be very tiring after a long time.
As for those who picked up the ginseng later, it was not easy. They had to kneel in the ground and sort out the ginseng from the soil bit by bit.
One was digging and the other was picking up, and the two of them formed a frame.
Cutting ginseng is a delicate job, and it shouldn't be too rough, so it doesn't work quickly.
A single frame can lift up to more than ten feet in a day. If it goes too fast, it will easily damage the ginseng, or drop the ginseng and bury it in the soil.
Xu Shiyan has been growing ginseng all his life and is very familiar with this.
In his hands, the three-teethed pick was absolutely handy. He could dig out two or three ginseng trees with each stroke without damaging the ginseng at all.
The person following behind to pick up ginseng was Zhao Jianshe, the second son of the Zhao family.
The two of them worked together very well, digging out all the ginseng in the soil and picking it up without leaving a single ginseng root behind.
"Third brother, this mallet this year is very good. How big do you think it is? I think the one just now can be as big as three or two."
Zhao Jianshe looked at the plump ginseng in his hand and was very happy.
"Well, the production should be pretty good this year.
In fact, our team still lacks the ability to handle mallets. If we handle them well, a weight of twenty-five or six kilograms per foot will look like a joke."
Xu Shiyan twirled his three-toothed spoon and chatted with Zhao Jianshe while working.
"Ah? Twenty-five or six pounds? You can't, right?
Our team's ginseng production last year was pretty good, but in the end, it was only seventeen pounds per foot.
It’s more than twenty kilograms, so why don’t we all go up in twos and threes?”
Zhao Jianshe was young and had never heard that one foot of ginseng could increase weight by more than twenty kilograms, so his eyes widened.
Xu Shiyan smiled, "Did you know that sticks can actually be used for fertilizer?
Use bean cakes to fertilize in the summer and use them as base fertilizer when planting Bangchui in autumn. The yield of Bangchui can be increased a lot, and the goods can also be weighed." Xu Shiyan thought of his experience of growing ginseng in his previous life.
"When planting Bangchui, use base fertilizer. No top dressing is needed the year it is newly planted. In the summer when it freezes, use bean cake water to top it off.
In the third year of production, one foot can increase production by at least six or seven pounds."
Ginseng is planted in late autumn every year. The next year is called new planting, the second year is called freezing, and the third year is called production.
Ginseng does not like ordinary manure. If fertilizers such as pig manure and chicken manure are applied to the ginseng field, it will be burned directly.
The only fertilizers that can be applied to ginseng fields are bean cake and deer dung. Deer dung is difficult to obtain in large quantities, so there may be a way to use bean cake.
Crush the bean cake and add water to ferment it. Whether it is fermented bean cake powder or bean cake water, it can be used to fertilize ginseng to increase production and income.
Zhao Jianshe was dumbfounded. He had never heard that ginseng could be fertilized before. He had always planted it in the ground and let it grow on its own.
"Third brother, is it true? Then if our team also topdresses the sticks, wouldn't the output be higher?"
"You think so, right? Where can we get so many bean cakes?" Xu Shiyan shook his head.
In this day and age, most people still don't have enough to eat. The soybeans in the team are not even sure if they are enough for the mission. How can there be bean cakes to top up?
When Zhao Jianshe heard this, his face was full of frustration, "Then you said it in vain?"
I thought there was really a way to increase the output of sticks, but all the fussing for a long time was in vain.
"There is a way, but the key is that your dad doesn't know whether to listen or not." Xu Shiyan smiled and dug out a few ginseng trees and gave them away.
"Have you seen the ginseng fields that have been planted this year? It's about 500 feet, so there are about ten acres of land, right?
Next spring, all soybeans will be planted. This is not cultivated land and is under the control of our village. By then, won’t the bean cakes be used for top dressing?”
As long as you are willing to use your brain, there will always be a way. It depends on whether Zhao Dahai dares or not.
The growth conditions of ginseng are harsh, and old forest land must be used. The trees must be cut down and then cultivated with soil. It can be said that the forest is very destructive.
However, for economic development, ginseng has to be planted, so the current method is to cut down the forest to plant ginseng, and then return the ginseng to the forest.
The land where ginseng has been planted is exhausted. In the second year after the ginseng is planted, saplings need to be planted in the ground. After a few years, saplings will grow into a forest.
The newly planted saplings are very small and do not actually affect the growth of the farmer. You can make a fuss about it.
In Xu Shiyan's previous life, this was done in many places.
The ginseng soil after the ginseng is harvested is contracted out and a crop of soybeans or potatoes is planted.
The soil where ginseng has been planted has greatly reduced its fertility and cannot be used to grow other crops, but soybeans or potatoes grow particularly well.
Potatoes, in particular, grow much larger than in vegetable gardens, and the yield is particularly high.