Dashan Orchard 1988

Chapter 70 Cherry Tree and Brother-Sister Relationship
Li Muyang persuaded his sister hard and asked her to help deliver cigarettes.

He deliberately let his sister go because he had his own reasons.

The day after his sister arrived, he went to see his second brother and his eldest brother. Both of them blamed his sister for coming to her parents' house and just staying at Li Muyang's house instead of visiting them.

This is indeed a bit unreasonable.

Although Li Xiangqin later reluctantly went around, it was just a formality.

The unhappy mood was not diluted.

The main reason is that Li Xiangqin really doesn't like her second brother and her sister-in-law.

The reason why Li Muyang had no objection to the two of them was because he had the foresight after rebirth.

But Li Xiangqin is a person of this era. She cannot see the overall situation and does not know the complex human nature of her sister-in-law and second brother.

It's just a matter of self-feeling.

Therefore, he consciously wanted to make the relationship between his sister and his two brothers and sister-in-law more harmonious. After being together for a long time, he can see that everyone has advantages and disadvantages.

On the one hand, they make up for the brother-sister relationship.

On the other hand, it also improves Li Xiangqin's ability to identify people. Seeing how she was in her previous life, even if she gets married again, she will still be bullied.

After his sister left, Li Muyang continued his work.

After the hole was dug, he scooped two more buckets of water from the jar, carried it over and poured it into the hole.

Then lightly sprinkle a thin layer of soil on top, wait for the water to seep in slightly, and then put the saplings in.

It cannot be soaked directly in water as the roots will rot easily.

To allow water to slowly penetrate into the root system, root vitality can be maintained for a long time.

Then slowly fill in the soil so that the leaves and treetops of the saplings are not covered with soil.

Leaving it like this can basically guarantee that the saplings will be stored for more than half a month. Within half a month, he must plant all the trees.

If it grows any longer, the remaining nutrients in the sapling will be difficult to sustain. Even if it barely survives, it will grow extremely slowly and be considered a useless sapling.

"woooooooo~"

After finishing burying the saplings, Li Muyang looked at the sky. The sun moved from the center to the west. It should have reached around four o'clock.

He was going to go in for a drink of cold water, and then come out and start digging holes to plant other fruit trees.

Li Xiangqin's "little happiness" was placed upside down in a frame, whining at him non-stop through the gap in the basket, half of his little tail swaying around, looking very happy.

In just half a day, the puppy already liked him very much.

He knelt down and played with the puppy for a few minutes, then went back to work.

Apples, bananas, pears, cherries and grapes all look like fruits, and the plants are not very different.

But in fact, the requirements for planting are different and the difficulty is also different.

In terms of difficulty in planting and survival, cherry trees are slightly more complicated, while apple trees are relatively the easiest.

Li Muyang decided to start with the most difficult ones first.

The harder the tree, the more difficult it is to survive. The longer it is left, the survival rate will decrease.

So give it priority.

So, he set his sights on two cherry trees.

After tearing off the plastic paper outside the cherry tree, Li Muyang was stunned, and then smiled bitterly.

It turns out that this cherry tree is actually a sapling with a "stem and root system".

It is the most difficult of all difficulties.

Cherry trees reproduce by using their root systems, but specifically, their root systems are divided into two categories.One type is called "real root system".

There is also a category called "stem root system".

The so-called solid root system refers to large cherry trees that are propagated and then grafted with solid rootstocks. The roots are generated from the seeds of the rootstock.

The so-called rootstock is the basic tree used for grafting cherry branches.

Cherry trees generally do not choose to propagate saplings directly from seeds, but adopt grafting methods to propagate and expand.

It’s not that you can’t propagate cherry trees from seeds.

But because this breeding method has two disadvantages.

First, when propagating from seeds, the survival rate is very low. It often takes a lot of effort to cultivate for a season, but there are not many surviving saplings in the second year.

Secondly, even if the saplings do grow, the growth cycle is very long. It takes at least five or six years from breaking the ground to sprouting and actually blooming and bearing fruit.

It's okay if you just eat it yourself, but if you are a fruit farmer who grows cherries as a cash crop, you really can't wait for such a long period.

By propagating by grafting, it can bloom and bear fruit in two to three years, and obtain stable cherry fruits.

Similarly, cherry saplings generally sold are obtained through grafting.

So, it is also grafted, what is the difference between the two root systems?

To put it simply, it means that the rootstock used for grafting cherry branches grows directly from the ground and is called a solid root system. Cherry trees with rootstocks are sold with the main root system of the native rootstock.

Such saplings have well-developed taproots, deep distribution, strong vitality, strong adaptability to the soil environment, and are easy to survive.

As for the "stem root system", the rootstock used for grafting is pressed into the ground with branches and grows into a rootstock that can be grafted.

Because this kind of root system is born with no taproot, only countless fine roots growing from branches. When planted into the ground, the root system cannot be inserted too deep into the soil smoothly and cannot absorb deep water and nutrients.

It is conceivable that the survival rate is far lower than that of real roots.

But it must be said that the root system of the stem is not useless.

Because it is flexible and convenient to use as a rootstock for grafting, grafting can be promoted on a large scale, and the cost of grafting will be much lower.

Otherwise, a cherry sapling as tall as a person like this cannot be bought for just a few cents, and the price must be at least five times higher.

Li Muyang didn't pay attention at the time, but now he discovered that this thing was a stem root system. It was hard to say anything, so he could only find a way to plant it alive.

According to the habits of the cherry tree, it prefers dryness and has poor salt-alkali tolerance, so Li Muyang looked around and prepared to plant it on the back of the house.

There is a small dirt bag, which is higher than the surrounding terrain. It is generally difficult to save water. It is a quite suitable place for cherry trees to grow.

He carried the round-headed shovel and the cherry sapling, and moved the position to a promising place.

Because it is a stem-derived root system and has no taproot, it does not require a deep pit. It only needs to be dug half a meter deep.

After digging, he found that the moisture in the soil was okay, so he poured less water into it.

Too much water is not conducive to the survival of the tree, and too little water may cause it to dry out.

This degree needs to be determined based on soil moisture, soil properties, and the size of the saplings. It depends on experience.

After digging two holes in a row, he ran into the room again, dug some plant ash from the kang tube, poured it into the holes, and then planted the two saplings in sequence, covering them lightly with soil to maintain a certain degree of looseness.

Then cover the pit with a layer of plastic film to temporarily protect the tree pit with the film to facilitate the preservation of water.

Then, even if they are done, whether they can survive depends on their tenacity.

In theory, saplings should also be sterilized with pesticides before planting, otherwise the trees may become diseased.

Li Muyang didn't want to do this, so he simply used plant ash instead.

Plant ash can kill insects and bacteria, sometimes many times more effectively than pesticides.

(End of this chapter)