Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Chapter 264 The Coldness and Warmth of Human Relationships, Planting Fruit Tree Nursery

The news of Li Ju'an's three-story self-built house spread throughout the nearby villages. The old man and the second old man, riding in their oxcarts to the fields, leaned on their canes and looked up at the beautiful little high-rise, their envy genuine. The second old man asked the old man, "How much did it cost to build such a beautiful house? Only someone with ten thousand yuan could afford to build one."

The old man thought for a moment, made a gesture, and said seriously, "3000, 3000 yuan is enough to get it."

Uncle Er stood there with his hands in his pockets, his eyes wide with disbelief. Three thousand yuan to build one? He just couldn't believe it. The two brothers had been bickering since childhood, always at odds. Uncle Er said, "Three thousand yuan, brother, you build me one too!"

The old man glared at him and said, "Just you wait, they're going to build houses over that irrigated land area soon. I'll show you what a terrazzo floor looks like, all smooth."

The two old men exchanged sarcastic remarks for a while. Before leaving, the second old man looked at the dry land and said, "What's the use of planting so many trees? It's still dry land. What can you grow on dry land? At most, you can only plant trees. In the end, we might as well plant some grains and crops, at least we can have enough to eat."

The two old men didn't find Li Ju'an, but they did find a laborer in the dry field. The laborer said he was the nephew of a carpenter under Zhang Gong, about sixteen or seventeen years old, with big eyes, dark skin, and a very clever look.

The second uncle asked him, "Kid, what are you doing here?"

The laborer, Zhang Wei, said, "Brother Li hired me to plant trees. These saplings need to be planted today, and then we'll need to irrigate them."

The old man and his second uncle looked around and saw that it was an apple orchard. The ground was covered with apple saplings.

The Xinganling region has a wide variety of fruit trees suitable for planting, including apple, pear, peach, persimmon, grape, cherry, jujube, and apricot trees. However, many of these trees require high soil moisture levels.

For this dry land, Li Ju'an contacted Song Desheng, a fruit seedling manufacturer, and purchased seedlings. Before purchasing the seedlings, he knew that soil pH was very important. If the pH was unsuitable, the trees would not grow well. This land had deep, fertile, and loose soil, with a depth of 60-100 centimeters, suitable for planting fruit trees such as apples and pears.

If you're growing blueberries, you need acidic soil with a pH of 4.0-5.8. If you want to grow pomegranates, the pH range is much wider, from 4.5 to 8.2. He found two young laborers, both under 20, to help plant the seedlings. They improved the soil structure by adding organic materials such as well-rotted farmyard manure and straw.

The second uncle looked up and glanced around. In the distance, he could indeed see Li Ju'an and another worker planting fruit trees.

Li Ju'an and his worker first dug planting holes, the size and depth of which depended on the size of the seedling's root system. He used a shovel to dig the holes, making them 60-80 centimeters deep and 80-100 centimeters in diameter. Then he and his worker placed the seedlings into the planting holes, ensuring that the roots could spread out, and then filled the holes with soil and gently compacted it.

Li Ju'an said to the worker, "Does your aunt's family still have urea? Bring some tomorrow, nitrogen fertilizer will also be fine. Let's go to the fertilizer factory and ask."

Apply nitrogen fertilizer during the apple tree's budding stage and phosphorus and potassium fertilizer in the middle and later stages, fertilizing regularly every 3 months. Pruning overly dense branches ensures ventilation and light penetration, and pollination after flowering is also important to improve fruit set.

The young worker's aunt's family are fruit tree growers, so they have a lot of experience in this area. The young worker grinned and said, "Okay, Brother Li, no problem. But there aren't many bees here. It would be great if these fruit trees were in the production brigade's area."

Li Ju'an asked him why it had to be a production brigade. After the production brigade distributed land to individual households, the members all went home to farm.

The young worker said, "There's an old apiary in the production brigade area. Even though not many people are managing it anymore, there's no one in the duty room, and the apiary has been almost completely destroyed, there are still a lot of bees."

Li Ju'an's eyes lit up. Last year, he harvested linden honey from the mountains, which brought him a considerable sum. If he could add a small beekeeping operation to his orchard, it could pollinate his fruit trees and increase fruit set. The extra honey could also be sold to merchants from the south, generating additional income.

Who would complain about low income? Naturally, everyone wants to increase profits. Even a small profit is still profit.

When the old man and the second old man came over, they happened to hear Li Ju'an discussing with two small business owners how to run an apple tree nursery.

"To divert water, we need to dig ditches, provide drainage, replace support poles, prevent trees from falling over, and control pests and diseases."

In operating a fruit tree nursery, besides irrigation, a good drainage system is also crucial. An orchard should have a proper drainage system to prevent waterlogging, which can lead to root hypoxia and root rot. Therefore, Li Ju'an decided to use open ditch drainage, which is more time-saving and labor-saving than underground pipe drainage.

Zhang Wei has a family member who works at a pesticide factory, and appropriate pesticides can be used to control pests and diseases. Newly planted seedlings also need to be managed according to the principle of "promoting growth early and controlling later." Irrigation and fertilization should be carried out in a timely manner based on the growth status of the fruit trees and the soil moisture.

The two old men had originally planned to come and see how Li Ju'an was building houses. They didn't believe that Li Ju'an could possibly turn this barren land, which nobody wanted, into anything special. But when they saw the beautiful little high-rise building and the rows of newly planted apple trees, their eyes widened in astonishment.

The Greater Khingan Mountains are well-suited for apple trees, as they can withstand frosts as low as -40°C, making them suitable for planting in most parts of northern China. Apples are an important economic crop.

Uncle Er felt a pang of jealousy and said, "Li Ju'an is busy, isn't he?"

When Li Ju'an saw the two old men arrive, he wiped his face with the towel wrapped around his neck, ran over and called out with a smile, "Uncle, Second Uncle, please come in and sit down. Mom has made some tea inside."

The two old men looked at him and found that the boy had indeed changed in the past few months. Although his appearance had not changed much, he exuded a lot of energy and looked much more capable.

The two men nodded and followed Li Ju'an into the small building. Upon entering, the polished floor made the two old men feel uncomfortable. Their feet were muddy, and the clean floor made them hesitate to step on it.

Mother Song Lanhua brewed some flower tea and called Li Xiao to quickly bring a bag of peanuts, inviting the eldest and second eldest uncles to sit down.

The second uncle looked at the newly made wooden chair, marveling at its craftsmanship. He put his hands in his pockets and said, "This carpentry is quite skillful. It must have cost a lot of money. There's a long line of people outside Old Zhang's carpentry shop. Looking down that street, it's all people from the countryside who come to him to make wooden cabinets and chairs."

Li Ju'an said, "It didn't cost any money; the youngest son of the Lin family helped me with the call."

The old man didn't believe that the wooden chair and floor lamp were made so cleverly and in such a stylish way. He asked, "How could it not have cost you any money? If it didn't cost you any money, why would they make it for you?"

While knitting a sweater, Song Lanhua, the mother, said with a smile, "We're all neighbors. I like the Lin family's child very much. He loves to eat fish, so it's only right that I teach him how to steam fish pieces. After eating steamed fish pieces, the child became very diligent and liked to do some woodworking and bring it over. He said it was to practice his skills, but I saw that he did it very meticulously."

The old man's expression was priceless. Having lived in the city for so long, he hadn't felt the warmth of human kindness in the countryside for a long time; everything was measured in money. Thinking about it, he realized what was going on and nodded repeatedly, saying, "That Lin family boy is a good one."