“Be grateful that we feed you”
A Chinese worker in one of the greenhouses where vegetables are grown. Photo: Alexander Kondratyuk/TASS
A Chinese vegetable grower told Russian Planet how greenhouse vegetables are grown near Krasnoyarsk
To interview one of the Chinese vegetable growers working in greenhouses in the Berezovsky district Krasnoyarsk Territory, the RP correspondent had to work hard. Find a friend who has lived in China for several years and knows Chinese well. Stock up on expensive cigarettes. Disguise the recorder. Arrive at a greenhouse town and buy a decent batch of tomatoes and cucumbers in a makeshift shop. Only after this did one of the workers, a former construction worker from Qinghai province, agree to step aside to smoke and talk. And after talking, he began to answer questions.
- Tell me, why does your cabbage ripen in a month and a half, and in the dachas next door in no less than three?
Because Russians grow completely different vegetables. We never use local seeds, we import everything from China. They are much better than yours. Our agronomists are doing very serious work. They create varieties so that vegetables produce big harvest and grew quickly. You have a lot of land, you can plant a lot of cabbage and wait a long time for it to grow. We have little land, but many people. Therefore, in China they are trying to develop varieties that ripen in weeks, so that new vegetables can be planted in the vacant space.
Mr. Jan (that’s what RP’s interlocutor calls the owner of the greenhouses where he works. - RP) said that when he first started working in Russia, he tried to plant Russian seeds, thinking that they were better suited to your climate. But these vegetables grew poorly, they were constantly sick, and the harvest was very small. After that, he switched to Chinese, and everything worked out.
Now the Russians have begun to understand how good our seeds are. The man from whom Mr. Dzhan buys the seeds says that now many Russians come to him and ask him to sell them. He's selling because they'll have to buy them again next year anyway. All our vegetables are hybrid. If you collect seeds from ripe cucumbers or tomatoes yourself, they still won’t produce good offspring. The harvest will be much smaller. Therefore, it is better to buy expensive seeds bred and collected by Chinese agronomists and not to save.
- Please advise how to care for vegetables so that they grow faster and produce a large harvest?
First, you need to fertilize the soil very well so that there is enough for the seeds. As soon as the sprouts appear, you need to monitor them all the time: treat them against diseases, pests, and destroy weeds. Be sure to feed the plants well to keep them strong. You rich land, fertilizers can be given less than in China, but they are still needed. Once a week we spray the sprouts with fertilizer, which we also import from China. It was created by our agronomists specifically for industrial cultivation in greenhouses in cold climates. As soon as you start using it, everything grows quickly and well. We also add substances that plants need to the soil - they help increase the yield.
- What kind of substances are these? What do they contain?
I do not know exactly. Let's look at the packaging ( brings a small bag with some grains inside). This is top dressing for tomatoes. Here's how to use it. You need to sprinkle a few peas under each bush once a week. The composition is written here: superphosphate, urea, and some other unfamiliar names. I do not know them. But I know that it is very good feeding, you start pouring it in, and the result is immediately visible. Chinese agronomists are the best in the world, they know everything about vegetables, they have studied everything. We have the most advanced science, new discoveries are made every day.
We also use Russian fertilizers because they are cheaper, but they do not give the same result. You definitely need to buy our Chinese fertilizers and give them to your vegetables.
- What Russian fertilizers do you use?
- This ammonium nitrate, concentrated nitrogen fertilizer. How do you use it?
Sprinkle it on the ground and then water it until it is absorbed.
Saltpeter, packaged in bags. Photo: Nikolay Titov/Fotoimedia/TASS
- How often?
Once a week. One bag is enough for one greenhouse.
- Do you fertilize all your vegetables this way?
All. What is it?
Ammonium nitrate should absolutely not be used to feed cucumbers: they will contain a lot of nitrates, they will become hazardous to health...
As Mr. Jan tells us, that’s what we do. If this is a bad fertilizer, why are you releasing it? It wasn’t made in China, but in Russia, right? We are offended when they say that we use harmful fertilizers. It is not true. Maybe your Russian fertilizers are bad, but ours, Chinese ones, are all good.
Tell me, if you don’t like the vegetables we grow, why do you buy them? Why are you taking it out in truckloads? If you don’t like it, eat the ones you grew yourself. If our tomatoes and cucumbers are dangerous to health, then why do you pass them off as your own - Russians? My friend and I once went to the market specifically to see what vegetables they sold there. All of ours are there, but we recognize them - we raised them ourselves. Only the price is ten times higher. And in the stores it’s the same - all the cucumbers and tomatoes are ours. Mr. Dzhan says that Russian traders then claim that they did not buy the vegetables from us, but that they grew them themselves or brought them from Europe. And the price is raised to the skies. And during the season they buy from us for ridiculous money. We recently sold a whole truckload of tomatoes for only 5 rubles per kilogram, just to cover the cost of the boxes. And your merchants then ask for them 10 times more, I saw it myself.
Some traders specifically ask us to grow huge tomatoes. They then pass them off as your most famous tomatoes from the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory... I forgot what they are called...
- Minusinsk?
Exactly! They say they are considered the most delicious here. If our tomatoes were bad, they could not be passed off as the best. And the merchants give it out, and no one complains, everyone likes it.
- Do you like the vegetables you grow?
Of course, they are not as tasty as in China. How else? There is little sun here, little warmth. We have to build greenhouses and light stoves so that the plants don’t freeze. Feed them with fertilizers so that they have time to grow and produce a harvest. And for vegetables to gain flavor, they must ripen for a long time, under the sun. Therefore, we grow all our vegetables in a separate greenhouse. We don’t feed them anything so as not to rush them. It tastes better this way. And we plant other varieties for ourselves - those that we are used to at home. They yield less, but we like them better.
- Why not grow all vegetables in all greenhouses without fertilizing and fertilizers?
It will take a very long time and it will be unprofitable. If you wait for vegetables to ripen without using fertilizers created specifically for industrial growing, they will turn out to be very expensive. Then they will cost not 5, but 50 rubles per kilogram. And to work in Russia, the business must be very profitable. After all, here you not only have to pay for land and work, but also give a lot of money to officials. Mr. Jan said that he pays so that we are not caught and sent back to our homeland, so that we are not accused of growing bad vegetables, so that our greenhouses are not bulldozed - this has already been done. He pays all the time and is still afraid all the time. In Russia, the Chinese are treated very poorly; they create problems all the time.
A Chinese worker in one of the greenhouses where vegetables are grown. Photo: Alexander Kondratyuk/TASS
- What about the locals? Don't create problems?
We rarely communicate with them, only when we suddenly need to buy something urgently. They don’t like us either, and very often behave impolitely. Many are offended that we occupied their land. But who is to blame for this? They themselves. Have you been to China - have you seen how much land we have lying idle? Not at all. Everything is busy, everything is being processed, there is not a free meter. Nobody will take our land, because it is all used. And in Russia, huge fields are empty. If you don't need them, why not give them to those who want and know how to work? Who is to blame that the Russians don’t want to work, but we do? That they don’t know how to grow vegetables well, but we can? It would be better if they came and asked us to teach what and how to do, and not be angry with us. We could teach a lot and share knowledge.
- What kind, for example?
Yes, at least what kind of film for greenhouses is needed to grow three or four crops per season in a cold climate. Our scientists have created very good material, it doesn't tear, it just stretches. Lets in a lot of light: even when it’s twilight, it’s as bright inside as during the day. Keeps warm well. In Russia they don’t know how to make such film; they have to import it from China. If the Russians learned to produce it, it would be beneficial for everyone. But your officials, instead of sending capable people to learn from Chinese experience, prefer to say that our film is harmful. You have to bury it in the ground when the working season ends so that no one notices anything, otherwise they will find it and say that it is dangerous because they do not understand what it is made of.
Honestly, I think that they make up so many bad things about us because they don’t understand how we get such good harvest. That’s why they come up with the idea that we use harmful fertilizers. But our secret is extremely simple - you need to work hard. Get up early in the morning and work until sunset, don’t straighten your back all day. We water the soil with our sweat. Russians don’t know how to work that much and don’t want to. They either have lunch or... what do you mean by idleness? I remembered: a smoke break. They also drink a lot. That's why they invent all kinds of nonsense about us. This makes it easier to explain why ours is growing and theirs is not. We harvest 100 kg of vegetables from one meter per season, and they collect 10. So judge for yourself who can work and who can’t. We have only one worker working on one greenhouse, but at least ten Russian workers would be needed.
The ruble will become even cheaper, it will become completely unprofitable to do business in Russia, and we will leave. Probably, only after this our work will be appreciated, when there is no one to grow vegetables and the shops are empty. Russians cannot feed themselves. So it’s better to say thank you that we’re feeding you for now.
- If it’s not a secret, how much do you earn per month now?
Very little. I come to Russia to work for the third year in a row. The first time we received a decent amount, enough to renovate the house. The second time I earned less, but still twice as much as I earned in China. I don’t even know how many will be released this year. The ruble is getting cheaper all the time. I'm afraid I'll be left with almost nothing. If so, then I won’t come next year. Of course, if I can find a job at home, otherwise I may have no choice and will have to return here.
You understand that the Chinese do not go to work in Russia because they have a good life? Life is very difficult for us here. You work 16 hours a day, and there’s not even a place to wash properly. Mr. Can says he would like to build for visiting workers good house with all the amenities, but there is no point. It is unknown when your authorities will want to bulldoze everything and drive us off the ground. We have to huddle in temporary shelters. Every year they are forced to build greenhouses in a new location and start everything over again.
I had a chance to visit the place where the Chinese greenhouses stood last year. There's still nothing growing there—grass is barely growing through. Why do you think?
Because we cleared the land very well of all weeds, we weren’t lazy. The compounds that our scientists create help get rid of all harmful plants Once and for all. But don't worry: useful plants they don't work. This is how they are specially created. If you start growing, for example, tomatoes on the ground from under our greenhouses, they will grow beautifully and produce excellent harvest. And there will be nothing harmful in them. Many locals accuse us of ruining their land. But this is not so, we are only improving it. There is no need to be afraid of what you do not understand.
Aftertaste
A smiling and talkative worker gladly sold glossy, shiny tomatoes and small, elastic, dark green cucumbers with pimples to the RP correspondent. To verify his words that all vegetables grown in Chinese greenhouses are absolutely safe for health, we submitted them for analysis to an independent laboratory, Biochemical Research Center LLC.
In addition, benzopyrene was found in cucumbers, which should not be there at all. This first class carcinogen destroys bones and liver and causes malignant tumors. Arsenic and fluorine were found in tomatoes - in quantities twice the maximum permissible concentration. These toxic substances destroy human protein.
Unknowns were also found chemical substances, the composition of which could not be determined in the laboratory. What impact can they have on human body, probably only the mysterious Chinese “agronomists” know.
It was on this day that a revered man in China, who set a personal example of tree planting, died - Sun Yat-sen, and it is in his honor that young trees are now planted annually in the Celestial Empire. Today Arbor Day has the status of a national holiday (it acquired it 61 years after the death of the Chinese politician Yat-sen)…
It was at Yatsen’s initiative that the “Resolution on Conducting a National Voluntary Tree Planting Campaign” appeared in China, according to which every person who signed the document, aged 11 to 60 years, must plant 1-3 trees annually. You will be surprised - but there are a lot of subscribers in China! Signatures here are put voluntarily and the majority of the population of the country supports and has always supported the resolution.
Tree planting is very important for China great importance- with their help the country is fighting one of the main enemies surrounding big cities countries - with sand. Blowing from northern deserts and degraded arid lands, it blankets roads, clogs railroad tracks and dries out grasslands. According to Greenpeace, today in China almost 98% of all forests in China suffer from sand! This was also facilitated by long-term deforestation, which accelerated soil degradation. And here is the result: today more than a quarter of the country’s territory is covered with sand. Raises another one against a new enemy Great Wall, this time green. The Celestial Empire is implementing the "Three Northern Shelters", which is the world's largest tree planting project. The "Resolution to Conduct a National Voluntary Tree Planting Campaign" became part of it - since 1978, more than 66 billion trees have been planted by Chinese citizens. By the end of the project, which is planned for 2050, green wall should stretch 4,500 km (2,800 miles) along the edges of China's northern deserts, and the planting area would cover 405 million hectares and increase the world's forest cover by more than a tenth.
In the process of implementing the project, the Chinese have already encountered a number of problems: firstly, only 15% of the trees planted in the arid lands of China since 1949 have taken root. These are the data voiced by Cao Shixiong from Beijing Forestry University. Many trees today have already died “of old age” - not everyone knows that those trees that have grown artificially, have a lifespan of about four decades. In addition, planted trees suffer from weakened immunity - they are susceptible to diseases and suffer from insects: for example, in Ningxia province in northwestern China, pests destroyed 1 billion poplars in 2000 - that is, as many trees as were planted here over two decades of work . In dry areas, trees can even worsen desertification by depleting groundwater and the destruction of grasses that bind the soil.
Most critics of the Three Northern Shelters project are confident that it can only be successful if the government “works” with the right types trees. In some areas the government has now begun to restore native species: e.g. we're talking about about sea buckthorn - in 1980 it was considered a shrub and destroyed like the plague, but today it is planted in dry areas. Many innovative and investment projects in China are associated with botany - for example, in 2012, the World Bank provided China with $80 million to grow a mixture of native shrubs to stabilize the sand dunes in Ningxia over five years.
But the country's successes on the global sand control front are hardly universal today: in Minkin in the northwest, where two huge deserts are slowly growing, the cost of planting trees has risen more than tenfold since the 1980s, and trees here are dying at a very high rate. fast! Since 2003, more than 450,000 people have been relocated by Chinese authorities specifically from an area called Inner Mongolia to prevent further use of the land... Only common sense and a thoughtful approach to tree planting can help the Chinese keep away such an enemy as sand.
Jia Haixa and Jia Wenqi are two of the hardest working people in the world. One of them is blind from birth, and the other has both arms amputated. However, despite this and their advanced age, in 12 years they planted more than 10,000 trees together.
We tell the story of two ordinary men who once again proved that nothing is impossible in the world.
1. Messrs. Haixa and Wenqi met more than 10 years ago when they were both looking for work. Haixa remembers the moment when his son came home one day and said, “Father, I saw another boy peeling an orange. It smelled so good that I thought I even tasted it!” Then Jia realized that he could no longer just sit there and had to find money. (sayfala)
2. Two friends took on a big task - protecting the village from flooding. They rented a plot of land along the river for free and began planting trees there. (yzdsb)
4. Every day at 7 am they leave home, armed with a hammer and an iron rod. My friends don’t have money for seedlings, so for planting they collect cuttings by hand, which, given their capabilities, is not so easy. (yzdsb)
6. While Haixa collects pegs, Wenqi takes care of watering. “I am his hands,” says Haixa, “he is my eyes. We are good partners." (
Today, no one will be surprised by the Chinese speech in villages with rich lands. Hardworking Chinese grow thousands of tons of vegetables, which then go to stores and markets in our country. Outwardly they are attractive, but the amount of mineral fertilizers and pesticides used by the Chinese, sometimes unknown in our country, leads to the darkest thoughts.
When did he tell me all the details? experienced agronomist how the Chinese achieve big harvests garlic, I decided to try the Chinese method, but with Russian precautions and based on my own experience.
Important in the Chinese method- landing diagram. To plant winter garlic, take dry, well-lit areas where legumes or green crops, zucchini, cabbage, pumpkin or cucumbers grew in summer. It is not possible after other crops, since there is a threat of garlic being damaged by nematodes and fusarium, and the soil under the garlic and onions is tired.
Soil preparation begins in August. The bed is cut from north to south. Two grooves are made along the entire length, 25 cm wide and 18-20 cm deep. The distance between the grooves is 70-80 cm. The grooves are filled with a mixture of garden soil with compost or semi-decomposed manure, lightly compacted and watered warm solution copper sulfate(1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water). The boundaries of the grooves must be clearly visible. The finished bed is covered with film.
In the first ten days of October, planting garlic is sorted, dividing the cloves and single cloves into fractions: the largest, largest, medium and small. Place them in gauze bags. Lower the bags with planting material in saline solution (3 tablespoons table salt per 5 liters of water) for 2 minutes, then for 1 minute in a solution of copper sulfate (0.5 teaspoon per 5 liters of water). Without rinsing in clean water the cloves are planted on the ridges.
Plant garlic on both sides of the grooves, creating two-row beds. First, the largest ones are planted at a distance of 15 cm from each other, then the large ones at a distance of 11 cm, the medium ones at 9 cm, and the small ones at 7 cm. The planting depth is 4-5 cm. This method makes it easier to care for the plantings and obtain even seedlings. If frosts occur without snow cover at the end of October, the beds are mulched with peat, humus or dry leaves. However, such mulching will not hurt in snowy winter, if expected very coldy in winter.
In early spring, the mulch is removed and the soil is loosened shallowly, trying not to damage the seedlings. If there is no rain in May, garlic is watered once every 10 days, and more often in hot weather. The first feeding is done when 3-4 leaves form, the second after 15-20 days, the third - the last - on June 10-20. When the shoots grow approximately 14-15 cm, and the total height of the garlic reaches an average of 30 cm, they should be broken off or cut with an oblique cut, leaving a stump of 1.5-2 cm. To obtain bulbs for sowing, leave several flower shoots. To ensure that the bulbs are large, the smallest ones are removed with tweezers as soon as the case opens. To prevent the bulblets from spilling out, put gauze bags on the covers.
And one more important point. To prevent the garlic from overheating in the sun and turning green, it is hilled twice over the summer, raking 3-5 cm each time. As a result, grooves are formed between the rows, into which water for irrigation and fertilizing is poured.
Garlic is removed when extreme lower leaves will turn completely yellow, and the middle ones will turn yellow by one quarter or a third. Garlic dug up in good weather is laid out on the bed in rows so that the feather of the second row covers the heads of the first row, etc. Dry for 2-3 days, then turn over to the second side and dry for the same amount of time. During this time, the garlic dries well, the sun does not bake the bulbs, they do not turn green and the cloves inside do not soften. If the weather is unstable, it is better to spread the garlic under a canopy.
The Chinese fertilize when growing garlic. mineral fertilizers, in fairly large volumes. I only used organic matter and wood ash, and in the fall I added dolomite flour.
And now more about how I grew winter garlic in the first season using Chinese technology. I planted garlic in two beds. The first is exactly in Chinese style, the second is as usual - at a distance of 15 cm from each other and between rows 20 cm from each other. For the old method, I did not sort the teeth by size; I etched them only in a pink solution of potassium permanganate.
In the spring I fed all the garlic with mullein infusion. It was hot in May, so I watered it. To be honest, it seemed like chinese garlic It takes up too much space, so I planted a row of spinach on 2 meters of this bed along the edge. He definitely gets along with garlic. When the spinach was eaten, I planted lettuce seedlings on the other side. I didn’t see any difference between garlic without additives and compacted.
From the end of May to mid-June, I watered all the garlic with fermented green fertilizer 2 times. At the end of June, before hilling, I sprinkled the plantings with wood ash, and a week later I watered them with comfrey infusion.
The garlic harvest according to the old and Chinese methods ripened at the same time. It was easier to care for garlic plantings the Chinese way. And the yield was higher. And not only in the garden bed, but also in terms of 1 sq.m. Garlic grown using Chinese technology was larger. Even small cloves grew into full-fledged heads. In the old bed and in the Chinese one I grew 100 heads each, but in the first case the weight was 2.3 kg more. And this garlic was stored perfectly. Of the ones used for the blanks, the Chinese one did not show any stains or damage; the one grown according to the old method had 2 cloves in one head with dark watery spots. Let me add that we grew varietal garlic - Lekar and Gribovsky Jubilee.
This season, all the garlic was grown using the Chinese method with a Russian accent. These were the Lekar and Alcor varieties. The harvest is excellent. And from the bulbs of the Gribovsky Yubileiny variety, large ones with a diameter of 1.5 to 2.5 cm grew.
Personally, at our house, the seeds in boxes with soil - early tomatoes, peppers and eggplants - have already sprouted. Small sprouts began to reach towards the light. But we and our readers have not yet sowed everything. So it's time to talk about which seeds are best to buy. And why are the seeds from China so beloved by Amur residents dangerous?
Amur residents very often bring packets of seeds from China. They smuggle it through customs in their pockets, in their purses, and hide it as best they can, because they know that it is illegal. The law prohibits the import of seeds into Russia without certification of varietal and sowing qualities. And Chinese seeds There are no such certificates. But people are still lucky: they are cheaper, their yield, according to gardeners, is high, and the seeds themselves, unlike goods domestic producers“, the Chinese pour much more into bags,” says Senior Inspector of the Rosselkhoznadzor Department for the Trans-Baikal Territory and the Amur Region Pavel Zhirnov. “However, no one knows what is actually in these bags of illegal seeds.”
Mixed with weeds
The seeds themselves can be infected with various types of diseases. Not only are such seeds incapable of producing a harvest, but they can also seriously spoil the entire garden.
Remember, the Chinese most often make bags of seeds using a handicraft method. That is, they are collected from their beds by hand and filled up. Such seeds carry all the diseases that infected the plants in the beds. Our seeds are produced under proper factory control and end up in bags after careful selection.
Gene modifications
Genetically modified products are officially permitted in China. There is a strict ban on them in Russia. A textbook example: in Europe they began to plant genetically modified corn. Scientists have made its pollen poisonous to pest butterflies. But no one took into account that all the butterflies in the area would die from the pollen. The environment suffered enormous damage, says Pavel Zhirnov.
But genetically modified foods are dangerous not only for butterflies. Geneticists got to plant seeds literally ten to fifteen years ago. Such a short period of time has passed since plants began to be forcibly modified. And no one knows how GMOs affect the human body. And we are already eating them. By the way, the Chinese themselves are increasingly buying Russian soybeans, refusing the same genetically modified Brazilian soybeans, and even their own. Although, it would seem, the people are so unpretentious in terms of food. Russian scientists believe that GMOs can cause dangerous allergic reactions and even lead to cancer.
So, Chinese seeds may well be genetically modified. After all, the Chinese themselves rarely write about this on their products.
What is better to buy
Sachets illegally smuggled from the Middle Kingdom can be found at private traders in markets. Chinese flower seeds - in flower shops. Sellers hide them from supervisory authorities, but if you ask, they will get them from under the counter. For the above reasons Rosselkhoznadzor I strongly advise against taking such seeds. Our domestic seeds are quite good. Suppliers bring here to Far East, mainly those varieties that take root well in our cold soil and produce a normal harvest before the onset of autumn cold. It is best, experts recommend, to purchase seeds in large specialized stores or from trusted, experienced private traders who value their reputation. This way, you are guaranteed to get a good harvest, and you will get rid of the danger of introducing infection into the soil.
Each seed seller must have an original or copy of the state quarantine phytosanitary control act. The presence of such a document means that the entire batch of seeds has been examined by Rosselkhoznadzor and is completely safe. Require such a certificate upon purchase. You, as a consumer, have a right to this. Complain about sellers without necessary documents You can contact your local Rosselkhoznadzor office by phone 8-914-396-44-60 .
But as for specific varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and other cultivated plants, it is difficult to say anything specific. There are so many varieties of them. According to Rosselkhoznadzor, up to 90 percent of seed varieties sold in the Amur region are ideal, or almost ideal, for our soils and our climate.
NOTE TO THE READER
What is the fine for illegal seeds?
In 2012, 671 packets of seeds and 55 seedlings were seized on the border of the Amur region and China. Of course, not everyone who smuggles it is found to have illegal goods. If you are stopped at customs and the Chinese seeds hidden in your pants are confiscated, you will have to pay a fine. In accordance with the Code of Administrative Violations, it is:
From ordinary citizens - from 200 to 500 rubles,
From officials - from 500 to 1000 rubles,
WITH individual entrepreneurs- from 500 to 1000 rubles,
WITH legal entities- from 5,000 to 10,000 rubles.
By the way, dear reader (what if you are the owner of a flower salon or the owner of a gardening store), the same article of the law allows supervisory authorities for a shipment of illegal seeds, close your establishment for 90 days.
BY THE WAY
What weeds can be in Chinese bags
Yes, any! But the most dangerous are dodder and ragweed.
Ambrosia no less harmful. Outwardly it looks like a panicle with small inflorescences, like mimosa. It survives under any conditions; the seeds overwinter well even in completely frozen ground. And ambrosia scatters heaps of seeds. This weed takes a lot of moisture from the ground. Cultivated plants doesn't leave anything to drink. In addition, ragweed is considered dangerous for allergy sufferers - it produces a lot of pollen and often causes sneezing, runny nose and even asthmatic attacks in gardeners digging in their garden beds.
