Liu Dongqi: organic is not non-toxic. Pruning, root cultivation and grass cultivation have eyebrow horns and grow trees with energy.

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"first, think of the tree as a friend and your family. Do you know it? Organic can only be established if you know it. "

Speaking of trees, Liu Dongqi's tone is both perceptual and intellectual. He has been with trees since he was a child. He comes from a gardening family. His family learns to plant trees. He is no stranger to him with a hoe. Therefore, from the old tree conservation to the fruit and tea trees, and from the tree medicine to the farmer, although he laughs that he has "gone astray", it comes down in one continuous line.

From the perspective of organic cultivation, Liu Dongqi believes that we can first look at trees from two general directions.

One is the energy of the tree. Energy comes from the sun and glucose is produced by photosynthesis. Who made the glucose? It is made of leaves, so cutting off a large number of leaves will never make the tree healthy.

In addition, as mentioned in the previous article, all disease resistance substances are carbohydrates, catechins, tannins, flavonoids. It's all carbohydrates, made from glucose. So without leaves to make glucose, how can there be disease resistance?

A persimmon tree with sunburn

Farmers generally believe that pruning can enhance sunshine and ventilation, thereby reducing diseases and insect pests, and can promote flowering and fruiting. But overpruning or mispruning can be counterproductive. Huang Chao-chih, who grows sweet persimmons in the mountains of Taichung, has personal experience.

Huang Zhaozhi's persimmon trees used to be cultivated, but after he took over, he changed to natural farming methods, but a few years later he suffered a sharp decline in production, a weak tree, and some trees suffered from severe sunburn.

Liu Dongqi came to the scene to study and concluded that the main cause of sunburn is due to excessive pruning of leaves. He explained that a tree absorbs water, and 95% of its kinetic energy comes from the evapotranspiration of the leaves, but when the leaves are cut off, the tree cannot lower its body temperature by evapotranspiration. When the body temperature keeps rising in the sun, plant cells develop pathological changes, fester and die.

From old tree conservation to organic agriculture, Liu Dongqi believes that organic cultivation needs more scientific knowledge (Photography / Cai Jiashan)

To be organic, it is necessary to look at things in an all-round way.

Liu Dongqi laments that students in the school have clear barriers, but they are unable to train generalists. Professors can only care about soil or pathogens, but as a farmer, they cannot just look at soil or pathogens. Instead, they must solve problems in all aspects.

"Today, when I treat an old tree, I will not only cure the worms of the old tree. I want it to come alive, so I can understand the feelings of a farmer." Liu Dongqi is happy to take all kinds of questions raised by farmers as challenges, helping to read books, experiment, and seek scientific answers. He believes that in order to be organic, it is all the more necessary to understand science, the physiology of trees, the truth of soil, nutrition and energy. Only when we understand the truth, can we take good care of the tree.

Even, no one can tell you the right thing to do, and you have to create one yourself. "is it difficult? It's hard! It's hard even for me, and of course it's hard for farmers. " Liu Dongqi said that since he chose to be organic, he was the forerunner, and more people must work together to research and develop technology.

"Organic is not non-toxic. If you don't have poison, you have to have energy!" He hopes that the organic in the future will be organic with energy, and that trees will be healthy and people will be healthy.

Why do big trees live for thousands of years? Why do fruit trees get sick? Liu Dongqi's "tree nerd" team applies the wisdom of the old tree to agriculture.

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