Returnee Engineering male Watch Pavilion keeps an eye on soilless cultivation of potted vegetables

Lu Shenbao takes care of his organic garden.

You can not only watch it, but also take it off and eat it. Balcony vegetable garden has sprung up quietly in many domestic cities in recent years, and some agricultural growers or enterprises are developing related business. Since September last year, Lu Shenbao, who returned from studying in Australia, has also joined the growing camp of potted vegetables. unlike ordinary growers, he has introduced foreign advanced technology, using soilless cultivation, no pesticides and no chemical fertilizers.

In the Yuting Modern Agricultural Industrial Park in Wangting Town, the reporter saw Lu Shenbao and his vegetable garden. When it is said to be a vegetable garden, it is actually more like a bonsai garden. Orderly potted plants, lush and lush. The pots for vegetables are round and square, much like the pots used to grow bonsai. The little tomato that will be harvested in a twinkling of an eye, the rattan frame is already more than half a person tall, and there are many green fruits under the green leaves.

"our vegetables are called potted vegetables and adopt advanced soilless cultivation techniques to provide healthy vegetables without pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antistaling agents and hormones." Lu Shenbao said that the pot of each vegetable is not filled with soil, but an organic matrix called coconut bran, which is made from shredded coconut shells, smashed, fumigated and pressed into bricks and transported to China. He says the planting technology he introduced is called the activated fiber humus soil project. In this way, the use of pesticides will not be eliminated because of the use of soil to produce soil-borne diseases such as plant self-poisons, microbial diseases, root-knot nematodes and so on. "We use seaweed fertilizer and nutrient solution as organic fertilizer to replace the tradition of fermenting chicken and duck excreta to produce fertilizer." He explained that consumers only need to use their organic fertilizer to buy live vegetable potted plants.

It is understood that the selling price of these pots of eggplant fruits ranges from 120 to 180 yuan, and that of leafy vegetables from 6 to 8 yuan per tree. The more precious the variety is and the longer the growth cycle is, the more expensive the price will be. For example, a pot of imported tomatoes costs 120-160 yuan and can grow for 1-2 months in a season. The whole farm, at present, the main kinds of pepper, eggplant, cucumber, small tomato, okra and other climbing vine eggplant fruit. After these eggplant fruits are delivered to customers' homes, they can continue to grow with a little water and organic fertilizer every day, so that they can eat fresh fruits and vegetables every day. Not only that, Lu Shenbao's farm can also carry out personalized cultivation and sale of vegetables according to customer requirements for varieties.

"this kind of potted vegetable is placed on the balcony and can be watched or eaten. A balcony becomes a vegetable garden, which is very attractive to people living in the city. When the customer's food is finished, call us and we will deliver the new food to our door. " Lu Shenbao told reporters that the interest of the balcony garden, the safety of vegetables and the sales of vegetable couriers have made their fledgling business a little better. He made statistics on the customer base, with young people accounting for the majority, as well as many high-end restaurants and department stores.

In fact, Lu Shenbao, 28, is an Australian returnee who majored in mechanical engineering that has nothing to do with agriculture. With the rise of potted vegetables and balcony gardens in China in recent years, he saw business opportunities. It just so happens that the father of another partner, who is already experienced in growing organic potted vegetables in Malaysia, decided to introduce this new technology to the country. Last year, at the first annual meeting of founders of Yangcheng Lake held in Xiangcheng District, he and two other returnees, with potted vegetable projects, were introduced to Xiangcheng by talents and rented 10 greenhouses in Yuting Modern Agricultural Industrial Park. embarked on the entrepreneurial road of balcony economy.

Lu Shenbao told reporters that organic vegetables account for 30% of vegetable sales in Australia, and the price is 2-4 times that of ordinary vegetables. However, the proportion of domestic organic vegetables is small, and the price is about 10 times higher than that of ordinary vegetables. "to put it most directly, I want to bring down the price of domestic organic vegetables so that ordinary people can afford it." He said that the price of organic vegetables produced in his garden is 2-3 times higher than that of ordinary vegetables. He explained to reporters that the price of domestic organic agriculture is "out of control", mainly because the planting cost is too high. Only when the soil is fallow for 3-4 years and pesticides and chemical fertilizers cannot be used in the planting process can they be eligible to apply for organic audit. And diseases and insect pests come from the soil, once planted with soil, it is easy to get out of control of diseases and insect pests, resulting in low production, so the price of organic vegetables naturally rises. In planting, they avoid the risk of the soil and use coral seaweed fertilizer to make up for the lack of fertility and other problems.

In Lu Shenbao's view, using potted plants as an entry point to enter agriculture can shorten the profit cycle. He intends to work with farms to grow and move into commercial complexes to boost sales of potted vegetables.