Chapter 136

Qing Mengzhu: "They're different. The cabbage caterpillar is a larva of a Lepidoptera butterfly (Pieris family), while this is a larva of a Lepidoptera moth (Platycodon family). The diamondback moth reproduces much faster than the cabbage caterpillar, so we have to race against time."

Qing Mengzhu picked up the wide-mouthed bottle and looked at it. "Let's arrange for the spraying this afternoon."

Zhao Hexi nodded. "Understood. I'll ask Old Gu if we can extract enough of the Insect-Killing Bacillus powder."

Qing Mengzhu: "I've already asked, and they can't spare any for now. Today, we'll spray neem oil first, and later add bamboo vinegar to the spray; that will improve the killing effect."

Bamboo vinegar, as a high-penetration agent, is quite effective in assisting pesticide application.

Zhao Hexi wasn't as skilled at farming Qing Mengzhu, but upon hearing this, she nodded and said, "I'll make the arrangements in a bit."

As the weather warms up, it's not just their company's vegetable garden that's teeming with insects; the fields in the same village and even several nearby villages are also teeming with insects.

In some households, the cabbage seedlings have even had all their leaves eaten, leaving only bare stalks.

However, some people use chemical pesticides, which control the pesticides relatively well. The plant pesticides that Qing Mengzhu and his group use are not as effective, so their vegetables are of better quality and there are no pesticide residues.

In addition to spraying pesticides, Qing Mengzhu also arranged for people to place diamondback moth pheromone traps in the fields, along with yellow sticky traps, to kill the diamondback moths through a two-pronged approach.

This method can effectively interfere with diamondback moths, reducing their numbers in the next generation and even the Nth generation.

Qing Mengzhu's company's vegetables are particularly prone to insects. Cabbage moths and cabbage white butterflies can fly, and even after you kill one batch, a new batch will fly in from afar, one after another, making it impossible to eradicate them completely.

It's estimated that they'll be constantly battling insects throughout the entire vegetable-growing process.

At this point, it's no longer possible to kill the insects by simply spraying pesticides; we need to resort to some biological methods.

Gu Benshu, the Minister of the Science and Technology Department, reluctantly came to the vegetable garden to study these insects. He began releasing Insect-Killing Bacillus into the insect swarm, hoping to infect more insects and cause them to become extinct generation after generation.

Zhao Hexi expressed his doubts. "Isn't the plan to release a virus? Isn't the Insect-Killing Bacillus a bacterium? Will it be useful?"

Gu Benshu: "It's useful. The Insect-Killing Bacillus can continuously infect insects, causing them to become sick and die, plunging the entire population into an unhealthy state."

Zhao Hexi: "That must be difficult."

Gu Benshu sighed, "What else can we do?"

As he spoke, Gu Benshu muttered, "What job is easy? We train for a thousand days to use it for one. Now it's time for us to show our value."

Zhao Hexi patted him on the shoulder. "Good luck."

The entire pest control operation was overseen by Qing Mengzhu. Zhao Hexi didn't know much about it and didn't participate much, but he could tell that Gu Benshu was under a lot of pressure.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Hexi comforted Gu Benshu, "There are a lot of insects this year. I guess even if we don't have a very good extermination effect, Mengzhu won't say anything."

Gu Benshu: "I'll try again with my men; we can't afford to have a bad start."

Gu Benshu and his team, along with the research institute, have already produced some research results, but they are far from being ready for practical application.

There were too many insects, so Gu Benshu had to communicate with the research institute and lead his team to release highly toxic and targeted Insect-Killing Bacillus into the vegetable fields to fight the diamondback moth.

To this end, they specially released a batch of Trichogramma paisleyans carrying Insect-Killing Bacillus into the vegetable garden and observed the inhibitory effect of the Trichogramma paisleyans on the diamondback moth every day. Fortunately, the experimental data could also be shared with the research institute.

Aside from pest control, their daily routines continue as usual.

On Saturday, Zhuxi Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd.. organized a new round of member activities.

This was the first event after the New Year. Perhaps because there were many people available during the holiday, sixty members signed up to participate in their field trip and practical activity, traveling all the way from the city to help them pull weeds.

Looking at the excited members, Zhao Hexi muttered to himself that Qing Mengzhu was a shrewd businessman.

Spring has arrived, and there's just too much weed in the vegetable garden. Besides using machines to cut it, some of it also needs to be pulled out manually.

Members come here to pull weeds. Because the soil is loose enough, the process is quite simple, and both adults and children can easily do it.

The adults were fine, but the children's attention got distracted as they pulled at the celery. One child noticed the red-eyed bee egg card hanging on the celery and asked curiously, "What's this?"

The adults around them didn't know either, so everyone turned to the group leader for help.

As the group leader, Feng Ningxiang was a little nervous being watched by so many people for the first time. She said, "These are Trichogramma wasp egg cards. They can cure small insects after they hatch."

Children: "Why can it cure bugs? Are the bugs sick?"

Feng Ningxiang: "It's not that kind of treatment, it's that can kill the little bugs. Oh, I'll ask Dr. Gu to come over and explain it to you."

Feng Ningxiang really didn't know anything about these things, so she quickly ran over and called to Gu Benshu, "Dr. Gu, could you please come over and introduce our egg cards to the members?"

Gu Benshu was leading his men to observe the bees in the field when he saw them and quickly said, "They're here."

Wearing a white coat, Gu Benshu now has thick hair and looks quite dashing. He attracts a lot of attention when he stands in front of adults and children.

He explained, "This is a Trichogramma wasp, a type of egg parasitic wasp. It lays its eggs inside pests, sucks their nutrients, and kills them through this process."

The children's eyes sparkled as they looked at Gu Benshu with admiration. "Wow!"

Gu Benshu almost choked. "Our Trichogramma wasps are infected with Insect-Killing Bacillus, which not only parasitize pests but also infect them, making them more effective and capable of killing pests on a larger scale, achieving a safer and cleaner eradication effect."

Inviting members to visit is also a way to promote their dishes.

Now is the perfect time to promote our organic farming process. Gu Benshu puffed out his chest and decided to explain it in more simple and detailed terms, making sure that members understood their organic farming process.

Hopefully, the boss will give them a bonus for their presentation.

Gu Benshu sighed inwardly; he had been too tired lately.

Chapter 136

Gu Benshu came over and gave the members a lesson on organic vegetable management. The members listened with admiration, making a clapping gesture like seals.

Zhao Hexi and Qing Mengzhu witnessed this scene when they arrived.

"See?" Zhao Hexi nudged Qing Mengzhu with her elbow. "Our Dr. Gu is quite popular."

Qing Mengzhu lowered her voice. "It was already quite popular, but I didn't expect the science popularization to be so effective. Everyone seems to be listening very attentively."

Zhao Hexi looked ahead. "That's right, don't you even look at who our members are? Many of them are professionals, okay?"

Qing Mengzhu suddenly remembered that Nian Xinfei and his circle of colleagues and friends had also ordered a lot of food from his restaurant. She instantly understood. They were all big shots, and they probably knew more about biological control in agriculture than they did.

Gu Benshu had already spotted them approaching out of the corner of his eye. At the end of his introduction, he gestured for them to arrive. "Our President Qing arrived. Please introduce President Qing to everyone."

Qing Mengzhu was taken aback when Gu Benshu handed the stage to him. Fortunately, after more than half a year of experience, he had weathered many storms and stepped forward with a smile.

The members applauded warmly and asked him to share his vegetable planting plan for this year and some tips on pest and disease control.

Qing Mengzhu suspected that the members had brought their children to class, but she wasn't shy at all and directly talked about a few small things.

After he finished sharing, many members wanted to add him on WeChat.

He took out his phone and added the members on WeChat, eventually adding almost all of them.

The members still couldn't be used as laborers. After working for most of the day, Zhao Hexi came over at noon to arrange for the members to have a picnic nearby.

Today's picnic food consists of various vegetables picked fresh from the field, as well as various meats prepared in advance.