Her Cultivation Diary

Chapter 2159: Chapter 1839: Old Master Qing Tang (Part 3)

So right now, for people doing herbaceous and gramineous crop cultivation, basically they all buy seedlings every year. The seedlings they buy are mostly second-generation or third-generation virus-free seedlings, and after one year of high production they eliminate them; only this way can they maximize profit.

The Hoan Meirin and Saga Snow Rabbit varieties Song Tan previously planted were standard third-generation virus-free seedlings.

After going through one growth cycle, those seedlings were handed over to Tian Tian. Because they were removed from the water and soil conditions of Yunqiao Village, and considering their inherent high yield and high quality, even if both dropped by 30%, there was still profit to be made.

Therefore, Yan Ran and the others were very supportive, and had originally explained it to Tian Tian—after all, there’s no such thing as a free Manchu-Han Imperial Feast, right?

Once they got approval, the three of them arranged the previous various data-tracking work.

Honestly speaking, the funding they applied for this time wasn’t much. If they still couldn’t see results this year, they’d have to pay out of their own pockets if they wanted to keep tracking.

And now, Heaven does not disappoint the diligent!

The third-generation virus-free seedlings overwintered in the greenhouses at Song Tan’s Home and successfully fulfilled their mission of flowering, fruiting, and producing high yield with high quality.

In the spring of the second year, they transferred the fourth-generation runners together to Tian Tian (each round of runner propagation in strawberries counts as one generation). After various scientific cultivation measures, in the harvest around May and June, the yield had decreased somewhat and the fruit quality had also declined, but feedback from customers who bought them was that they were still tastier than ordinary strawberries on the market.

Most importantly, the lab data likewise appeared superior!

And these were fourth-generation, non–virus-free seedlings!

And now it was midsummer, the rainy season; with temperatures not that high, the runners’ growth would accelerate once again.

With another round of propagation, that would make them fifth-generation seedlings.

If the fifth-generation seedlings did not continue to lose quality, or only dropped slightly, this would undoubtedly be a major breakthrough in strawberry breeding!

Song Tan was a bit puzzled: "With a breakthrough like this—that is to say, there’s still a possibility of reduced yield. That doesn’t seem cost-effective; might as well just switch to new seedlings."

This time it was Qi Lin’s turn to speak, and Tai Xiaodong also took out a tablet to show her:

"Look, our greenhouses before were all planted like this—dual rows on a single bed.

"Calculated like that, one mu of land needs at least 7,000–9,000 seedlings."

And there’s one of the most brutal realities in agricultural production: high-quality seedlings, such as formed tray-raised virus-free seedlings, are definitely more expensive than bare-root seedlings, sometimes three to four times the price.

So what exactly are the prices?

"For bulk purchases, cheap bare-root seedlings might be 0.4 yuan each.

The more expensive ones could be one or two yuan. Your True Red Meiling and Saga Snow Rabbit, because you got high-quality virus-free seedlings of premium varieties, cost 3.5 yuan per plant."

These were specially bred in the lab and supplied to high-end green farms; they were truly sky-high in price. Ordinary people, even with money in hand, wouldn’t know where to buy them.

But leaving aside those high-end ones and just going by the regular ones, the seedling cost per mu is already between 4,000 and 10,000 yuan.

And that doesn’t even include labor for cultivation.

Strawberry prices fluctuate depending on variety and quality, but for the most typical profit level, the net profit per mu is only about 10,000 to 50,000 yuan.

The latter definitely involves higher effort and cost input.

And doing the math like this, if strawberry seedlings could become a perennial economic crop, then even if yield decreases by 10%–20% each year, after calculating it back and forth you’d still save a lot of effort and money!

As long as there is profit, farmers will have demand.

And what they, as agriculture specialists, want to solve are precisely these needs that are constantly evolving with the seasons and environment.

Song Tan understood.

Not to talk about "benefitting the present and future generations," just the fact that the Spiritual Energy she mobilized was pushing these strawberries to fight desperately to grow and develop themselves—wasn’t the outcome of that beneficial to people?

If strawberries benefited, then what about the chestnut trees, tea trees, and peach trees on the mountain—could they also be evolving themselves?

It’s just that they’re woody plants, so the changes won’t show up so quickly.

After all, in agricultural research, starting at ten years is normal.

Without going through long-term testing, they simply wouldn’t dare release something on the market—otherwise what’s affected are thousands upon thousands of households.

Tai Xiaodong said excitedly:

"The most crucial point is that even though they’ve already left the environment of Yunqiao Village, the strawberries’ quality still remains at the peak of what’s considered standard on the market."

"We want to invite our professor over to lead this project. If possible, we’ll propagate more fifth-generation runners this year, and then send them to experimental plots all over the country to track the results."

If it can be promoted, if the traits and outcomes can remain stable...

The three of them looked at Song Tan together, eyes filled with surging fighting spirit and shining brilliance.