Cones are all too familiar to foresters. However, in such a small conduit, it contains great ecological value.
Recently, the reporter just walked into the original forest nursery ——— the Coudo Blending Center of the Kudur Forestry Bureau, and was shocked by the scene of the harvest of cones in front of him. Golden cones fill the courtyard and greenhouse, and busy nursery people are immersed in the joy of harvest, enjoying the gifts of nature, and using their wisdom and diligence to "solidify" gold.
"Time, place, people." Zheng Qinglin, deputy director of the former forest nursery, briefly summarized the reasons for this year's harvest of cones in 6 words. According to him, in September they have completed the harvesting and acquisition of spruce, sassafras pine and larch cones, and have now entered the stage of modulating seeds, generally through drying, threshing, net seeding, grading and other processes, each process is very exquisite.
The responsibility of liu wenzhi, a production technician, is to supervise and control the quality of each process, so that every seed of the cones can be returned to the warehouse. Liu Wenzhi took the reporter to the greenhouse, a fresh pine fragrance came to the nose, and on the drying table, the larch cones were enjoying the "sunbathing". "Shhh... You listen! Liu Wenzhi made a gesture, and we listened intently, and a small and faint "bang bang" sound echoed in the greenhouse. The bulbs with their tightly closed scales naturally crack under the catalysis of sunlight and temperature, like blooming roses. Then, we came to the "turf" of spruce cones. I saw the employee sitting on the pile of cones, rubbing the two cones in his hand repeatedly. After artificial threshing, the seeds with "small wings" are "brushed" and shaken out.
Do the cones still need to be "sauna"? The reporter's eyes widened. It turned out that some spruce cones with "stubborn" personalities that did not naturally crack were to be sent to the drying room. As soon as he entered the drying room, the reporter was surrounded by "heat", which was really like "steaming sauna". At this time, the staff is sweating, although the room is steaming, they have to insist on 24-hour duty, fill the boiler with coal, take out the ash, look at the temperature table, keep the drying room at 50 to 55 degrees Celsius, and continue to run for about 70 hours before the cones can be baked.
"Where did the seeds that fell off the cones go?" The reporter asked.
"The next step is to carry out pure seeding, separating the seed grain from the seed wing, and there are two ways of wind selection and screening." Liu Wenzhi pointed to the next room and said. The sound of "rumbling" is emitted by the wind separator, which grades the seeds of different weights and weights, and removes some impurities and empty grains for later storage and sowing. Technicians also have to do germination rate experiments on the modulated seeds, and after identification, the seed quality has reached the national standard of more than two levels. That full seed is the best reward for the hard work of the nursery people.
For the nursery people, every seed is precious. Because behind these seeds is also the hard work and sweat of the pickers. Sun Wenxiu, a nursery worker, is one of the pickers, and the harvest of cones has also inflated their pockets. "Every morning at 5 o'clock to pick the cones, after 7 o'clock to go back to work. Picking cones is all about tools, and I was standing on a 10-meter-high forklift picking, and I was scared. But a net income of more than a week can be 3,000 yuan, and the hard work is worth it. The considerable income made Sun Wenxiu happy to keep his mouth shut.
In order to facilitate the collection of cones by employees, Liu Dewen, a senior forestry engineer of the Forestry Bureau, invented the "artifact" of cones collection. We came to the cones growing ground together, and although it was past the harvesting period, there were still many cones hanging from the trees. Liu Dewen showed reporters how to use the tool, and it was easy to pick the tall cones. "The original intention of designing this tool is to avoid the harm caused by unscientific picking to the mother tree, and it will certainly continue to improve in the future to make the function more perfect." Liu Dewen's original intention of loving nature and protecting ecology moved the reporter.
Cones are taken from nature and must be used for nature. Lan Fusheng, director of the former forest nursery, said that this year a total of 260,000 catties of cones were harvested, and the seeds will be used for sowing seedlings and afforestation, and choosing to cultivate local tree species can greatly improve the survival rate of afforestation. In just one month, they have prepared more than 3,100 pounds of seeds, and according to the ratio of 100:2.5, 260,000 pounds of cones are expected to be able to modulate about 6,500 pounds of seeds.
However, the "journey" of a cones does not stop here, and those "seeds of hope" will eventually return to the embrace of Mother Nature, taking root and thriving in the fertile soil of the forest. (Chen Xiaolin)