Agricultural technicians in various parts of Jiangsu Province have instructed farmers to resist the impact of severe cold on crops. Affected by the cold wave, most areas in Jiangsu are experiencing low temperatures, rain, and snow, causing negative impact on the growth of crops in the fields and the greenhouses. Let’s take a close look.
Winter snowfall effectively replenishes soil moisture, but long-term waterlogging can also lead to freezing and withering of wheat.
Xuyi County of Huai'an city and Wuzhong District of Suzhou city have organized agricultural technicians and farmers to analyze soil moisture by carefully observing the growth of wheat leaves, stems, and roots, and prescribing targeted treatments for different fields of wheat growth and waterlogging.
“We take advantage of the soil moisture to fertilize and transform weak seedlings into strong ones. For seedlings that grow very vigorously, we need to suppress them, suppress their vigor, and transform them into dominant seedlings, so that they can survive the winter smoothly and lay a good foundation for the next year's harvest,” said Wang Yonggang, Agricultural Technician from Mudian Town, Xuyi County, Huai'an City.
“Field waterlogging can easily cause frost damage to the root system of wheat, including withered and yellowed leaves. Therefore, we should maximize the organization of field ditches to reduce groundwater, including surface water,” said Li Mingdong, a grain Grower in Wuzhong District, Suzhou City.
The vegetables and fruits in the greenhouses are particularly sensitive to severe cooling weather. In order to effectively respond to rain, snow, and freezing disasters, and ensure market supply, vegetable and fruit growers in various regions, under the guidance of agricultural technicians, have inspected and reinforced their greenhouses, repaired and replaced damaged greenhouses, installed multi-layer covering films, used electric hot fans, heating furnaces, and other equipment to increase temperature and lighting, and strengthened fertilizer and water management.
“The agricultural technicians wasted no time to call us, so that we adjusted the insulation measures. Currently, we have added one or even two layers of thin film inside the greenhouse, making the temperature difference between inside and outside close to 20 ℃,” said Zhu Guangwei, Manager of a Vegetable Base in Baoyan Town, Dantu District, Zhenjiang.
“We have installed diesel heating furnaces in the strawberry greenhouses to ensure that the nighttime temperature can reach above 0 ℃ so as to prevent strawberries from freezing,” Xie Zhengyun, a strawberry planter in Zangshi Village, Sunyuan Town, Sihong County.
Affected by moderate intensity El Niño, the provincial meteorological department predicts that Jiangsu needs to watch out for catastrophic weather such as cold air, rain and snow processes, and spring droughts in this winter and next spring.
