Can acupuncture be used on plants?
After experimenting for 15 years, Hsiao Gui-wen (
When applied to fruit-bearing plants such as peach and apple trees, acupuncture not only advanced the harvest time by a month and a half, but also decreased damage by blight.
The technique has been patented, and many interested businesses now are in negotiation for the rights to use the technology.
Hsiao originally ran a chiropractic clinic in Yonghe. After he witnessed ginger lilies change color upon absorbing dyes, he toyed with the idea that plants may have acupuncture points like humans.
To explore the concept, Hsiao commenced worked in the early 1990s with fruit growers at Wuling Farm, Shigang (
After 8 years of research, he had built up a comprehensive map of acupuncture points on plants. He spent another 7 years after that experimenting with the effects of different needle combinations and incisions.
The peach tree that he practiced on produced a great harvest, and eventually accompanied President Chen Shui-bian (
The needles used to acupuncture plants are made of steel spokes from bicycles. The needles are about 3 to 4 times larger than those used for humans.
A fruit tree takes about 20 to 30 needles, and acupuncture can be applied to either the trunk or the branches. The exact acupuncture points are the target of the patent.
After acupuncture, Hsiao also applies his organic crop spray naturally extracted from animals or plants. Hsiao pointed out that many growers use pesticides or hormone enhancer that can damage both the environment and human health.
If his success had come 10 years earlier, Hsiao said, he could have run his own farm. However, since he is already 66 years old, he intends transferring the technique instead.
Because of his love for Taiwan, Hsiao insisted that this technique should stay in Taiwan, and not be transferred to China.
He pointed out that the earlier yields his technique produces can result in prices three to four times higher than the seasonal rate.
On the other hand, scholars from the Department of Horticulture at the National University are more conservative about the effects of acupuncture on enhancing harvest and preventing blight.
Assistant professor Yeh Te-ming (葉德銘) stated that it's common to enhance the growth of plants by changing certain environmental factors, such as the temperature, humidity or light. However, he had never heard of anyone using the acupuncture technique.
Chang Tsu-liang (張祖亮), another assistant professor said that although he had heard about research in the area of plant acupuncture at universities in Germany and in China, actual research results or scientific data are as yet unavailable.
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
ASEAN BATTLEGROUND: Japan and Australia could be drawn into Pacific tensions as China sets its sights on the Diaoyutai Islands and further beyond the first island chain Tensions between China and the US in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to intensify, the National Security Bureau and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, recommending that Taiwan continue to emphasize its shared values and interests to encourage resistance to Chinese aggression. US commitments in the Indo-Pacific region are expected to continue unabated despite the war in Ukraine, as Beijing takes advantage of the conflict to expand its influence in the region, the agencies said in reports delivered to the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Sunday, ahead of a hearing yesterday on regional developments and trends. Although Russia’s invasion of
ONLINE REPORT: Confirmed cases filling out the online contact tracing report can check a box to indicate that a close contact had received a booster dose, an official said The guidelines for diagnosing COVID-19 have been revised to include people aged 65 or older who test positive with a rapid test that is confirmed by a healthcare worker, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 65,794 new local infections. The CECC had first announced the change on Monday, before publishing the new guidelines. Starting today, people aged 65 or older, regardless of whether they are undergoing home quarantine, home isolation or self-disease prevention, can be classified as a confirmed COVID-19 case by a healthcare professional, based on a positive result from an antigen rapid test, said