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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at