The story of the stone peach tree in Yen Thanh

(Baonghean) - In Yen Thanh district, there are many places that grow peaches, but consumers have long preferred Minh Thanh and Kim Thanh rock peaches. Yen Thanh peach growers are excited this year because peaches bloom right on Tet holiday, so the selling price will increase compared to last year.

In this cold weather, we returned to Yen Phu peach village of Minh Thanh commune and Dong Ban peach village of Kim Thanh commune. Unlike last year when peach blossoms were in full bloom, this year almost all peach gardens have begun to bud, dotted with colorful buds.

We stopped by Mr. Phan Duc Thanh's peach garden. Mr. Thanh introduced: Like previous years, this year his family has 700 peach trees, most of which are stone peach trees, a few are Nhat Tan peach trees. This Tet, peach growers here will surely win in peach trees. Because at this time, most peach trees are budding, and new shoots have begun to appear. Now, we can leave it to the weather, and no longer worry about the peach trees not blooming in time for Tet. With good care and knowing how to choose the right position for each peach tree, Mr. Thanh's peach garden sells for a good price every year.

Mr. Thanh said: In the profession of growing peach trees for Tet, the most important thing is to know how to shape each tree, so for knowledgeable customers, I introduce them to know, from there I can sell at a slightly higher price than normal trees. If the peach tree has 3 equal branches, called "Phuc - Loc - Tho" shape, the lowest price is 400,000 VND/tree, even trees planted for 3 - 4 years can sell for millions of VND. Mr. Thanh's garden has over 5 sao of land, currently only more than 1/2 of the area is planted. Because growing peach trees for Tet brings in much higher income than other crops, every year he expands his family's peach acreage.

Mr. Phan Duc Thanh's peach garden in Minh Thanh

To quickly harvest peach trees, every year Mr. Thanh grafts local peach varieties (stone peach) right in the garden. He has now grafted more than 400 seedlings, waiting until January to plant them on the trees sold during Tet and expand the peach acreage to 3 sao of land. It is expected that Mr. Thanh's family will sell 250 peach trees this Tet, not to mention large peach trees with many branches, cut and sold by the branch. Last year, his family earned nearly 70 million VND from selling peaches alone, and this year's income is expected to be higher because peaches are more expensive.

One of the most beautiful and numerous peach gardens in Yen Phu village, Minh Thanh commune is the peach garden of Mr. Tran Van Hai's family. Most of his peach trees are of the rock peach variety. Mr. Hai boasts: His peach garden has over 1,000 trees, mainly of the rock peach variety, grafted onto native peach trees. Previously, he often grafted the Nhat Tan peach variety, but about 5 years ago, according to customers' preferences, he replaced it with this peach variety. The characteristics of the rock peach are a large, strong trunk, light pink flowers, with 5 large petals, and long-lasting. Customers now often "search" for this type of peach to play Tet, so no matter how much they have, they sell out.

In fact, Mr. Hai has grown peach trees for more than 20 years. At first, he only planted them for fun, but later, it became a real livelihood. Every day, he pays attention to learning so that the peach trees bloom in time for Tet. In Mr. Hai's peach garden, there are peach trees worth 3 - 4 million VND, the cheapest tree is 300,000 VND. Each peach growing household in Minh Thanh has 1 - 3 original peach trees (peach master), both for fruit, then to sow seeds for seedlings, or to graft branches. Year after year, this stone peach variety is increasingly popular, bringing value to growers and connoisseurs.

Yen Phu village, Minh Thanh commune has been recognized by Yen Thanh district as a village with a profession for many years, with 50% of households growing peach blossoms for Tet. Mr. Tran Khanh Tung - Chairman of the Commune People's Committee said: The local peach blossom growing profession for Tet has been around for 20 years. Each year it increases a little, so now the peach blossom area of ​​the locality is about 20 hectares. However, not every year peach blossom growers are happy, because there are years when the weather is warm, peach blossoms bloom early, making it difficult to sell. This year, most peach blossoms will bloom right on Tet, so peach blossom growers will have a high income. It is estimated that this Tet, peach blossom growers in Minh Thanh will earn billions of dong.

Kim Thanh peach trees have long been favored by customers in many places, who come to order quite early. With only 1 week left until Tet, the peach gardens in Kim Thanh are still intact, but according to our research, many customers from far away have come to order trees with beautiful shapes. Mr. Dang Huu Guong, owner of a peach garden in Dong Dan hamlet, was excited: Due to the influence of the recent cold spell, peach trees bloomed later than in previous years. This is also a favorable condition for peach growers. According to Mr. Guong, it is expected that this year's Tet peaches will be more expensive than last year, because first, due to the influence of the recent cold spell, many peach trees will bloom after Tet, so the number of peach trees sold for Tet will be less; second, the number of peach trees blooming during Tet is not much. Standing in front of the large, beautiful peach trees with buds densely on the branches, Mr. Guong revealed: These trees had customers coming to order 1 week ago, at a price of 2 - 2.5 million VND/tree.

In Kim Thanh commune, peach trees are planted scattered in hamlets, but the most is in Dong Dan hamlet. It is estimated that the peach acreage in Kim Thanh is about 7 hectares. It is difficult to determine how much money peach growers here earn each year at the end of the year, but according to estimates from local authorities, at least during Tet, Kim Thanh earns 2 billion VND from selling peach trees. Thanks to that source of money, dozens of families have a large amount of money to shop for Tet and buy expensive household items and build houses.

Xuan Hoang