Peach blossoms bloom 2 months early, people in Nghe An highlands worry about losing Tet

Many peach trees in Muong Long commune (Ky Son) have bloomed two months before Lunar New Year. Photo: Quang An

Present at the "capital" of stone mining in Muong Long,Ky Son district(Nghe An) In the first days of the 11th lunar month, we were surprised to see a series of peach trees blooming with flowers. In people's gardens, as well as in school and office grounds... the many-year-old peach trees were blooming with bright red flowers, even though it was nearly 2 months before the Lunar New Year.

Students of Muong Long Secondary School enjoy the early blooming peach trees. Photo: Quang An

Mr. Xong Ba Tong in Muong Long 2 village, Muong Long commune said: My family has 13 peach trees. In previous years, they only started to bud at the beginning of the 12th lunar month, but this year, by the beginning of November, more than half of the peach trees had bloomed. This year, my family will have less income from selling peach trees. If the whole peach garden blooms this month, it will be considered a lost Tet this year.

Not only Mr. Tong’s family, but dozens of households growing peach blossoms for Tet in Muong Long commune have fallen into a state of blooming early. According to our observations, besides the gardens of pure white plum blossoms, there are also peach trees blooming bright red.

Muong Long stone peach (Ky Son) is popular with customers during Tet. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Mr. Va Cha Xa - Chairman of Muong Long Commune People's Committee said: The whole commune has about 25 hectares of peach trees planted in home gardens and on fields, concentrated in Muong Long 1 and Muong Long 2 villages. In previous years, most peach trees started to bud from the beginning of December, but this year, up to 1/3 of the peach trees bloomed from the beginning of the 11th lunar month.

"The reason whypeach blossoms earlyIt is due to the erratic weather. It is worth mentioning that these are natural stone peach trees, people do not apply any restraining methods, so the peach trees bloom according to natural laws" - Mr. Va Cha Xa said.

Peach blossoms early, peach growers in Muong Long (Ky Son) worry about reduced income this Tet. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Because the peach blossoms bloom early, peopleMuong Long communeare worried that this Tet will reduce their income from selling Tet peach blossoms. According to preliminary calculations of Muong Long commune, every Tet, people in the commune sell about 1,000 peach branches to the market, earning 400 million VND. Thus, if the peach blossoms bloom early, Muong Long people will lose money this year.

Locals said that on this occasion, there were visitors who came to Muong Long to see and place deposits for peach blossoms, but they all shook their heads or offered lower prices than previous years./.