Soil infected with fungus causes many areas in Nghe An to stop growing new Vinh oranges.

Oranges infected en masse

Quy Hop is the "capital"Vinh orange, in which the orange acreage is mostly located in 2 communes: Minh Hop and Nghia Xuan. A reality that has caused orange growers here to lose revenue in recent years is that many orange gardens are infected with diseases, trees are stunted, and fruits fall prematurely in large numbers...

The Vinh orange area in Quy Hop has been shedding young oranges in large numbers for many years. Photo: Quang An

Mr. Huynh Huu Phuoc - owner of a 3-hectare orange garden in Tho Thanh hamlet, Minh Hop commune, said: The reason why many oranges fall is because the orange trees are damaged.infectedAs for the disease, orange growers do not know the cause, only that the orange leaves turn yellow and the trees are stunted.

"Maybe we have to cut down the entire orange garden to plant new ones, or switch to growing short-term crops to improve the soil. If we continue to invest in caring for this orange garden, it will fail, because orange trees are difficult to grow and require a large investment," Mr. Huynh Huu Phuoc worried.

Xuan Thanh Agricultural Company Limited (Quy Hop) currently has 330 hectares of oranges for business. The situation of young oranges falling off has been happening for many years, mainly due to diseased trees. Infected orange trees reduce the quality of oranges, and the selling price is low, so orange growers do not make a profit.

Stunted orange orchards due to disease. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Observations show that on the orange zone roads inQuy Hop, appeared many piles of orange roots that had just been dug up and dried for firewood. People said that the orange trees were seriously infected, so people had to dig them up to plant other trees.

Not only Quy Hop, but many Vinh orange areas in Con Cuong, Tan Ky... are also seriously infected, oranges fall prematurely in large numbers.

Stop planting new oranges

Mr. Vo Van Phong - Deputy Director of Xuan Thanh Agricultural Company Limited (Quy Hop) informed that, in the face of the situation of Quy Hop orange growing area being seriously infected with disease, at the end of 2020, the unit invited the Plant Protection Institute (Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences) to take soil samples for testing to find out the cause of the orange trees being infected with disease. After the test results of soil samples in the Quy Hop orange growing area were found to be infected with Phytophthora fungus causing disease on orange trees exceeding the allowable threshold, the company immediately stopped growing seedlings and advised people to stop planting new orange trees.

Orange growers in Quy Hop are helpless in the face of orange trees infected with yellow leaf disease. Photo: Xuan Hoang

According to Mr. Nguyen Tien Duc - Head of the Department of Cultivation and Plant Protection, the results of soil sample testing by the Plant Protection Institute in the orange growing area of ​​Quy Hop district showed that it was infected with Phytophthora fungus, which causes disease in orange trees, and is the basis for localities to have solutions to restore the key orange growing area of ​​Vinh oranges after many years of degradation due to pests and diseases.

Many diseased orange trees were dug up and dried for firewood by people. Photo: Quang An

Mr. Ducrecommendations, in addition to Quy Hop district, some areas that have been growing oranges for many years in Tan Ky, Con Cuong, Anh Son districts should also stop planting new oranges to improve the soil. Except for some new orange growing areas such as Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong, which can be kept intact or planted new ones. In areas where oranges have been infected with disease-causing fungi as recommended, in addition to stopping new planting, old orange trees should be destroyed and switched to rotating crops of sugarcane, corn, guava, peanuts, beans, etc. for 3 to 5 years.

During the process of converting crops, farmers should add humus to the soil, such as organic and microbial fertilizers, combined with increased application of lime powder to kill fungi./.