Flowers bloom but growers are not happy

PEACH BLOSSOMS BLOOM BEFORE TET

Peach varieties (faded peach, blue peach, white peach) in Mr. Nguyen Van Pho's garden (Nghi Lien commune, Vinh city) are blooming before Tet. Photo: Thanh Phuc

At present, many peach trees in Dong Ban village (Kim Thanh commune, Yen Thanh) have bloomed. Many garden owners are worried and are looking for ways to restrain the peach trees such as: blocking the roots, covering the trees with black nets, watering with cold water... to prevent the peach blossoms from blooming. However, according to a survey, up to 60% of the peach trees in Dong Ban hamlet have bloomed, some trees have bloomed at the same time, with dark green leaves.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Vinh, Head of Dong Ban Hamlet, Kim Thanh Commune, said: “80% of households in the hamlet grow peach trees, the smallest ones have a few dozen trees, the largest ones have up to several hundred trees. Peach trees are the main source of income for households here. The hot weather lasts for a long time, peach trees blooming early and not being able to sell for Tet will cause a significant loss of income. For peach trees that bloom about 50-70%, even if you prune the old flowers and cut off the green leaves, they will no longer be beautiful, so the selling price will be lower than peach trees blooming right on Tet.”

Not only in the peach villages in Kim Thanh, the prolonged heat in the winter days has caused peach gardens in Nghi Lien (Vinh City), Nam Thai (Nam Dan), Quynh Thang, Tan Thang, Quynh Tan... (Quynh Luu) to also bloom, making households worried. Mr. Nguyen Van Pho's family (Hamlet 12, Nghi Lien Commune, Vinh City) has about 300 peach trees this year, of which most of the peach trees have bloomed.

Many peach gardens in Kim Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) are in full bloom due to the unusually hot weather throughout the winter. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Pho said: “The characteristic of peach blossom trees is that once they bloom, they will bloom and then quickly wither. Therefore, about 50 peach blossom trees of my family this year will not be in time to sell for Tet. As for peach blossoms, pink peach trees, and white peach trees, they are only blooming for the first time, and will be in time to serve Tet. During the year, the prolonged heat and drought caused many peach trees to dry up and die, and there was no time to plant replacements. According to predictions, because this year, peach trees for Tet are scarce, prices will be pushed up.”

LILY, CHRYSANTHEMUM BLOOM, GROWERS "LOST HAPPINESS"

At this time, most of the chrysanthemum gardens in Nghi Long commune (Nghi Loc) are blooming early, causing growers to face the risk of heavy losses. In the field in front of her house, Ms. Ha Thi Phuong (Hamlet 12, Nghi Long commune) used nearly 1 sao of land to plant 4,000 chrysanthemums of various kinds. It is expected that after deducting all expenses, she will earn about 5 million VND in profit. However, due to this year's prolonged hot weather, her entire chrysanthemum garden has been blooming since mid-December.

Ms. Phuong sadly said: “The money spent on Tet is all based on the flower garden, but now the flowers are blooming like this, many flower bushes have withered, so we have to leave them to “beautiful fields” because these chrysanthemums are not popular when sold on the full moon day, but now that they are planted in pots, the flowers are all blooming. I asked my friends and children to advertise the flowers on social networks at cheap prices to make up for some of the money, but few people come to buy them.”

Lilies and chrysanthemums bloomed half a month earlier than expected, causing farmers to lose crops. Photo: Thanh Phuc

The entire Nghi Long commune grows 6,000 square meters of chrysanthemums of all kinds, mainly large chrysanthemums for incense burning during Tet and chrysanthemums grown in pots for Tet display. However, up to now, most of the chrysanthemums have bloomed, a few are cut and sold on the 15th of the 12th lunar month, the rest are sold on the ceremony to worship Ong Cong and Ong Tao at a much lower price than during Tet.

Growing flowers, taking great care of them with the hope of earning a large income for a warm and prosperous Tet, but the harsh weather, despite applying all kinds of methods to prevent the flowers from blooming, still cannot "beat the sky", so people in many flower growing areas have to accept losses.