Start of Tet flower season

(Baonghean) - Although there are still more than 2 months until Lunar New Year 2014, these days, flower and ornamental plant growers in the suburbs of Vinh city have focused on planting and caring for flowers to serve the Tet market. Traders from all over have also flocked to the gardens to place early orders, preparing for the year-end business season...

We returned to Trung My flower and ornamental plant village (Hung Dong commune, Vinh city) on a day at the end of November; although it was still more than 2 months until Tet, the place was bustling with a new atmosphere. It seemed that flower growing (in addition to purely earning a living) was also an elegant hobby, making farmers friendly and hospitable!

Mr. Le Viet Thao, Trung My hamlet, Hung Dong commune (Vinh city) installed additional light bulbs for the chrysanthemum flower beds.

To have flowers to sell before, during and after Tet, people have to plant 3 batches; batch 1 from the end of September to December 15, batch 2 and 3 from October 15 to January 15 for harvest. From the time the seedlings are planted in the ground, the growers are busy, having to take care of every little detail to have a batch of flowers in time for the Tet market. Due to the climate in the Central region, the weather at the end of the year is often cold and rainy, so after a week of rooting, the seedlings must be hung with light bulbs to increase the photoperiod. This is how gardeners do not let the flowers "sleep", stimulating the plants with light so that they can grow continuously.

Flower growing requires a lot of work, from soil preparation, seedling incubation, hoeing, pest control to monitoring growth to stimulate and inhibit growth at the right time, at the right time... For more than 3 months, every moment is important to the growth and development cycle of flowers. If growers are careless in any technical step, they can lose their family's main source of income for the year. After decades of working in the profession, each person learns from the other, each person equips themselves with knowledge and skills to have a higher yield in the next crop than the previous one. For example, this year, the rainy weather lasted for a long time, at the time of preparing to plant, people had to invest in buying plastic to cover the soil to ensure dryness; for areas that experience heavy rain after planting, they must stretch a 2-mm mesh net to tear the raindrops into small pieces, avoiding damaging the stems and leaves of the plants...

These days in Central America, garden after garden of green flowers are waiting to bloom and show off their colors. While taking advantage of installing additional light bulbs for the chrysanthemum beds that have just been planted for 7 days, Mr. Le Viet Thao (Central America hamlet) happily said: "On an area of ​​nearly 700m2 of this garden, last year my family planted 3 batches of chrysanthemums of various types, with a selling price of 2,500-3,000 VND/plant after deducting expenses, the income was more than 40 million VND. This year I continue to plant 8 different types of chrysanthemums, divided into many batches so that I can harvest flowers gradually from New Year's Day to the 15th day of the first lunar month.

Flower growing is not as simple as it seems. In addition to mastering the techniques of planting and caring, you must have favorable weather to ensure a profit. However, at this point, it is still too early to confirm the success or failure of a crop. But this year, the prolonged heavy rain and higher humidity will create an environment for fungal diseases to develop. I am afraid that the quality of the flowers will not be as good as last year. Because for chrysanthemums in particular, if the rain continues for a long time, the plants will be rooted and will not grow well."

It has been more than 20 years since the first flowers were planted on Hung Dong land. Flower growing has been a profession for the people for quite a long time, but it has become a movement and its area has been expanded since 1995; up to now, the whole commune has 80 households following the profession, producing on a stable area of ​​3.5 hectares annually. Depending on actual conditions, each household produces at least about 4,000 plants, large households up to over 20,000 plants, mainly consumed during the Lunar New Year. In order to increase economic value, in the past 3 years, in addition to traditional flowers, people have boldly invested in growing many high-class flowers such as lilies, orchids, tulips, etc.

Through many years of working in the profession, people's experience has gradually improved, especially their awareness of creating products closely linked to the consumer market. For example, for more than 4 years now, in order to have a stable source of income, in addition to producing flowers to serve the Tet market, they also provide flower varieties of all kinds, take care of and decorate the entire area in Ho Chi Minh Square... And to proactively source seeds for their families as well as meet the needs of people in the commune, taking advantage of technical funding and part of the capital from the North Central Agricultural Science Institute, Mr. Duong Van Hoa's family has boldly built a greenhouse to test the disease-free chrysanthemum breeding model on an area of ​​200m2.

Right from the first crop, Mr. Hoa was successful, selling more than 8,000 seedlings at 300 VND/plant, bringing in a significant income. "We compare the job of growing chrysanthemum seedlings to raising a baby. Choosing a satisfactory variety from Da Lat is considered a partial victory, the rest is not beyond the three words "water, fertilizer, need". To be successful in the breeding profession, you must know how to prevent pests and diseases, use appropriate lighting, and especially in the soil preparation stage, you must know how to mix fertilizers to ensure nutrition for the plants to grow. Then you must ensure drainage when encountering prolonged heavy rain, and enough moisture when the sun is hot. Only then will the seedlings grow, produce many strong shoots, and be able to be cut many times". - Mr. Hoa shared his experience.

Over the past decade, the profession of growing flowers and ornamental plants has become the strength of Nghi An commune (Vinh city), and is the main economic development direction of many households in the area. According to statistics, the whole commune currently has nearly 300 households following the profession, mainly concentrated in Kim Chi hamlet (130 households), Kim Phuc hamlet (100 households), Kim My hamlet (40 households)... Nghi An flowers are mainly chrysanthemums, roses, violets, and aster; there are currently 15 different types of chrysanthemums on the land of the people such as crystal chrysanthemums, white chrysanthemums, green-stamen chrysanthemums, lilies, silver chrysanthemums... Especially lilies, this type of flower is difficult to grow, requires a lot of care and high techniques but the profit is many times higher than other types of flowers, so many households have experimented with growing them. "This year, I just started planting 20 lily vases, each vase has 3 bulbs...

The planting method is different from other traditional flowers, because lilies grow in Da Lat with temperate weather, and are grown in greenhouses to actively adjust light, temperature and irrigation. When bringing this variety to my locality, I had to keep it in a closed room and use a spray bottle to water the plant. According to the experience of those who have gone before, an important factor for the flower to grow strong branches and have fresh flowers is to put the plant in the sun for about 1 hour a day to get light for photosynthesis. During the Lunar New Year, a ceramic pot with 3-5 plants brought into the inner city and sold for 150,000 - 200,000 VND/pot is easy to "make money". If the flowers bloom successfully this Tet, next year I will expand to increase my income" - Mr. Pham Van Thai in Kim Trung hamlet said.

From now until the Lunar New Year, flower and ornamental plant garden owners are actively taking care of and handling techniques to have flowers blooming at the right time. This year, the flower growing area in suburban villages has decreased compared to the same period last year due to unfavorable weather, floods and scarcity of seed supply (Hung Dong commune decreased from 3.5 ha to 2.7 ha; Nghi An commune decreased from 5.1 ha to 4 ha...). In addition, input costs have increased (chrysanthemum seeds alone increased from 280 VND to 350 VND/plant, lily seeds from 100,000 VND to 150,000 VND/bulb, growth stimulants increased from 5,000 - 8,000 VND/bottle compared to last year), so according to gardeners' predictions, flowers will likely be in short supply and the selling price will be higher than last year...

In addition to the factors of timely planting and meticulous care by garden owners, the flowers blooming on time for Tet also depends a lot on the weather. Therefore, flower growers are looking forward to the last days of the year with favorable weather and wind to have a prosperous Tet, and every family can celebrate the traditional Tet with more color and fragrance.

Ngoc Anh