Thai Hoa flower village is busy during Tet season

Mr. Nguyen Van Le's family in Dong Hoa hamlet, Nghia Hoa commune (Thai Hoa town) has more than 15 years of experience growing flowers. With 4 sao of land converted from growing sugarcane and cassava, he grows 40,000 to 50,000 chrysanthemums, all 10 colors of chrysanthemums, each year earning 70 - 80 million VND/Tet crop, which is much higher than growing sugarcane.

Mr. Nguyen Van Le in Dong Hoa hamlet, Nghia Hoa commune (Thai Hoa town) takes care of the chrysanthemum garden. Photo: Minh Thai

Mr. Le grows flowers all year round, 3-4 crops a year to sell on full moon days, holidays, and Tet. Now that Tet is only a month away, and the weather is cold, he is especially concerned about taking care of this chrysanthemum garden, from watering, catching insects, spraying root and branch stimulants to warming the plants so that the flowers bloom at the right time.

"Around the beginning of October, my family started preparing the land and planting seeds to harvest in mid-December for the Lunar New Year. This year, the weather is more favorable than in previous years, the weather is cool so the flowers grow quickly and beautifully" - Mr. Nguyen Van Le shared.

To have big, beautiful chrysanthemums, gardeners cut off the low-growing buds. Photo: Minh Thai

According to flower growers here, every year, at the beginning of the 10th lunar month, they start planting marigolds, lilies, gladiolus...; the flower seeds are mostly purchased from the Central Institute of Plants, this year pink, yellow, and red lilies are purchased at 22,000 - 25,000 VND/bulb. For chrysanthemums, most people keep their own seeds selected from the previous crop.

Ms. Le Thi An - a flower grower in Nghia Hoa commune said, to have flowers to sell in time for Tet, the most important thing is to wait for the right time to turn on the lights for the plants to bloom, about a month before Tet; after turning off the lights 15 days, cut off the buds growing below. Besides, the process of care and fertilization also requires personal experience, ensuring the right amount of water and fertilizer for the flowers and plants.

Ms. Le Thi An in Nghia Hoa commune takes care of lilies to sell during the traditional Tet holiday. Photo: Minh Thai

For chrysanthemums, growers must regularly check the growth rate and create a canopy by pinching the tops so that the plants develop many branches. Flower growing requires meticulousness, diligence, hard work and no shortage of hardship. However, the economic value brought by flower growing compensates for the hardships of farmers. In Thai Hoa town, in addition to Nghia Hoa commune, flowers are also commonly grown in Nghia Thuan commune and Long Son and Quang Tien wards with a total area of ​​about 5 hectares. The Tet flower season is expected by many growers because this is the main crop of the year.

With more than a month left until Lunar New Year, flower fields in Thai Hoa town promise high income. Photo: Minh Thai

Currently, according to many agents specializing in selling fresh flowers, they have to import large quantities of Tet flowers from other localities, and the limitation is that the transportation process makes the flowers easily broken and crushed. Therefore, a large amount of flowers in the area is still needed to facilitate business operations to serve the Lunar New Year market.