Nghe An farmers take care of peach trees "to welcome Tet"

Tien Thuy is a coastal commune with the main occupation being seafood exploitation, however, this is also a land famous for beautiful peach blossoms. To serve the needs of customers, households are currently focusing on taking care of and stripping leaves so that the flowers bloom in time for Tet.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoi, the largest peach grower in Tien Thuy commune, said that since 2011, his family has specialized in growing peach blossoms to sell to local people and visitors from Vinh city, Dien Chau, Thanh Hoa... With nearly 1 hectare of garden land, the family currently has nearly 200 peach trees, of which about 60 are peach trees that are being meticulously cared for to grow well.

Peach growers in Tien Thuy are pruning excess branches to create momentum for buds and flowers to develop. Photo: Viet Hung.

“Not everyone can grow peach blossoms, they depend entirely on the weather and require special care techniques. The weather is currently cold so the leaves can be stripped earlier. Peach trees are usually stripped at the beginning of the 12th lunar month; while peach trees are stripped 5 days earlier,” said Mr. Hoi.

Tien Thuy commune currently has about 30 peach growing households supplying the market with over 1,000 peach trees and branches each year. Compared to other peach growing areas in the province, peach blossoms in Tien Thuy are considered beautiful, with many flower buds, especially many tree trunks that resemble stone peach trees in the highlands.

Peach trees in Tien Thuy have large trees that look like wild peach trees. Photo: Viet Hung

Mr. Tran Van Hue said: “Although growing and caring for peach blossoms is not as hard as agricultural crops, it requires the grower to be skillful, meticulous and meticulous, knowing how to calculate the weather to divide the pruning and care stages. At this time, my family is taking care of, pruning and stripping peach leaves to stimulate the flowers to bloom in time for Tet. The average selling price of a peach tree is from 400,000 to 500,000 VND. In particular, a beautiful tree can be sold for millions. During Tet, customers from everywhere come to buy, the income from selling peach trees is about 60 - 80 million VND/year”.

Quynh Luu currently has more than 30 households growing peach blossoms for Tet. Photo: Viet Hung

Not only farmers in Tien Thuy commune take care of peach blossoms to "welcome Tet", but now households in mountainous communes such as Quynh Thang, Tan Thang, Quynh Tan... are also busy pruning and growing leaves for peach blossoms. Compared to other agricultural crops, growing peach blossoms for Tet brings high income, so people have focused on investing. In the middle of the 12th lunar month, peach blossom villages in Quynh Luu began to bustle with people and vehicles coming to buy. Not only local customers, many traders from the two neighboring provinces of Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh also came to the peach gardens in Quynh Luu to buy in large quantities.

Mr. Le Van Luan, a peach blossom grower in Quynh Thang commune, said: "During Tet, beautiful peach trees that meet all three criteria: buds, flowers and shoots will be purchased by traders at very high prices from 1.5 million to 2 million VND/tree, the rest will have an average price of 300 thousand VND to 1 million VND/tree. Although Tet is still more than a month away, traders have already placed orders."

According to peach blossom growers, this year the weather is quite favorable so the peach blossoms are growing well. If the warm weather lasts from now until Tet, people will proactively strip the leaves later, but if the cold weather lasts, they will mound the roots and water with warm water to ensure the flower buds develop normally.

It is known that to meet customer demand, more than 3,000 peach blossom trees planted in Quynh Luu are ready for the season. During Tet, peach growers will have an average income of 50 million VND/household.

Every Tet holiday, many households in Quynh Luu have additional income from peach blossoms. Photo: Viet Hung