Quynh Luu farmers use lamps to plant flowers for Tet

At night in Hong Phu flower village, Quynh Hong commune, electric lights illuminate the whole sky. At the same time, people rush to the fields to plant and care for Tet flowers. Under the light of electric lights, Ms. Ho Thi Hang in hamlet 3, Quynh Hong commune is concentrating on planting 7,000 yellow chrysanthemums.

Ms. Hang said: “Every year, at the end of the ninth lunar month, my family plants flowers for Tet. These past few days, the weather has been sunny during the day, so it is not very favorable for planting. Therefore, I take advantage of the night to go to the field to plant and care for the flowers to quickly take root. In 3 days, my family has planted 3,000 chrysanthemums, and the remaining 4,000 will be completed in the next few days. The newly planted flower beds are watered regularly and covered with tarps to prevent the flowers from wilting. After 3 - 3.5 months of planting, the flowers will be ready for harvest.”

According to flower growers, this year the price of seeds has decreased, so people are excited to increase the planting area. Last year, each flower seedling cost 530 VND, but this year it has decreased to 400 VND/root (a decrease of 130 VND/root).

Ms. Tran Thi Quang, a flower grower in Hong Phu village, Quynh Hong commune, said that this year her family planted 10,000 chrysanthemum seedlings and the cost of buying the seedlings was 4 million VND, a decrease of 1.3 million VND compared to last year. The price of seedlings has decreased, so people in the area are sticking to their fields and increasing the planting area. In addition, many households have also imported many other flower varieties such as lilies, gladiolus, and various colored chrysanthemums...

According to people's experience, in recent years, after 3-5 days of planting flowers, people start hanging light bulbs to stimulate the flowers to grow as desired, at the same time this method also warms the flowers when the weather turns cold. When the flowers have grown well, people will stop turning on the lights.

Mr. Ho Huu Khang, a flower grower in Hong Phu village, Quynh Hong commune, said: This flower crop, his family planted 10,000 yellow chrysanthemums. After 3 days of planting, the family hung light bulbs all over the field to light up and stimulate the flowers to grow. The cost of buying the light bulbs was about 3 million VND, if well preserved, they can be used for many crops.

“Experience over the years has shown that using light bulbs helps flowers grow well, with fewer pests and diseases, and larger flowers. When the flowers reach the bud stage, the lights are turned off so that the plants bloom in time for Tet. According to the weather forecast, this year will be cold late, so households will likely turn off the lights earlier than previous years,” said Mr. Khang.

Hong Phu flower village currently has more than 200 households growing flowers, of which 130 households specialize in growing flowers. Entering this year's flower season, people are preparing conditions in terms of land, varieties and techniques, and at the same time introducing new flower varieties to increase value such as lilies, tulips, roses, raspberries, azaleas, etc.

Mr. Le Sy Thanh - Chairman of the People's Committee of Quynh Hong Commune (Quynh Luu) said: The flower growing profession in the locality has existed for a long time. From a small number of households, it has now developed into hundreds of households. In particular, the experience of people in flower growing has also been improved when applying scientific and technical advances in production. From flower growing, people earn from 50 to 100 million VND each year.

The entire Quynh Luu district currently has over 12 hectares of flower growing area concentrated in the communes of Quynh Bang, Quynh Hong, Quynh Chau, An Hoa... Every time Tet comes, this place supplies the market with millions of flower plants of all kinds, bringing high income to local people./.