Cold weather 'restraining' early blooming of peach blossoms, peach growers eagerly await Tet sales

Ms. Tran Thi Ha's family grows more than 200 peach trees. She is currently pruning peach branches. Photo: Viet Hung

The family of Ms. Tran Thi Ha in Minh Son village, Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu) planted more than 200 peach trees. With about 1 month left until the Lunar New Year 2021, her family's peach garden is growing well, and the flowers are expected to bloom in time for the upcoming Tet holiday.

Ms. Ha said that this year, peach growers in Tien Thuy commune are confident that they will have a good harvest because all peach trees in their gardens have lost their leaves about 10 days ago. In the past few days, the cold weather has been favorable for peach trees to bloom right on Tet holiday. If this weather continues until near Tet holiday, this year's peach crop will surely be a success.

If the cold weather lasts for the next 10 days, peach growers in Quynh Luu will have a good harvest this year. Photo: Viet Hung

Having been attached to the traditional peach tree for decades, Mr. Nguyen Van Binh in Tien Thuy commune happily said that last year, the warm and sunny weather at the end of the year caused his family's peach garden to bloom before Tet, causing his income to decrease significantly. With more than 100 peach trees, his peach garden has just finished stripping the leaves, and he is actively taking care of and pruning the branches to shape the peach trees to be more beautiful before selling them.

Peach blossoms in Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu) are waiting to bloom, and are expected to bloom in time for Tet if the weather turns cold. Photo: Viet Hung.

“If the cold weather lasts for about 10 days, this year’s peach blossom season will be a good one. The cold weather also slows down the blooming process. Based on my own experience, around the 20th to 23rd of Tet, for peach trees that have already opened buds, let them bloom naturally. For the late blooming trees, the family will stimulate buds to bloom using traditional methods such as watering with warm water or spraying chemicals. When growing peach blossoms, people only fear warm weather, but when it’s cold, they can easily stimulate blooming in many ways,” Mr. Binh shared.

Mr. Nguyen Van Uoc - Chairman of Tien Thuy Commune People's Committee (Quynh Luu) said that although it is a coastal commune, Tien Thuy has many households growing peach blossoms for decades, currently there are over 50 households growing with thousands of trees. Peach blossoms here are appreciated by customers for their beauty and bright colors. Every Tet holiday, traders from all over return to buy peach blossoms. In good harvest years, each household earns tens of millions of dong on average.

To make peach blossoms bloom in time for Tet, people strip peach leaves about a month before Tet. Photo: Viet Hung

Not only Tien Thuy commune, in Quynh Luu district, there are many communes growing peach blossoms such as Quynh Tan, Quynh Thang, Tan Thang... Since 2015, mountainous households have taken advantage of the opportunity to plant Tet peach trees to increase their family income. Since then, many families have invested and learned from many places about caring for and turning peach trees into commercial trees.