The ups and downs of Tet peach blossoms

(Baonghean) - Displaying peach blossoms has become a favorite pastime for Vietnamese people during the traditional Lunar New Year. To obtain these "spring gifts," peach growers must carefully nurture and cherish their trees, while peach traders must also put in a great deal of effort to find the perfect branches.

Nam Anh (Nam Dan district) is a vegetable-growing commune, but only Hamlet 9 – located at the foot of Dai Tue mountain – has a flower cultivation industry. Peach trees have been in this area for a long time, but in the past, they grew naturally, and people would cut one or two branches to display during Tet (Lunar New Year). However, in the last ten years or so, peach blossoms have become valuable, so the people of Hamlet 9 have learned to cultivate them commercially. And many people have become well-off from this profession.

In early December, many peach trees in Hamlet 9 began to bud. Those unfamiliar with peach cultivation believe this is too early, as Tet (Lunar New Year) is still more than twenty days away. However, Phan Van Toan, a peach tree grower with nearly ten years of experience, asserts: The peach trees must bloom now to bear fruit by Tet. He explains that from the beginning of December until Tet, the peach trees must bloom at least three times, with the first blooms eventually developing into fruit. This ensures that the Nam Anh peach branches will have a full complement of leaves, flowers, and fruit – exactly what peach tree enthusiasts seek.

This year, Mr. Toán's family's peach orchard has nearly 50 trees, the tallest of which is approximately over two meters high. Compared to other crops, peach cultivation requires less land, lower costs due to minimal fertilizer, and is easy to care for, so just planting a few trees in the garden each year can bring in millions of dong. However, to ensure the peach trees grow evenly and produce beautiful flowers, growers need a lot of experience, as Mr. Toán explains: "Peach trees have quite a few pests, especially stem borers, so you have to be careful to prevent them from developing. During the leaf-blooming season, usually from March to April, you have to strip the leaves. If the branches are small and not thick, they won't produce large, beautiful flowers." To make it easier for customers to choose, this year, in addition to the traditional peach varieties of the region, Mr. Toán also brought in peach varieties from Thanh Hoa province because Thanh Hoa peaches are characterized by large, bright pink flowers. However, to suit the taste of people in Nghe An, he doesn't shape the peach trees but lets them grow naturally. Typically, it takes 2 to 3 years of care for a peach tree before it can be harvested. A well-developed tree can produce 2 to 3 branches. From the second harvest season onwards, it only takes one year. A single peach branch sells for 500,000 to 1,000,000 VND at the garden. His family has never had to take them to the market because peach traders come to place orders at the garden between the 15th and 20th of Tet (Lunar New Year), and the most beautiful branches are ordered months in advance.

The peach orchard of Mr. Toán's family in Nam Anh (Nam Đàn).

Quite far from Mr. Toán's house is the peach orchard of Mr. Phan Tất Dương's family. This is also the family with the longest experience in growing peach trees in Nam Anh, with nearly 100 trees divided into two gardens. Mr. Dương said that his maternal grandfather in Quỳ Hợp gave him a peach tree to plant for Tet (Lunar New Year) celebrations. Unexpectedly, the soil here is suitable for growing beautiful peaches, no different from those in the mountainous regions. From peaches only used as gifts for relatives, he now has a rather impressive peach orchard for customers to choose from. Besides the native peach trees, in recent years he has also gone to great lengths to find the Laotian "rock peach" variety to plant to satisfy discerning customers. The native peach trees mingle with the rock peach trees in the garden, hoping for warmer weather to showcase their spring beauty and attract those who appreciate them.

According to Mr. Tran Van Nam, Head of the Agriculture Department of Nam Anh commune, there are currently about 150 households growing peach trees in the commune. Depending on their circumstances, some people grow a little, others grow a lot, but compared to peach trees in other regions, peach trees in Nam Anh are generally "domesticated," easy to grow, and rarely suffer from crop failure. Therefore, even if a family only grows about a dozen peach trees, they can still earn a considerable amount of money during Tet (Lunar New Year). This is only a secondary occupation, requiring little labor, so in recent years, people have spontaneously started growing more and more, and its economic effectiveness is increasingly being proven. Peach tree traders often choose Nam Anh peach trees or other native peach varieties that are abundant in Nghia Dan, Quynh Luu, and Quy Hop districts because they rarely incur losses. For example, this past Tet, due to the prolonged cold weather, wild peach trees and rock peach trees were unable to bloom, so native peach trees "took center stage" because they had many leaves, buds, and flowers.

However, when talking about valuable peach trees, it must be the wild peach variety, characterized by its gnarled trunk and branches, natural shape, large flowers, thick petals, and long-lasting blooms, often found in Ky Son, even extending into Laos, Sa Pa, and other provinces in the Northwest region. Experienced traders, if lucky enough to find a beautiful tree, can make a profit of 40 times their initial investment on just one tree. And when it comes to wild peaches, Nghi An (Nghi Loc) is particularly noteworthy, as two-thirds of the peaches supplied to the Vinh market during the Lunar New Year season are from this region. Currently, more than half of the communes in this area are involved in trading Lao peaches, with the highest concentration in Hamlet 3. And there are many successful traders, such as Mr. Nhi, Mr. Truyen, Mr. Tuan, and Mr. Khoa.

“Talking about the peach blossom trading business, there are many stories, both happy and sad. But the most thrilling are the trips to the Northwest or across the border into Laos to ‘hunt’ for wild peach blossoms. To prepare for a trip, it takes at least a week, and usually, people have to go in groups to avoid danger,” confided Mr. Le Cuong, from Hamlet 3, Nghi An Commune, one of the veteran traders on the Noong Het route (Xieng Khouang - Laos). The peach blossom trading business has different challenges over time. In the past, when peach blossoms were abundant, people only started their journeys around the 20th of Tet (Lunar New Year). Back then, peach blossoms were easy to buy, so only large branches were sold for money; smaller branches were given away for free. However, the roads were difficult to travel, and hiring vehicles was also challenging, so not many people were interested. Now, with improved roads and convenient border crossings between the two countries, not only peach blossom traders from Nghe An but also traders from other northern provinces are going to Laos to find peach blossoms. Therefore, to find large, beautiful peach blossom branches, people like Mr. Cuong have to venture into remote villages, where in some places "the whole village runs out to see a car arrive" just to have a chance of finding one. The price of a branch is not as cheap as before, and people have learned to haggle; if you hesitate, someone else will snatch it up – Mr. Cuong continued. In Laos, they don't sell peach blossom branches like in Vietnam, but in bundles. You pay whatever price the locals set; you don't have the right to choose. So, sometimes in a bundle, there are only a few beautiful branches left, and the rest are just "wood."

In 2012, Mr. Cuong could be considered lucky because he sold a peach blossom branch for 45 million VND, but the entire Nghi An commune suffered a disastrous year last year, with estimated losses of 5-7 billion VND, according to Mr. Dang Minh Ngan (Hamlet 3). This loss was due to the cold weather last year, causing the peach blossoms to bloom late. Many families spent tens of millions of VND buying peach blossoms, hoping they would bloom by Tet, but no matter how much they tried to encourage them to bloom close to Tet, they remained barren. Even Mr. Ngan's three sons, despite their years of experience, only the eldest son "succeeded," while the others lost millions of VND. Surprisingly, despite the unpredictable nature of the peach blossom trading business, the people of Nghi An remained undeterred, regardless of whether they won or lost the previous year. In the new year, the people of Nghi An are once again enthusiastic, pooling all their capital to continue trading peach blossoms. Students also take advantage of this time to go home and do part-time work; they can earn between 50,000 and 100,000 VND for each peach blossom branch sold.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication put into cultivating these spring flowers, the peach blossoms sometimes reward those who work hard. According to locals, the highest price ever recorded in Nghi An was 60 million dong for a peach tree, sold by Mr. Nghinh to a wealthy businessman in Vinh last year. Peach trees priced at 30-40 million dong are common every year. Experienced peach tree traders with many beautiful and unique trees don't even need to sell them at flower markets; as soon as the trees arrive, discerning buyers automatically seek them out. The joy of trading peach blossoms also lies in finding kindred spirits. For example, if the buyer and seller are compatible and share a love for the same peach blossom variety, they might even pass on the price if it's cheap. Or sometimes, they know the peach blossoms are beautiful and unique, but they wait forever without finding a buyer. Such is the mix of joy and sorrow, giving peach tree growers and traders a kind of "addiction," viewing it as a way to enjoy spring. And so, despite enduring the harsh sun and rain in the peach orchards, or having to eat and sleep on the streets while searching for peach blossoms, they still feel optimistic and happy because they are bringing spring to every home.

My Ha - Khanh Ly