The lunar New Year (Tet) will come in one month but many peach trees in the Nhat Tan flower garden, Hanoi, begin blooming, even in the cold weather.
Growers of peach and kumquat worry about bad weather, slow sales
Peach and kumquat growers in Hanoi have been worried about the cold weather, which has seriously affected the development of the trees and led to slow sales as Tet nears.
Nguyen Van Viet, one of the biggest peach growers in Nhat Tan Village, said one month away from Tet will come, frost and cold weather has been affecting the blossoms of his trees.
“Pretty much one out of six peach trees in my garden have died,” he said, adding that the unusual weather in recent years has caused great losses for many peach growers. In 2011 cold weather caused the majority of peach trees to blossom after Tet. The year after that, the trees that did blossom were two weeks late.
Mr. Long, the owner of a big peach orchard in Nhat Tan Village, said that there was early blossoming due to unfavourable weather, and that up to 20%-30% of peach trees would die this year, but the situation could get worse if frost comes early.
He added that local growers have received many orders, but not on the scale of previous years.
Not only have peach growers been feeling the wrath of weather, but kumquat growers have as well. They are also worried over revenues for this year. Some insects have also been attacking their trees.
Nguyen Van Lam, who grows around 500 kamquat trees in Tay Ho District’s Tu Lien Ward, said he invested hundreds of millions of VND, not including the funds for fertilizer, and only hoped that he could recover the cost for seedlings.
This year at least 30% of kumquat growing areas in Tu Lien Ward are expected to be affected by bad weather.
According to farmers in Nhat Tan Village and Tu Lien Ward, however, the prices of kumquat and peach flower might not be as high.
Dang Van Dong, Director of the Centre for Flowers and Ornamental Plants Research, said that the limited stunting of peach flowers and kumquats just due to changing weather conditions but also the growers.
Many farmers do not invest enough in their orchards, he claimed. A number of orchards have not yet been given new soil for the past decade, which inevitably affects the development of trees, Dong added.
Some pictures of the Nhat Tan flower village, Hanoi:
 Tran Viet Tuan, 37, a farmer in the flower village of Nhat Tan, with his peach trees.
Despite prolonged cold weather, Nhat Tan peach trees still bloom thanks to the sunlight. Tuan said some peach trees have blossomed but Nhat Tan gardeners do not worry because the weather is very cold so peach blossoms will still bloom at the right time.
Many peach trees have been ordered for the Tet holiday. The leasing price is from VND10-20 million ($500-1,000) for big and beautiful trees.
Some ancient peach trees are leased at the price of VND40-50 million ($2,000-2,500). Nhat Tan gardeners say that they would not sell these trees at any price. One month before Tet is the hardest time for the gardeners because they have keep track of the development of peach trees to urge flowers bloom at the right time.
Watering is the most important measure to take care and intervene on the growth of peach trees.
Peach trees are covered with plastic pieces to retain heat. This is one of the strong intervention measures to the growth of the trees.
Plastic wraps keep the heat and humidity and induce buds.
Mr. Tran Quoc Toan, 50, said this peach tree could not yield flowers for this Tet so he had to cut it to keep the root for next year.
Mr. Nguyen Bac Thai, 61, makes a graft for next year.
Peach branches are sold at the Quang Ba Flower Market, located outside the village of Nhat Tan.
This year’s Tet does not come yet but Nhat Tan gardeners have prepared peach trees for the next Tet.
Despite many modern methods to intervene in the development process of peach trees, weather is still the determinant for the right-time blossoming of peach flowers at Tet. |
Peach blossoms bloom early in Hanoi’s cold
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