Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The unreasonably warm winter hascaused up to 80 percent of the peach blossom (dao) trees in the capital city’smajor peach blossom gardens to bloom prematurely, well ahead of the Tet(traditional Lunar New Year) holiday for which they are an indispensabledecoration.
Pink shades of peach blossoms flowers have covered major gardens in Hanoi.While tourists snapped away at the pretty blooms, garden owners looked worried.They knew their prematurely flowering trees would not sell for Tetcelebrations. Several decided to cut branches from the peach blossom trees andsell them at low prices.
“It will be more profitable to sell a whole tree,” said Nguyen Thi Phuong, a peachblossom grower in the famous peach blossom Nhat Tan ward. “But once they havebloomed, we will lose even more money if we don’t sell them by branch.”
Phuong is trying to sell as many branches as she can to make up for the devaluationof the prematurely flowered trees. She sold each branch for 50,000 VND (2.2USD) instead of 100,000-150,000 VND (4.4-4.6 USD) as in previous year.
“The most well-formed branches can be sold at only 100,000-200,000 VND eachinstead of 300,000-500,000 VND like last year,” said Do Van Hien, owner of apeach blossom garden.
Peach blossom gardens in the northern province of Hai Duong are alsodisappointed with the thousands of prematurely flowering peach blossom trees.
Standing in a 4ha plot of 3,000 peach blossom trees that he had been growing forthe entire year, Le Van Nam in Hai Duong city’s Thach Khoi ward sighed at thesight of the blooms. “It cost me some 1 billion VND (44,400 USD) to grow thisgarden,” he said. “Now I can regain only 20 percent of that.”
The demand for peach blossom has not risen since Tet will only be celebrated onJanuary 28. Only five customers had visited Nam’s garden to either pay adeposit or rent trees.
The tree price fluctuates every year and depends on the appearance of thetrunks. The most well-formed trees can be sold at 2-3 million VND each.
Due to inefficient rice cultivation, several households in the ward switched togrowing peace blossom trees this year, increasing their area by 10ha, said PhamQuang Hiep, chairman of the ward People’s Committee.
The premature blooming makes customers think the flowers will not remain andbeautiful by the time of Tet, he added.
“Five-to-six years old, well-formed peach blossom trees can be sold for 100million VND,” Hiep said. “But this year’s sales might be 50 percent lower.”
Farmers in neighbouring Gia Loc district’s Lien Hong commune are experiencingthe same problem. Vu Vinh Tuan, Chairman of the communal People’s Committee,said that at least 50 percent of the commune’s peach blossom gardens will failto sell this year.
“By this time of year in the past, farmers started transporting the trees tosell in the south,” he said. “This year they probably can’t”.
But other peach garden owners in Hanoi appeared more positive, saying they willbe able to prevent the peach from blooming if a cold snap occurs from now toTet.
With branches that have only sprouted small buds, they try to regulate theirgrowth by not watering them too much so that the flowers will bloom during theholiday.
Nguyen Hoang Mai, a resident of the capital’s Hoang Mai district, bought fivepeach blossom branches last week to decorate her house and office because of thelow prices.
Tuan Dinh, a resident of Dong Da district who buys peach blossom branches fordecoration every year, said he is not worried about the prematurely floweringpeach blossom trees. “This is not the first hot Tet in Hanoi and a cold snap iscoming in a few days,” he said.
“I think farmers are using different techniques to slow the flowering,” headded. “I’m confident that we will still have nice peach blossom branches forthe festival.”-VNA
Pink shades of peach blossoms flowers have covered major gardens in Hanoi.While tourists snapped away at the pretty blooms, garden owners looked worried.They knew their prematurely flowering trees would not sell for Tetcelebrations. Several decided to cut branches from the peach blossom trees andsell them at low prices.
“It will be more profitable to sell a whole tree,” said Nguyen Thi Phuong, a peachblossom grower in the famous peach blossom Nhat Tan ward. “But once they havebloomed, we will lose even more money if we don’t sell them by branch.”
Phuong is trying to sell as many branches as she can to make up for the devaluationof the prematurely flowered trees. She sold each branch for 50,000 VND (2.2USD) instead of 100,000-150,000 VND (4.4-4.6 USD) as in previous year.
“The most well-formed branches can be sold at only 100,000-200,000 VND eachinstead of 300,000-500,000 VND like last year,” said Do Van Hien, owner of apeach blossom garden.
Peach blossom gardens in the northern province of Hai Duong are alsodisappointed with the thousands of prematurely flowering peach blossom trees.
Standing in a 4ha plot of 3,000 peach blossom trees that he had been growing forthe entire year, Le Van Nam in Hai Duong city’s Thach Khoi ward sighed at thesight of the blooms. “It cost me some 1 billion VND (44,400 USD) to grow thisgarden,” he said. “Now I can regain only 20 percent of that.”
The demand for peach blossom has not risen since Tet will only be celebrated onJanuary 28. Only five customers had visited Nam’s garden to either pay adeposit or rent trees.
The tree price fluctuates every year and depends on the appearance of thetrunks. The most well-formed trees can be sold at 2-3 million VND each.
Due to inefficient rice cultivation, several households in the ward switched togrowing peace blossom trees this year, increasing their area by 10ha, said PhamQuang Hiep, chairman of the ward People’s Committee.
The premature blooming makes customers think the flowers will not remain andbeautiful by the time of Tet, he added.
“Five-to-six years old, well-formed peach blossom trees can be sold for 100million VND,” Hiep said. “But this year’s sales might be 50 percent lower.”
Farmers in neighbouring Gia Loc district’s Lien Hong commune are experiencingthe same problem. Vu Vinh Tuan, Chairman of the communal People’s Committee,said that at least 50 percent of the commune’s peach blossom gardens will failto sell this year.
“By this time of year in the past, farmers started transporting the trees tosell in the south,” he said. “This year they probably can’t”.
But other peach garden owners in Hanoi appeared more positive, saying they willbe able to prevent the peach from blooming if a cold snap occurs from now toTet.
With branches that have only sprouted small buds, they try to regulate theirgrowth by not watering them too much so that the flowers will bloom during theholiday.
Nguyen Hoang Mai, a resident of the capital’s Hoang Mai district, bought fivepeach blossom branches last week to decorate her house and office because of thelow prices.
Tuan Dinh, a resident of Dong Da district who buys peach blossom branches fordecoration every year, said he is not worried about the prematurely floweringpeach blossom trees. “This is not the first hot Tet in Hanoi and a cold snap iscoming in a few days,” he said.
“I think farmers are using different techniques to slow the flowering,” headded. “I’m confident that we will still have nice peach blossom branches forthe festival.”-VNA
VNA
