Caring for trees to get good prices at the beginning of the season

High price at the beginning of the season

Mr. Lam Tan Duoc in Hung Thinh hamlet, Loc Thinh commune, Loc Ninh district grows 1.3 hectares of rambutan, of which 1 hectare of Tien Cuong rambutan variety has been harvested for the third year. Tien Cuong rambutan belongs to the Thai rambutan variety, with many outstanding advantages such as clusters of fruit, many fruits, large, sweet, crispy flesh, firm flesh, less rotten fruit, completely peeled flesh. Despite many advantages, Tien Cuong rambutan is rarely grown by gardeners in Binh Phuoc. Last year's crop, Mr. Duoc harvested 15 tons of fruit, the price at the beginning of the season was 40,000 VND/kg, the price at the end of the season was only half. If the average selling price is 20,000 VND/kg for the whole crop, Mr. Duoc earned about 300 million VND, minus expenses, about 230 million VND. Mr. Duoc excitedly shared: “The price at the beginning of the season is always higher than at the end of the season. If we do it early and harvest early, we will make a lot of profit. Waiting until the rambutan season is in full swing will make the price cheaper. Therefore, this year I treated the rambutan tree to flower early.”

Mr. Lam Tan Duoc's rambutan garden in Hung Thinh hamlet, Loc Thinh commune, Loc Ninh district is in full bloom and bearing young fruit.

Mr. Lai Thanh Nhon in Thanh An hamlet, Thanh Luong commune, Binh Long town has 1 hectare of yellow longan. His family also sold the longan at a high price thanks to proactive care and early investment. In the 2024 crop season, due to the hot weather, the garden had a bad harvest and only yielded 4 tons of fruit, but the early season selling price was high, 40,000 VND/kg. If the average selling price for the whole season is 30,000 VND/kg, Mr. Nhon earned 120 million VND before deducting expenses. Since switching from regular longan to yellow longan, Mr. Nhon's family has had a more stable income than before.

Proactive care

At the end of the rainy season, November last year, Mr. Duoc fertilized the rambutan tree with enough nutrients. When the rain stopped, he watered the garden for 15-20 days. After stopping watering the tree, if you observe the leaves wilting and the top buds shrinking like match heads, then water the tree. The amount of water is 1/3 of the tree's needs, watering again after 2 days will help the tree bloom. When the flowers have sprouted about 60-70%, water the tree again. With this treatment, the rambutan tree will bloom concentratedly and 2-3 weeks earlier than usual. Mr. Duoc shared: “Depending on the weather and soil conditions of each region, appropriate tree care techniques are applied. Every year, I gain more experience in taking care of rambutan trees. To process early flowering, one must understand the growth process of the tree. In this area, the rain often stops early, so I do it early so that the trees can be harvested earlier than other gardens. This year, the amount of flowers in the garden is very good, certainly giving a higher yield than the previous crop.”

Mr. Lai Thanh Nhon (middle) in Thanh An hamlet, Thanh Luong commune, Binh Long town, processes longan garden to flower and bear fruit early to receive high prices at the beginning of the season.

According to Mr. Duoc, Tien Cuong rambutan has the advantage of being easy to grow, easy to care for, has few pests and diseases and is sold at a higher price than other types of rambutan. Each rambutan tree can yield 40-70kg in the 5th year. Every year, Mr. Duoc often processes the trees to flower and bear fruit early to sell at a higher price. This year's rambutan season is expected to be harvested in the middle of the 4th lunar month, about 20 days earlier than the main crop.

In addition to care techniques, choosing tree varieties that are popular in the market is also a factor that contributes to high economic efficiency for gardeners. Previously, when growing regular longan varieties, Mr. Nhon harvested 8-10 tons of fruit/ha per year, with a selling price of 8,000-10,000 VND/kg. Because of the low selling price, 6 years ago, Mr. Nhon decided to switch to growing yellow rice longan. This is a longan variety with many advantages over the regular longan varieties he had grown before.

We visited Mr. Nhon's longan garden, which was blooming at the same time, many trees had set young fruit. To make the longan trees bloom early, from the end of the 11th lunar month of the previous year when the rain had just stopped, Mr. Nhon applied the process of tightening water, fertilizing to stimulate the trees to sprout new shoots, and differentiate flower buds. Mr. Nhon shared: "The 5th lunar month is the harvest season of many types of fruits in different regions, such as rambutan in Dong Nai province, lychee in the North, durian in the province and the Western provinces... I try to process the longan trees to bloom early so that they do not overlap with the harvest season of other fruits and sell them at a high price."

Previously, Thanh An Hamlet, Thanh Luong Commune was considered the "capital" of longan growing in Binh Phuoc Province, with a total area of ​​about 450 hectares. After many years of falling prices, farmers have had difficulty selling longan, and many households have switched to other crops. The area for growing longan in the area has gradually narrowed, now only 127 hectares, of which about 40 hectares are yellow longan. According to many households growing longan, the common longan variety is no longer suitable, old orchards have low productivity, low selling prices, while yellow longan trees have a very high selling price and are popular in the market. In fact, households growing yellow longan have a good income, opening up a new direction for farmers.

Source: https://baobinhphuoc.com.vn/news/4/171363/cham-soc-cay-don-gia-dau-vu