Despite the unfavorable weather, many gardeners still meticulously take care of ornamental flowers every day to supply the Tet market, planting new varieties and diversifying designs.
Under the early morning sunlight, Mr. Doan Huu Bon, Deputy Head of Pho Tho - Ba Bo Ornamental Flower Village (Can Tho City), moves gently among the lush green flower pots. In about a month, the flowers will bloom brilliantly to supply the Lunar New Year market in 2025.
Plant less but more
"This year, the number of Tet flowers supplied by the craft village to the market has decreased significantly compared to the previous two years. Many years ago, some gardeners planted 10,000 pots, but this year they only have 2,000 pots. Last year, during Tet, many people chose to buy cheap flowers, while flowers from 100,000 VND/pot or more were very difficult to sell. This year, most gardeners switched to growing mid-range products with diverse designs," said Mr. Bon.
Mr. Bon's family only grows 2,000 pots, including marigolds, chrysanthemums, and especially the new variety of Korean red and purple chrysanthemums that are popular in the market. Although the quantity grown is smaller than in previous years, he said that at this time, there have been no traders coming to place orders.
Mr. Doan Huu Bon in Pho Tho - Ba Bo Ornamental Flower Village is busy taking care of flowers to sell during Tet. Photo: CA LINH
According to Mr. Tran Van Se (living in Binh Thuy district, Can Tho city), this year the rain has been prolonged, the plants are flooded, so there are many diseases, malnutrition, so more fertilizer must be used. Mr. Se is famous in this flower village because he is the one who makes the "long-legged chrysanthemum" product that is popular in the Tet market.
"I planted 200 pots of these chrysanthemums, but due to the weather, I'm only successful in growing 100 pots. The flowers won't bloom as beautifully as last year," Mr. Se worried.
According to the Economic Department of Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province, on the occasion of Lunar New Year this year, local gardeners are expected to supply the market with about 75,000 baskets of raspberry chrysanthemums; 100,000 baskets of Taiwanese chrysanthemums; 100,000 baskets of colored raspberry chrysanthemums (Korean chrysanthemums)... In addition to flowers, Sa Dec also supplies ornamental plants, such as kumquats, fruit trees, ornamental grapes... The total area for growing flowers and ornamental plants in Sa Dec continues to be around 100 hectares. This year, the weather is not favorable, but gardeners have a lot of experience so it does not greatly affect production.
Up to this point, in Sa Dec, the price of ornamental flowers has begun to increase compared to previous months. According to Mr. Ta Van Canh - residing in Tan Khanh Dong commune, Sa Dec city - currently his family's 1,400 baskets of double gerbera daisies are growing well. From now until Tet, the family will focus on taking care of and lighting the plants to ensure the quality of the flowers.
Avoid excess
Binh Thuy District Agricultural Extension Station, Can Tho City informs that in order to produce quality ornamental flowers and attract customers, the station strives to support gardeners throughout the process of planting, caring for and consuming. The station regularly monitors and forecasts the consumption situation to gardeners to balance the planting output reasonably, avoiding the situation of excess goods.
According to Mr. Dang Thanh Hai - Deputy Director of Tan Quy Dong Flower and Ornamental Plants Cooperative, Sa Dec City - about 80% of the unit's members have planted flowers and ornamental plants to prepare for Tet with varieties such as roses, gerbera daisies, Tiger daisies... The price of input materials has increased, so the cooperative has proactively combined the use of biological products to improve the resistance of plants and reduce production costs; at the same time, it has proactively researched and applied social networks to introduce and promote flowers and ornamental plants.
Meanwhile, Mr. Tran Huu Nghi, Deputy Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Cho Lach District (Ben Tre Province), said that the locality is expected to supply 8-10 million products to the Tet flower market, an increase of 10%-15% compared to Tet 2024. To date, 50%-60% of the number of flowers have been ordered. Recently, in Cho Lach, there was a situation where tens of thousands of pots of raspberry chrysanthemums did not produce buds, so gardeners removed them and switched to growing other short-term flowers to sell in time for Tet.
Sow twice
According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Lam Dong province, the estimated area of flowers grown to serve the Tet market in the area is about 3,800 hectares of flowers of all kinds, mainly in Da Lat city and the districts of Don Duong, Duc Trong, Lac Duong, Lam Ha. Of which, potted flowers for Tet are about 7 million pots; cut flowers are about 1.5 billion branches.
With just over a month left until Tet, gardeners in Lam Dong have been urgently planting flowers for the past 10 days. This is the locality that grows the most gladiolus in the province, with about 195 hectares, enough output to serve Tet.
According to the Da Lat City Economic Department, the entire city has about 859 hectares of flowers for Tet. It is expected that the demand for flowers for Tet will increase by 10% -15% compared to the same period in 2024, with the main market still being Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces.
However, from the beginning of December until now, Da Lat and other localities have had a lot of rain. Instead of planting all the flowers at once to serve Tet, many gardeners divide the area in half and plant flowers twice. Flowers harvested from the first planting will be sold for Tet, while flowers harvested from the next planting will coincide with the full moon of January.
"It's still raining now, so many people are worried, having to put all their efforts into taking care of the flowers and dividing them into two batches. If the first batch of flowers doesn't yield much, then hopefully the full moon of January will make up for it" - farmer Nguyen Van Thang (Ward 5, Da Lat City) shared.
In Lam Ha district, Mr. Nguyen Van Nhuong's family (Tan Ha commune) plans to launch over 1,000 Nhat Tan peach trees on the Tet market at prices ranging from VND500,000 to VND6 million per tree. "The current weather is quite unfavorable, I am focusing on pruning branches, cutting leaves, adjusting the amount of fertilizer and water to keep the trees blooming in time for Tet" - Mr. Nhuong said.
The Dalat Flower Association believes that the area of flowers for Tet this year has not changed much compared to previous years. To diversify products for the market, companies or gardeners have also imported some mini potted flower varieties, new flower varieties such as multi-colored calla lilies, and mutated phalaenopsis orchids to sell during the upcoming Tet holiday.
Developing flower villages combined with tourism
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc, Head of the Economic Department of Sa Dec City, said that in the coming time, the locality will develop flower villages combined with tourism to help gardeners increase their income.
According to Ms. Ngoc, the locality encourages people not to expand the area of Tet flowers, mainly develop annual ornamental flowers, bonsai, improve the quality of ornamental flowers, especially growing substrates for possible export in the coming time. In particular, improve the quality of seedlings, new varieties, increase the production value for the ornamental flower industry as well as income for gardeners.
Source: https://nld.com.vn/ky-vong-vao-vu-hoa-tet-196241215220510495.htm
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