Gardeners in Ho Chi Minh City worry about losses due to early Tet apricot blossoms

This year, Ho Chi Minh City has unusual weather, plus a leap year, causing apricot blossoms to bloom early, many gardeners are worried about the risk of losses.

Busy taking care of a garden of more than 2,000 apricot trees, Mr. Huynh Van Hai - owner of Sau Hai apricot garden (Truong Tho ward, Thu Duc city) - was sad when 30% of the trees in the garden had bloomed. "This number is 3-4 times higher than previous years," he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Nam, the owner of apricot garden in the same area, also said that nearly 400 trees are blooming, accounting for more than 40% of the total number of Tet apricot trees in the garden.

Many apricot trees in Mr. Hai's garden bloomed early. Photo: Huynh Hai

Many other garden owners in Thu Duc city share the same concern because their apricot gardens are blooming more and more each day while there are still two weeks left until Tet.

"Last year, the apricot blossoms bloomed at the right time, my family made a high profit. But this year, many trees have almost finished blooming and are at risk of losing everything," said Mr. Hai.

Royal apricot in Thu Duc. Photo: Huynh Hai

Explaining the reason, gardeners said that recently, Ho Chi Minh City has had unusual weather, with periods of rain causing many apricot trees to bloom early. In addition, this is a leap year, so the number of cultivation days has been extended, and many trees with a high rate of early flowering have bloomed.

Not only worrying about losing money because the apricot blossoms bloom early, according to gardeners, this year's weak purchasing power in the market is also a big challenge.

Mr. Sau Hoang, in Thu Duc, said that up to now, the rental price of apricot blossoms has remained the same, even decreased because purchasing power is very slow, only 50% compared to last year.

In addition, consumers are tightening their spending, so they prioritize choosing trees with low value, ranging from a few hundred thousand to 5 million VND. For apricot trees with rental prices of over 10 million VND, the number of customers ordering has decreased by 40% compared to last year. Therefore, many gardeners said they are lowering rental prices by 5-10% compared to previous years to stimulate demand.

For gardeners with early blooming apricot trees, they fix these pots by removing the flowers that have bloomed, covering the remaining buds on the tree and using techniques to restrain them so they can bloom in time for Tet.

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Southern provinces, this year, not only Tet apricot but also most other flower growers are worried about losses due to gloomy purchasing power, many households are considering quitting the profession.

In Da Lat - the flower capital of the South - it is said that this year's Tet season, gardeners have reduced their planting area by 10-30%. Instead, they focus on flower care to achieve the best yield and quality in the hope that prices will increase near Tet.

Thi Ha

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