For many years, the 1,000m2 garden of Mr. Nguyen Trong Binh, Vice Chairman of Xuan Truong Commune, Da Lat City, Lam Dong Province has been filled with the colors of dancing lady orchids. This place has become a destination for many traders and people who want to buy flowers.

Passionate about agriculture, after work, Mr. Binh often chats with garden owners who grow flowers. He is passionate about growing dancing lady orchids - a cold-climate orchid species.

His family has been growing coffee on an area of ​​over 1,000 square meters for many years without any results. When they switched to growing leafy vegetables, the income was not high and it took a lot of time. Meanwhile, Xuan Truong commune has a climate and soil suitable for growing flowers and orchids, which bring in high income.

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Mr. Nguyen Trong Binh, Vice Chairman of Xuan Truong Commune, Da Lat City, inspected the dancing orchid garden. Photo: Minh Ngoc

After a period of research, in 2020, he decided to switch to growing dancing orchids. The couple used their savings and borrowed additional capital to invest about 1 billion VND to build facilities such as greenhouses, land, flower varieties, substrates (materials used as substrate for growing plants), and iron trellises to grow orchids on the family's land of more than 1,000 square meters.

After completing the garden system, Mr. Binh's family imported growing media, orchid seeds and other materials for production. Mr. Binh said that at first he thought this was quite simple, but in reality, he encountered many difficulties.

At first, they had no experience in caring for the orchids, so the plants grew unevenly, were damaged or lost. The couple had to go to large gardens to learn how to care for and fertilize the flowers. When the plants bloomed, there was a separate care regimen to ensure the quality of the flowers.

"When the product was launched, it was difficult to sell. Therefore, I had to contact flower purchasing establishments in Da Lat to find an outlet for the product," said Mr. Binh.

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Mrs. Dinh Thi Thu Tam (Mr. Binh's wife) takes care of cold-climate orchids. Photo: Minh Ngoc

Earn 40 million VND per month

In return for that sweet fruit, in 2022, his garden was covered with the fragrance of dancing lady orchids and was ready to be brought to market. That year, the output problem was solved when a local flower business contracted to purchase all of his family's "noble flowers".

Mr. Binh shared that this orchid variety is grown in a greenhouse, placed on iron racks about 80cm above the ground. This method helps the plant to be free of pests and limit the invasion of diseases. In addition, every 6 months, they have to fertilize the plant once and regularly monitor the temperature and humidity of the plant.

As for Mr. Binh’s wife, Mrs. Dinh Thi Thu Tam (50 years old), she just smiles whenever someone mentions her husband’s “start-up”. She recalls that when her husband shared the idea of ​​destroying the coffee garden to grow dancing orchids, she was somewhat skeptical about its effectiveness. On the other hand, this model requires high costs and requires the construction of greenhouses and iron trellises, which are quite expensive.

“At that time, seeing my husband's determination, we boldly tried it out. Unexpectedly, we now see initial success compared to growing coffee trees,” Ms. Tam confided.

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Ms. Tam harvests dancing orchids to bring to the market during Tet. Photo: Minh Ngoc

According to Ms. Tam, growing dancing orchids only requires initial capital, and not too much when the plant grows. Notably, this type of flower can be harvested all year round, for 7-10 years.

Currently, her family harvests 3,000 orchid branches per month to supply the market at a price of 13,000-15,000 VND/branch, earning about 40 million VND per month.

According to the leader of the Economic Department of Da Lat City, the orchid growing model of Mr. Nguyen Trong Binh, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Xuan Truong Commune, has been effective. In particular, Mr. Binh has proactively produced and found outlets for the products, which is a good way to bring economic efficiency. However, people need to research the market and ensure outlets before investing to avoid risks.

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