Farmers in Lang Son City: Busy with the flower crop for Tet

The Lunar New Year in 2023 is coming, after 2 years of being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that people’s demand for flowers in Tet will increase, therefore, gardens in Lang Son city are busy taking care of flowers to serve the needs of people during Tet.

In the last days of 2022, we had the opportunity to visit the flower growing model of households in Lang Son city. We were impressed with blooming flowers under the sun, the flower beds growing in straight lines showing the meticulousness of the growers. Across the flower beds, everyone is busy watering, fertilizing, weeding… with the hope that the flowers will be beautiful to sell at a high price, which means that their family will have a more prosperous Tet.

People in Tam Thanh ward, Lang Son city take care of flowers in the Tet season

As a household with more than ten years of experience in growing flowers, Mr. Tran Van Nhiem, Dai Thang block, Chi Lang ward said: “Currently, my family is growing succulents, roses… with a total area of more than 2,000 m2. To ensure the quality of flowers for Tet, from the selection stage, I had to pay attention to choose healthy seeds, bulbs and seedlings, without pests and diseases. Before sowing, the stage of soil treatment to prevent fungus and pests is always carefully done by me. In particular, in the process of taking care, in addition to watering and fertilizing enough, it is necessary to follow the weather forecast to have appropriate shielding measures and correct pruning techniques to help flowers bloom beautifully, right at Tet.”

Not only Mr. Nhiem’s household, currently, in Lang Son city, other households are also urgently preparing for Tet flowers. It is known that there are nearly 100 flower growing households in the city with a total area of over 5 hectares. In which, they locate in Tam Thanh ward, Chi Lang ward, Hoang Dong commune… The flowers are mainly served in the city and districts across the province. The good news is that most flower growers are likely to absorb science and technology, research and study techniques for growing and caring for flowers through mass media. Planting flowers has brought them an income of 40 to 80 million VND/year.

Ms. Hoang Thi Dien, block 8, Tam Thanh ward said: “Flowers for Tet are the most important crop of the year for flower growers like us. Therefore, taking care of flowers at the end of the year requires great attention from nursery, care, pest control, especially how to make the flowers bloom on Tet holiday. These days I use all human resources in the family for weeding, fertilizing, pruning… on an area of 8 sao. Besides, getting to know the tastes of consumers, in addition to growing traditional flowers such as chrysanthemum, gladiolus, gebera, etc., my family planted 1 sao of lilies. Each beautiful lily branch can be sold for 50,000 – 70,000 VND/each. Each year, from planting flowers, we earn nearly 80 million VND/year.”

According to experience from flower growers, the time to sow flowers for Tet usually starts from the end of August, the beginning of the 9^th lunar every year, however, depending on the type of flower, the time of sowing can be sooner or later. Therefore, in order for flowers to bloom on Tet and achieve high quality, flower growers need to be meticulous in each stage such as reasonable planting, taking care with techniques, enough moisture and nutrient for plants. Hence the flowers can bring about high economic efficiency.

Mr. Doan Quang Dat, Chairman of the Farmers’ Association of Lang Son city said: “Besides the initiative of Association’s members and farmers, over the past time, the Association has also promoted training, science and technique transfering on planting and caring for flowers and ornamental plants to improve knowledge about this model. From the beginning of 2022 until now, the Association has coordinated to organize 5 training courses on planting and caring techniques for flowers and ornamental plants for more than 250 participants. In addition, the Association also encouraged households with the same interests and passion for flowers and ornamental plants to form cooperatives. Typically, in early 2022, the Association has encouraged to establish Mai Pha Orchid Cooperative in Mai Pha Commune, consisting of 10 members with extensive experience in growing and caring for orchids. Currently, this cooperative cultivates thousands of baskets and pots of orchids of all kinds to meet the demand of markets inside and outside the province.

The Tet flower crop is the one that flower growers look forward to the most in the year because the selling price of Tet flowers will be higher than on regular days. Hopefully, along with the people’s efforts, the weather will also be favorable to make up for the hardships that farmers have spent so that they can have more money to prepare and celebrate a warm and prosperous Tet.