Peach capital’s Tet season begins

Hai Duong city has the largest peach growing area in the province, bringing the main source of income to many households. Photo: Thanh Chung

Despite the cold and rainy weather of lunar December days, a peach growing area in Tranh Dau hamlet, Gia Xuyen commune, Hai Duong city, has become busier than ever. Not only traders in the province, those from many other provinces and cities also came there to buy peach trees.

Vu Duy Dat, owner of a peach garden covering 8 mau (3,600 m²) in Tranh Dau hamlet, is taking advantage of every minute to mobilize human resources to timely deliver trees to traders from Southern provinces. This year, peach blossoms are more beautiful and bigger than previous years with many buds.

Dat’s garden can provide about 2,000 shaped and wild peach trees for the market. This is the largest peach garden in Gia Xuyen with many beautiful and quality branches.

According to Tet (New Year) peach growers in Tan Hung ward, when peach trees start to be sold, growers will buy wild peach embryos from Northern mountainous provinces for plantation and transplantation to prepare for the next Tet crop.

It takes at least one year to plant and take care of wild peach trees before harvesting and 3 – 4 years to care for and shape bonsai ones.

Hai Duong city has the largest peach growing area in the province with about 230 ha concentrated in such wards and communes as Gia Xuyen, Hai Tan, Lien Hong, and Tan Hung. For years, Tet peach cultivation has been the main source of income of many suburban households.

2,000 peach trees of Vu Duy Dat in Tranh Dau hamlet, Gia Xuyen commune, have all been ordered

Gia Xuyen commune is a familiar place for peach lovers everywhere inside and outside the province. Unlike peach trees in other villages in the province, Gia Xuyen ones are sold a lot in Southern provinces.

Right at the beginning of lunar December, many traders from Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Binh, Nam Dinh, Ho Chi Minh city, etc. came there to buy peach trees regardless of the distance. Beautifully-shaped peach trees have been present at various spring flower fairs from North to South.

Pham Van Su in Nam Dinh city is a patron of Gia Xuyen peach village. He has ordered 200 shaped peach trees for sale at a spring flower festival in Da Nang city this Tet. A month before Tet, Su called a garden owner in Gia Xuyen to notify the number of trees and pay a deposit.

“I have been to peach villages in many provinces, but peach blossoms here are bigger, more beautiful, and cheaper than those localities. Every year, I buy peach trees in Hai Duong for resale in various provinces and cities,” said Su.

The price of peach trees has increased this Tet. Big peach trees with many years of age are 1 – 2 million VND more expensive. Each bonsai peach tree is sold for 500,000 – 700,000 VND in gardens, and each wild or shaped peach tree for 3 – 5 million VND or even nearly 10 million VND.

With just a few days left until Tet, peach branches and trees in Hai Duong have bloomed in many provinces and cities across the country. Peach growers eagerly hope for a successful crop since peach trees flowered in time for Tet. This is also an opportunity for peach growing households to recoup their expenses after two years of being heavily affected by the Covid-19 epidemic.

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