To make Bang La salted apples bloom and bear fruit, add more crops.

In the middle of summer, many farmers still have Bang La salted apples, an OCOP specialty of Hai Phong, to sell on the market.

Farmers harvest Bang La apples.

Different quality, attractive to consumers

Normally, consumers are only familiar with the main-season apples harvested in the winter, but from mid-July 2025 until now, in the hot summer, some gardeners in Dong Tien 1 and Dong Tien 2 residential groups (Nam Do Son ward) still welcome many tourists to visit the Bang La apple gardens that are being harvested. People call this the winter-season apple.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Van, in Dong Tien 2 village, said that the most customers are students who come to visit and experience the garden. "The apple garden is always full of customers. Among them, businesses and safe agricultural product stores buy in large quantities from the garden. The average price of apples sold at the garden is 50,000 VND/kg, the retail price can be up to 70,000 VND/kg," Ms. Van said.

It is known that Ms. Van's garden grows all of her Bang La apples using a trellis system. From mid-July until now, 100 apple trees have been harvested sporadically, and the family sells all the fruits as they ripen...

Farmers introduce the difference of Bang La apple products.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ha, in Ngo Quyen Ward, arranged her free time on the weekend to drive her whole family from the inner city to the apple orchard to experience it. Ms. Ha said that the children in the family were very excited to see that the Bang La apple orchard also had sweet fruits in the summer. Many apple trees were very fruitful, stimulating the curiosity of the children.

According to the feedback of many visitors who come to experience, the owners of Bang La apple orchards are very friendly when visitors come to the garden. They do not charge any fees, are very enthusiastic in welcoming, and are willing to share information about the production of off-season apple orchards. Therefore, many visitors who come to experience are not only impressed by the fresh, fruit-laden apple branches that they pick themselves, but also because they love the apple farmers here. Many people also share information about the apple orchards on social networking sites with friends and relatives...

Tourists enjoy the experience at Bang La apple garden in the off-season.

The feat of making delicious off-season apples

Although not in the main season, the quality of off-season Bang La apples is still highly appreciated by many customers, different from the taste of apples grown in other localities. Mr. Tran Quang Tien, in Dong Tien 2 village, informed that he had been to specialized apple growing areas of many neighboring provinces such as Ninh Thuan , Bac Ninh... but their apple varieties are mainly sweet and fragrant, not crispy, rich, sweet, salty and sea-like like Bang La apples of his hometown Nam Do Son.

The difference is that apples are grown on salt fields and have air and Do Son seawater... Along with that, apple growers focus on using organic fertilizers and decomposed manure to fertilize the trees...

To make apples bloom and bear fruit for another season, something that many farmers in other provinces have not been able to do, people in Nam Do Son not only have many years of practical experience growing apples but also apply technical advances transferred by agricultural extension officers.

Mr. Nguyen Dac Nam, in Dong Tien 1 residential group, said that in reality, if you want to grow more apples, you have to let the apple trees climb on trellises to make production more convenient. Therefore, people have to invest money to build iron trellises for the apples to grow and develop on the trellis. Some farmers, to save more money, can build trellises out of bamboo...

Furthermore, apple growers who want to produce an additional winter crop must pay attention to the weather right from the time they finish harvesting the main season apples. Farmers rely on the weather forecast for the year to calculate the most suitable time to cut branches, helping the apple trees to flower and bear fruit in the winter crop.

If only to harvest the main season apples, farmers usually have to cut the branches in the third lunar month. If they want to have the off-season apples, the time that many farmers choose to cut the branches is in the first lunar month, right after the Lunar New Year, they must harvest all the fruit to cut the branches. In addition, it is important to leave the original branches uncut so that the off-season fruit can grow on the original apple branches...

According to many farmers, apples grown in the winter-spring season are often damaged by bees and flies. Therefore, many farmers actively follow the instructions of agricultural extension and plant protection officers on pest control to use the right type of biological safety drugs to ensure good fruit quality. Many people also painstakingly design manual traps to catch bees and flies...

In the summer, the weather is often rainy, sunny, and stormy, causing the apples to be affected, the fruit's appearance may be sunburned or the leaves may be damaged, the fruit may fall off, reducing yield. Therefore, while producing, farmers must also take proactive measures to cope with unusual weather...

Hai Phong agricultural extension officers guide farmers to connect and consume Bang La apples.

Successful in producing winter-spring apples, Bang La farmers are excited because they produce unique and different products. However, recently, Bang La apples are often mixed with products from other regions, imitating the brand to sell at high prices on the market. Therefore, farmers hope that the authorities will support market transparency.

Recently, the Hai Phong Agricultural Extension Center has supported Bang La farmers to promote trade and sell products to supermarkets and safe agricultural product stores, instructing farmers to livestream to sell products in the garden, combining production and developing experiential ecotourism . Building apple growing areas according to VietGAP standards with traceability, promoting the Bang La apple product brand through many information channels and social platforms...

LAKE FRAGRANCE

Source: https://baohaiphong.vn/de-tao-muoi-bang-la-dom-hoa-ket-trai-them-vu-519261.html