At the end of April, Mr. Huynh Van Cap (in Dong Thanh commune, Binh Minh town, Vinh Long ) picked dozens of kilos of sweet pomelos to sell to customers for 160,000 VND/kg.
Mr. Cap's pomelo garden is 2 hectares wide, with 200 sweet pomelo trees. "By this time, the pomelos should have run out of fruit, but this year I decided to experiment with off-season fruiting, so there are still some left," said Mr. Cap.
This old farmer is currently the Director of Dong Thanh sweet pomelo cooperative and Chairman of Binh Minh billionaire farmer club.
More than ten years ago, Mr. Cap traveled everywhere to find sweet pomelo seedlings. By chance, Mr. Cap was impressed by a sweet pomelo tree with large fruit and thick flesh, so he decided to choose the seedlings to plant to "start a business".
“This sweet pomelo variety originates from the mountainous region of Ha Tien ( Kien Giang ), the locals there call it ‘wild mango’. After 3 years of planting, the tree yields about 5kg of fruit. When I eat it, I find that the pomelo fruit has a sweetness similar to that of the Hoa Loc mango, the fruit is big, the seeds are small…”, Mr. Cap said and decided to grow sweet pomelo.
Mr. Cap said that the favorable season for pomelos is from after Tet to the end of the second lunar month. However, due to unfavorable weather this year, pomelo output has decreased significantly, about 70%.
“The reason for the large decrease in pomelo yield is due to hot weather from the beginning of the season, and late cold weather, causing the trees to flower late, so the fruit set rate is very low, and unripe fruit falls all over the garden.
For a long time, gardeners have grown pomelos extensively, without investing in fertilizers or pesticides. They mainly flower and bear fruit naturally, so they depend on the weather. In years when the weather is favorable, the trees bear a lot of fruit, and have a good harvest; in years when the weather is cold and late, the trees do not flower, which is considered a loss of harvest," said Mr. Cap.
To "control" the weather, handle pomelos that bear fruit out of season and aim for a tree that does not skip seasons, Mr. Cap decided to work with lecturers from Can Tho University to research a specialty tree from Binh Minh that bears fruit exactly as he wanted.
“This year, I worked with lecturers from Can Tho University to experiment with trees that bear fruit in the off-season, and the initial results were quite successful. A 13-year-old tree produces about 70kg of fruit, a smaller tree produces 40kg of fruit...”, Mr. Cap said.
He revealed that to make the sweet pomelo tree flower and bear fruit in the off-season, many factors and techniques are required.
“First, I have to fertilize the tree to make it grow new leaves, then water it with germination medicine, tighten the water... After the tree flowers, I fertilize and spray medicine periodically...", Mr. Cap said about how to help the pomelo tree flower in the off-season.
He added that sweet pomelos in the favorable season cost more than 120,000 VND/kg, but the price in the off-season is up to 160,000 VND/kg.
“Currently, my pomelo garden and the cooperative members do not have enough fruit to supply the market. Many people and traders have called to buy, but we have to reschedule to next year,” Mr. Cap added.
Binh Minh pomelos are grown mostly in Dong Hung 1, Dong Hung 2, and Dong Hoa hamlets of Dong Thanh commune. Binh Minh pomelos have been a famous specialty in Vinh Long for decades.
After the Lunar New Year, until Qingming Festival, Binh Minh pomelos ripen on the tree, the fruit is round and beautiful. Traders come to the garden to buy pomelos and bring them to Highway 1, at the foot of Can Tho Bridge, to sell.
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