In no year has the lychee garden of Mr. Nguyen Van Quyen's household, Kep 1 village, Hong Giang commune (Luc Ngan, Bac Giang) had a low lychee flowering rate like this season. According to Mr. Quyen, with more than 1 hectare of lychees, last year he collected about a dozen tons of fruit, minus interest expenses of nearly 200 million VND. On the contrary, currently only 20% of the lychee area has flowers, he predicts his family will lose this fruit season.
“As soon as I harvested the fruit from the previous crop, I added nutrients to help the tree recover and thinned the branches. However, the weather changed so the usual technical measures such as circling branches and blocking water were not effective, the tree remained green. With this momentum, by the time of harvest, we might be able to produce a few kilograms of fruit," Mr. Quyen said.
Similarly, Ms. Pham Thi Cuc's family, Dong Giao village, Quy Son commune (Luc Ngan) has nearly 1.000 lychee trees that have been harvested for more than 10 years. The whole lychee hill only saw a few sparse bunches of flowers.
She shared: "In every season, the fruit-laden lychee garden not only brings a significant source of income but also creates a landscape for Dong Giao tourist area to serve visitors to experience the sweet fruit season. This year it's not like that. Over the past few days, I cut off the newly sprouted buds and sprayed additional foliar fertilizer products with high micronutrient content in the hope that the situation would be improved somewhat."
Many lychee trees in Luc Ngan have borne fruit.
Luc Ngan district currently has more than 17.300 hectares of litchi and lychee in the low flowering season. For early litchi, the flowering rate is also lower than the same period last year, reaching 50-60%. According to the assessment of specialized agencies, in Son Dong, Luc Nam, Yen The, Lang Giang districts, the main lychee season also has few flowers, a signal that lychee production faces many difficulties. The entire province currently has more than 29.600 hectares of lychees, of which more than 22.000 hectares are main season lychees and the remaining are early lychees.
It is predicted that lychee will not have a good harvest like previous years. Explaining this situation, Mr. Nguyen Van Thi, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said that from the end of 2023 until now, the weather has been unusual, winter has an average temperature warmer than previous years; The period of deep cold does not last long, accompanied by early wet rain, which is not favorable for lychee plants to flower. On the other hand, after many years of consecutive harvests of lychee, the plant's "health" is affected, leading to a low flowering rate.
Low flowering of lychee will directly affect productivity and farming efficiency. At this time, the main crop litchi is in the inflorescence development stage. To maximize the area of lychee flowering, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has asked key districts of concentrated lychee production such as Luc Ngan and Tan Yen to direct specialized agencies to propagate and guide farmers to closely follow developments. weather, combine technical measures to care for the remaining area to flower and fruit. The District General Technical Service Center sends specialized staff to closely follow each area and lychee growing household to advise and support farmers on farming techniques.
Phuc Hoa commune officials (Tan Yen, Bac Giang) guide farmers on techniques to care for and prevent diseases in lychees early.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy, officer of Luc Ngan District Agricultural Technical Service Center, said: "The Center established a consulting team and provided technical support for lychee growing in each area, especially in 103 export growing area codes. Exported to Japan, United States, China, Thailand, Australia...
In these places, we instruct people to strictly apply technical care procedures for flowering tea plants to grow healthily, focusing on flower care to increase pollination and fruiting rates. Pay attention to pruning branches on non-flowering trees, creating ventilation, limiting insects and pests from residing and spreading diseases during the changing weather period.
In fact, in any year the lychee flowering rate is low, that year the lychee has high prices and favorable consumption. Therefore, it is necessary to take better care of the fabric area with flowers, improve quality and product code to increase value. As one of the households growing lychees for a long time in Phuc Le village, Phuc Hoa commune (Tan Yen), Mr. Nguyen Van Lam shared his experience: "Ten days before the winter solstice (December 22), I sprayed and fertilized the sprouts. flowers, spray 12 times 10-2 days apart from the previous time.
During the incubation and differentiation of flower buds, the weather has a lot of rain, so circle the tree trunk to cut off the water source. The level, position, and number of times depends on the growth level of the tree. With that approach, while in many places lychee flowering is low, in the early litchi area of Phuc Hoa commune, the flowering rate still reaches more than 90%, including in some gardens nearly 100%. Promoting the immediate advantage of the rate of lychee blooming, signaling a good season, at this time, people in Phuc Hoa commune are focusing on monitoring and preventing maggots from boring young fruit and downy mildew on flowers.
Due to the adverse impact of weather in recent times, this year's lychee output is unlikely to reach the target. To improve production efficiency, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development proactively follows the weather situation and forecasts pest and disease developments; Guide gardeners on technical measures to maximize flowering and fruiting rates, and ensure products ensure food safety and hygiene.
Currently is the "golden" period when we need to focus on care techniques on both flowering and non-flowering lychee areas. According to the representative of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the unit continues to send staff to closely follow the growing areas, instructing people on how to care for and inhibit flower buds so that the main lychee flowering rate reaches the highest rate; It is recommended that early lychee plants require adequate watering, balanced fertilization, and use of foliar fertilizers rich in micronutrients to facilitate the flowering and fruiting process.
For main-season lychee tea plants that have flowered, people need to lightly water the tree canopy and use foliar fertilizer rich in micronutrients to help the tree flower smoothly. If lychees both flower and produce buds, people should be careful not to water them to limit the process of bud formation. Plants that flower with buds need to have their accompanying leaves removed as soon as the young leaves are still red. Growers continue to limit soil moisture and spray additional foliar fertilizers with average phosphorus and potassium content, rich in micronutrients, combined with growth regulators such as Thien Nong fruit stimulant, Atonik... to stimulate flower bud development.
