Dalat gardeners are careful with Tet flower crops

Phalaenopsis orchids are the main flower sold during Tet season by businesses in Da Lat - Photo: MV

Because the rainy season ended late this year, along with the erratic weather, farmers in the Da Lat agricultural area (including Da Lat and neighboring districts of Lac Duong, Don Duong, and Duc Trong) are very cautious in planting seeds for the most important flower crop of the year.

In Da Lat, flower varieties such as chrysanthemums, lilies, gladiolus, and phalaenopsis orchids are chosen by most gardeners to grow for the Tet flower season. These are familiar flowers and consumed a lot during previous Tet holidays.

Mr. Tran Van Luyen (Ward 7, Da Lat) said: "The general feeling of farmers is that the general economic situation is still difficult, so instead of focusing on one Tet flower crop, I divided the area in half to plant about half a month apart.

Half will be harvested in time for Tet flowers, the other half will be harvested on the full moon of January. I split it in half like this to avoid the risk of the Tet flower crop failing, and I can still harvest the full moon flower crop in January to compensate.

In Ward 5 (Da Lat), Mr. Nguyen Thang had to keep the lights on all night to stimulate the young chrysanthemum plants to grow quickly. Mr. Thang said that up to now, Da Lat is still raining, the sunny period is short, so he had to turn on the lights to stimulate them. "Gardeners usually turn on the lights when the flowers are about to bud, but this time there is little sunlight, so they have to add more lights. This way, the cost of growing will increase," Mr. Thang said.

Many lily growers are also cautious about planting their last flower crop of the year. This is a high-investment flower, and if the crop is successful, they will make a big profit, but if the market is oversupplied or the flowers bloom slowly, they will lose heavily.

With nearly 5 sao of land, Mr. Le Van Dung (Ward 9, Da Lat) has planted many different types of lilies, from high-end to popular.

“Plant many varieties for safety. Sometimes we think consumers will prefer this or that variety, but in fact it is the opposite. So plant many varieties and calculate the average. It will be harder, but it is worth being careful,” said Mr. Dung.

According to Mr. Phan Thanh Sang - Chairman of the Dalat Flower Association, the area of ​​Tet flowers has not changed much compared to previous years. To diversify products for the Tet flower market, companies and gardeners also import some mini potted flower varieties, new flower varieties such as multi-colored calla lilies, mutated Phalaenopsis orchids, etc.

It is expected that in this year's Tet flower season, Lam Dong province will have about 3,800 hectares of flowers of all kinds. Of which, the output of potted flowers for Tet is estimated at about 7 million pots, and cut flowers supplied to the market in the months before, during and after Tet is about 1 billion branches.

According to the People's Committee of Da Lat City, the city has about 1,000 hectares of flowers of all kinds to serve the Tet market. Of which, about 80% is chrysanthemum area, the rest includes lilies, gypsophila, carnations, orchids... In addition, there are about 1,200 hectares of flowers grown in districts around Da Lat such as Duc Trong, Lac Duong, Don Duong.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/nha-vuon-da-lat-can-than-voi-vu-hoa-tet-20241118081229124.htm