Van Giang farmers in the season of grafting fruit on ornamental grapefruit trees

For many years, Van Giang district has become the “capital” of ornamental grapefruit trees serving the Lunar New Year market, with unique shapes and forms, creating a brand in the market. To grow a beautiful ornamental grapefruit tree for Tet, with full buds, shoots, flowers, especially the desired number of fruits, requires investment and meticulousness in each stage, in which the stage of grafting young fruits onto the “mother” tree is very important, requiring the skill and technique of the garden owners.

This year, Mr. Do Manh Ha's family in Van Giang town prepared about 300 pots of ornamental grapefruit of all kinds to serve the year-end market. Taking us to visit the grapefruit garden full of fruits in the canopy, Mr. Ha shared: If left naturally, only about 30% of the fruits on the tree meet the standards, so additional grafting is needed. Depending on the size of the tree, the number of grafted fruits will be different, ranging from 200 - 400 fruits/large tree and 100 - 150 fruits/small tree. This year, I bought over 40,000 fruits from gardeners in Hoa Binh and Tuyen Quang provinces to graft on my family's grapefruit garden.

Farmers in Van Giang town graft fruit onto ornamental grapefruit trees

The fruit grafting season on ornamental grapefruit trees is usually carried out by gardeners from around April to May of the lunar calendar. The fruit is selected for grafting when it is young, round, weighs about 2.5 - 3 taels, and has a large stem. After being picked, the young fruit needs to be grafted onto the "mother" tree as soon as possible, and at the same time, there must be appropriate monitoring and care measures. Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh in AB Quang Trach village, Lien Nghia commune said: If the fruit is grafted and not carefully cared for, it can fall off at any time. After grafting the fruit onto the tree, it is necessary to cover it with a sunshade, and water it regularly and fertilize it every 15-20 days to prevent the tree from being "overfed".

The time to graft the fruit onto the mother tree only takes about 1 month, in sunny weather conditions. To ensure the season, large-scale garden owners often hire more grafters with costs ranging from 600,000 - 700,000 VND/person/day.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh in Tan Tien commune - a fruit grafter said: Our team has 4-7 people, in which the male workers are in charge of grafting the fruit, and the female workers cover the fruit with hats to protect it from the sun. This season, the weather is hot, so we usually start work at 6am and finish late in the afternoon. If I work regularly, I can earn about 20 million VND a month.

In localities with large areas of planting seedlings and ornamental plants in the district, many teams of workers specializing in this job have been formed. Mr. Nguyen Van Xuyen, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Lien Nghia commune, said: From many years of experience in grafting seedlings, local people have researched and successfully implemented the technique of grafting fruits onto trees. Currently, the whole commune has about 100 groups of workers specializing in grafting for hire for gardeners in the district and many other provinces and cities. These groups of workers are mostly men. The income from this job is quite good, averaging 600,000 - 700,000 VND/workday/worker. If working on a contract basis, the salary is 3,000 - 4,000 VND/grafted grapefruit, a skilled worker can earn 1 million VND/day.

Grafted grapefruit is covered with a sunshade hat.

With nearly 20 years of experience, Mr. Hoang Mai Giang in Lien Nghia commune shared: Doing this job requires meticulousness and carefulness in every step. For the grafted fruit to develop normally, the worker needs to skillfully graft the fruit stem onto the branch or twig of the tree precisely and symmetrically, and when forced, the plastic bag must be tightened at the graft. If the grafting process is not up to standard, the grapefruit will fall off after a short time.

Currently, Van Giang district has about 150 hectares of ornamental grapefruit mainly concentrated in Lien Nghia commune, Long Hung commune and Van Giang town... Mr. Nguyen Hoang Tung, Head of the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said: Grafting fruit is an extremely important step that determines the quality of ornamental grapefruit trees as well as the income of the year-end crop. Gardeners need to take advantage of favorable weather days and when the grapefruit is still young and has not been watered to do this. This year, the weather has many unfavorable developments for the growth and development of crops, so gardeners need to proactively monitor to promptly adjust the care regime and promptly prevent pests and diseases...

Duong Mien

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