Apricot and peach growers have been certain of a
bountiful crop this year. The apricot and peach prices are believed to be higher
than during Tet 2010; however, it is still too early to say how high the prices
will be because everything still depends on the gods.

Tet will come in a little more than a month, and many people have begun
decorating their homes to celebrate. Of course, an apricot tree or a peach
branch would be indispensable.

The heavy cold of this winter seems to come earlier than in previous years.
Therefore, peach growers have begun pruning leaves and doing necessary things so
that peach branches will blossom exactly during Tet.

Bien, the owner of a peach garden in the Nhat Tan flower village, said that in
order to make peach trees blossom exactly during Tet, peach growers regularly
prune leaves in mid November of Lunar Calendar. If it is hot growers will delay
the pruning, but if the cold comes early they must prune earlier.

“Every individual has his ‘know-how’ of taking care of peach trees, but they
still much depend on the gods. In general, the weather decides the crop. “If the
current weather does not change much, and spring rain comes in a few more days,
peach trees will blossom exactly on Tet. If so, peach growers will have a
bountiful crop,” Bien said.

Bien said that until now, peach flower-buds have not appeared. Only wholesalers
have come to place orders, while there have been very few individual clients.
The individual clients are “connoisseurs”, who come early, so that they can
choose beautiful peach trees. Bien said that forest peach trees or stylized
trees are limited and the prices are very high, about ten million dong.

Unlike peach gardens, apricot gardens in Tu Lien village have received many
guests these days. Thanks to the good weather, all the apricot trees here are
bearing good fruits. And now the only thing that farmers have to do is to take
care for the trees, prune leaves before they bring the trees to the Tet markets.

The apricot garden of Nguyen Van Hung in Quang Ba ward has turned yellow with
ripe apricot fruits. Hung, who has 200 apricot trees for sale, said that people
have come to his garden since mid December to look to buy apricot trees. The
best sellers are the trees with the height of 2.5-3 meters and the diameter of
one meter in leaf canopy. Such trees can be priced at 3-4 million dong.

“The buyers of big trees are mostly companies or shops. They buy apricot trees
at this moment to decorate head offices,” Hung said.

According to the owners of the apricot gardens, bonsai styled apricot trees will
be very favored. A lot of people have come to place orders for bonsai styled
trees. These trees are not high, but still can be sold for 2-4 million dong.
Meanwhile, special trees can be sold for tens of million dong.

Prices will be high despite profuse supply

Chair of Tay Ho district’s People’s Committee Nguyen Phuc Quang believes that
there will be a bountiful crop of peach and apricot trees this year. With the
area of 150 hectares of peach trees and 25 hectares of apricot trees, there will
be enough products for Hanoians to decorate their homes on Tet.

Besides the trees from Tay Ho, Hanoians will still have different supply sources
from Me Linh, Ba Vi, Dong Ngac, Song Phuong districts and Van Giang in Hung Yen
province. Besides, forest peach trees will also flow to Hanoi from Son La, Lao
Cai and Lang Son province.

Hanoians are not worried about the lack of apricot or peach trees because
farmers have predicted that the supply will be profuse. However, they have been
warned that the prices will be 10-15 percent higher than the previous year.

Ngoc Hai, the owner of a peach garden in Nhat Tan, said that everything has been
increasing, including labor costs, fertilizer and pesticide prices, and
therefore the prices will increase.

However, Hai said that he will only be able to comment about the prices in early
December of the Lunar Year

La Hoan