Photo: ktdt.com.vn

With only six weeks left before Tet, kumquat growers in Hanoi's Tay Ho district's Tu Lien ward are facing losses because many trees in their gardens have withered. However, peach blossom growers in Nhat Tan ward have seen a bumper season.

Nguyen Van Dung said his garden had about 1,000 kumquat trees, but up to 300 had withered. The same was true in the garden next to his, where the owner said that 350 of the 700 trees in his garden had withered and died.

"Our family will lose hundreds of millions of dong," he said.

The growers blamed the tree deaths on heavy rain, including acid rain, during the rainy season. Rainwater pooled at the roots, causing root rot, they said. The trees then shriveled and died.

However, Nguyen Thi Binh, head of the ward's Agricultural-service Co-operative, told An Ninh Thu Do (Capital's Security) newspaper that the cause was improper planting techniques and indiscriminate use of pesticides. According to Binh, root rot was just adding to the situation.

To prevent the same from occurring next year, she advised local kumquat growers to obey planting techniques and spray pesticides as instructed.

Binh said that the ward now had about 400 kumquat growers, with a total area of about 20ha.

Growers said that due to the situation, the price of a kumquat tree would increase by 100,000 VND – 1 million VND (4.5 – 45 USD) per tree, depending on size.

A small tree costs about 300,000-500,000 VND (14-23 USD), while a medium-sized tree costs 700,000-1.5 million VND (32-70 USD) and a tree more than 3m tall costs 3-5 million VND (140-230 USD).

Unlike kumquat growers, peach blossom growers in the district's Nhat Tan ward saw a bumper season thanks to advanced planting techniques and warm weather.

Dang Van Manh received nearly 100 orders from companies to rent peach blossom trees to decorate their offices for the Year of the Goat, which begins on February 19.

It costs about 5-8 million VND (235-375 USD) to rent a big peach blossom tree, he said.

Nguyen Thu Huong, another peach blossom grower, said that the blossoms would be more beautiful than last year because of the warm weather.

"This is a very good year for peach blossoms," Huong said.

According to growers, a 1m peach blossom tree costs about 500,000 VND (23 USD), while a larger tree costs 700,000-1.5 million VND (32-70 USD). Customers who buy a tree that costs more than 1 million VND get free shipping. The prices are the same as last year.

Source: VNA