The village of chrysanthemums for sale during Tet glows in the night. Hundreds of thousands of flower pots are “awakened” to bloom in time for the Lunar New Year.
Quang Ngai province is considered to be the largest chrysanthemum sale in the Central region – Central Highlands. Every year, people in Quang Ngai plant from 600-700 thousand pots of chrysanthemums to serve the Tet market.
The Chrysanthemum planting area is most concentrated in Nghia Hiep and Nghia My communes (Tu Nghia district, Quang Ngai province). At this time, the flower village of Nghia Hiep, Nghia My is bright with electric light at night.
The whole commune of Nghia Hiep, Nghia My (Tu Nghia district) has nearly 1,000 households growing chrysanthemums to sell Tet. People started sowing seeds from the end of the 7th lunar month. After about a month, flower growers force the flowers to “wake up” to grow and bloom in time for the Lunar New Year (Photo: Quoc Trieu).According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh, lighting at night to control the growth of chrysanthemums. This method helps flower growers adjust the time when flowers bloom properly on Tet holiday. Usually, lighting will be done about a month after planting. “The lighting can also be sooner or later depending on the weather and the development of the flower,” Anh shared (Photo: Quoc Trieu).Flower growers use lamps with white light, with a capacity of about 20W. Electric lights are hung about 3m high, about 6-7m apart. The arrangement of lights must be carefully calculated to achieve the highest efficiency in order to save costs (Photo: Quoc Trieu).On average, each household grows 600-700 flower pots. Many large-scale gardeners plant 1,500-2,000 pots. Right from this time, large-scale growers have been ordered by traders from many other provinces and cities (Photo: Quoc Trieu).Depending on the growth rate of the flower plant, the grower will adjust the time for the lights at night. Normally, when the flower plant is about 70-80cm tall, gardeners will stop lighting the lights. The use of light stimulates the flower plants in the pot to grow evenly. Flowers will have many buds, uniform size and bloom at the same time (Photo: Quoc Trieu).The chrysanthemum plant is currently in its strongest growth stage. This time is quite important because the plant is about to bud. Gardeners are increasing fertilizing, watering regularly and removing small branches and pests so that the plants can grow best (Photo: Quoc Trieu). In Nghia Hiep commune, Nghia My, almost every house grows chrysanthemums to sell Tet. For many years, the revenue from chrysanthemum flowers has helped people here to celebrate Tet in abundance (Photo: Quoc Trieu). Seen from above, Nghia Hiep and Nghia My flower villages are as bright as a miniature city (Photo: Quoc Trieu). In about 1.5 months, chrysanthemums in Nghia Hiep and Nghia My flower villages will bloom. Chrysanthemum flowers are sold in many provinces and cities in the Central-Central Highlands region. Flower prices range from 150,000 to 500,000 VND/pot depending on the size of the pot, as well as the color, number of flowers, and foliage (Photo: Quoc Trieu). ($1=25,000 VND)
