100% of growing procedures for Vietnamese perilla are done by hand. After 1 month of planting, with temperatures maintained at 33 to 35 Celsius degrees, the perilla plants are ready to be harvested.
"We can see that there are 5 old leaves here. We will remove these 2 leaves to make room for the 2 main leaves of the plant. When the plant reaches a height of 6 cm, we will start harvesting", Nguyen Van Binh - Technical director of perilla plant farm in Luong Tai, Bac Ninh province - said.
The plant is imported from Japan. In this 11 ha farm, every step of growth is done organically. The soil is prepared by hand. The plants are watered by a modern spray system.
"We raise chickens and they eat all of the worms that can harm the perilla plants. These yellow stickers are hung here to catch insects including flies, mosquitos, and butterflies. We must make sure our planted perilla leaves don't have these insects when they are exported", Nguyen Thu Huyen - Technical staff of the perilla plant farm - said.
Within 2 hours of harvesting, perilla leaves are sorted and preserved in frozen storage. After 5 hours of being preserved at 10 degrees Celsius, the perilla leaves are packed in small boxes and transported to Japan by air.
