COMMERCIAL ASPARAGUS FOR TABLE USE; FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22698, 24 July 1948, Page 8

COMMERCIAL ASPARAGUS FOR TABLE USE; FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED

mm f.s produce more buds

A SPAIvAGUS culture as practise skill- Commercial plantings with the aicl of research discovcric; The 'industry was expanded in Mi tariff was placed upon imported as

Botanically, asparagus is a member of the family Liliaceae and is related, though not closely, to the lilies and hyacinths. It is a native of the north temperate zone of the Old World. From very early times, possibly as tar back as the ancient Egyptians, asparagus has been used as a vegetable. It was not until the sixteenth ‘and seventeenth centuries that it became really popular. The plant is a perennial, forming a matted rootstock or crown. The rootstock consists of creeping underground stems or rhizomes from which roots arise, new ones being produced each year. A large proportion of the roots are thick and fleshy and in these food is stored; others are more fibrous and

absorb water and other substances from the soil. The fleshy roots may spread for a distance of 10 to 12ft. outwards and Bft. downwards, which is a point worth considering when cultivating the plantation Distinctive Features The very young flowers contain the rudiments of both stamens and pistil, but as the flowers grow one or other of these fails 1o develop fully so that some flowers produce pollen only; these are male. The female flowers have a stigma and form berries. Occasionally, both the stamens and the pistil develop, and when this occurs the flowers are hermaphrodite, i.e., they produce pollen and also form berries. The male plants show greater vigour and yield a larger number of buds that develop early; the female plants yield fewer, but slightly larger buds later iri the season. That fact has suggested to growers overseas the ppssibility of establishing beds containing male plants only, for, securing a larger yield, a male bed does not become overcrowded by the springing up of a large number of seedlings, which always arise in beds of plants of both sexes. ... Considerable attention has been paid to the problem in America, where experiments show that the yield of buds from male plants exceeds that from female plants by 35 to 50 per cent. This difference in yield was especially marked in the early part of the season, when 054.41 b. were gathered from the male plants and 385.51 b. from an equal number of female plants, showing that the male plants were more precocious than the female. In one experiment in England an endeavour was made to have plants of one sex only in each bed. The results,

:d by the am at cur requires no great in England have been developed is in America and on the Continent, n gland prior to the ivar because a sparagus.

j however, show that whilst in each bed a particular! sex predominates, the I plants are nevertheless mixed and ! SO me seem to send up both male and female shoots. An examination of the flowers at an early stage of the trial showed that while the majority were of one sex only, some were hermaphrodite. It is therefore apparent that rogueing must continue for several years after the crowns are set out in order to secure beds occupied entirely by one sex. From a series of 10 beds in that experiment the total number of saleable steins was 5,330. The beds contained approximately 50 plants each. Of these, 3,238 stems were obtained from the male beds and 2,092 from the female.

An English Experiment Features of Desirable Strains.—Selection can be carried out through both seed and crowns, the final result aimed at being a strain exhibiting the necessary desirable features. 1. Time of Maturation. —Each stock should'throw its buds for a uniform period. As a long cutting period is desirable it is an advantage to cut from both an early and a late strain in order to secure maximum length of season rather than to prolong the cutting of a single mixed strain. 2. Vigour and Productiveness. —Certain crowns are definitely more vigorous and productive than others and these should be selected, while the advantages of male plants also should be considered. 3. Size of Bml.—An excess of small buds and sprue should be strictly avoided. This can be effected both by saving seed from good crowns and, during planting, by the elimination of crowns with several small buds. 4. Colour and Shape of Bud. —The colour of the bud is immaterial, although one of the superiot featuies claimed for the American Washington varieties is their relatively uniform colouring. Shape is important. The stem should taper gradually from butt to bud. The scales should cover the bud closely, lying flat and overlapping each other. Buds that are very loose, with the scales beginning to spread open so as to reveal the young branches are an undesirable type. They occur in plants that branch close to the ground, while the tightly-covered buds are produced by plants that branch at some distance above the surface.