2018 Volume 17 Issue 3 Pages 345-357
An experiment involving the open field culture of asparagus was conducted. Asparagus was planted using the planting implement, and spears of first-year stocks that had sprouted in the spring following planting were all harvested until the stocks completed spear emergence, and this cultivation method was termed: “Whole harvest cultivation method for one-year-old plants”. The new cultivation method, in which plug seedlings of asparagus are planted deeply using a new hole-maker, overcame obstacles faced by the permanent conventional method in early spring, including damage caused by frost and low temperatures. To examine the appropriate planting time for the Whole harvest cultivation method for one-year-old plants, two varieties of asparagus: a purple asparagus, ‘Manmi-murasaki’, and a green asparagus, ‘Taiho-wase’, were planted at different times, and their growth and yields were compared. The early planting of both varieties using the new hole-maker produced large stocks. The earlier the time of planting, the greater the yield of thick spears (L or larger size), total yield, and marketable yield. Furthermore, the yield in April—the best season for asparagus and a lean season for other vegetables, was larger, and the yield in the first year was equal to or larger than the mean annual yield per unit of land in open field culture. The Whole harvest cultivation method for one-year-old plants is a new labor-saving, low-cost, and profitable cultivation method that can produce a large yield of high-quality asparagus.
