20 November 2017
Guelph Millennium is a specialist green asparagus variety bred at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. The hybrid is well-established as the industry standard cultivar in a range of territories across the world. As an asparagus grower, you can benefit in a range of ways by planting Guelph Millennium. These are explained in more detail below.
Asparagus growers across the world are facing up to increasing labour costs and in many places, even a scarcity of harvest workers altogether. This means that it is key to plant varieties that maximise marketable yields and minimize waste. Guelph Millennium is a leading candidate in this regard and is well-renowned by growers and produce businesses for its excellent spear quality. The two key factors that make up these high-quality spears are superior straightness and terrific tip closure. As a result, Guelph Millennium has a marketable percentage of asparagus spears greater than most other hybrids grown for green production. A third aspect that should not be forgotten is the uniformity of spear diameter. This leads to faster processing of the asparagus in packing facilities as well as an improved appearance in retail packs.
Tests of Guelph Millennium have been carried out across the main growing locations. These have yielded results in a number of areas. One of the more important findings has been with reference to optimum planting densities per hectare. To get the best from the hybrid, the quantity of plants used is dependent on growing conditions and intended market. A common density when using crowns to produce green asparagus spears of 20-25cm in length is 35.000 per hectare. This has found to give sustainably high yields of optimum diameter spears for most markets. Higher density establishment has been taken to what is considered “the extremes” in Washington State, USA. Here, many growers have decided to start their plantations by direct sowing 80-100.000 seeds to the hectare. The oldest fields from this technique are now six years old and still producing well.
Guelph Millennium has one final key benefit and this has only been fully proven later in the life of field plantations. It has outstanding longevity which is borne out by superb field persistence of the crowns. The plant material of Guelph Millennium is one of life’s true survivors. Some of the original fields established with the variety in Canada in the late 1990s are still producing high yields. This same attribute is being witnessed in other regions, including Europe. This has a further benefit of reducing growing costs as the fee for establishment is spread over many more harvests than other hybrids.
We’ve been party to this variety for a long time now and we continue to be a strong believer in it and its benefits to the asparagus growing communities.
For more information, take a look at the links below:
YouTube video: http://bit.ly/youtubeguelphmillennium
Fact sheet: http://bit.ly/guelphmillennium...
