Asparagus plant breeding: A commercially desirable new strain can be developed only after a minimum of eight to ten years of testing

Asparagus breeding is a long-term research activity. Not until eight to ten years after a cross has been made is the plant breeder able to determine whether he has been successful in combining the characteristics of the male and female parents in the way that he hoped. Meanwhile daily yield records must be taken from harvests during a two- to three-month period each spring. These must include the number and size of all spears produced by every plant, as well as a catalog of various desirable characteristics. Individual plant records show a wide variation between plants in these characters.