Awaken the moors with green asparagus

Mr. Vu Van Manh in Vinh Thuong Village, Son Cong Township (Ung Hoa District, Hanoi) took us to visit 2.4 hectares of green asparagus going into the harvest and could not hide his delight. He shared that his family used to grow vegetables on flat land with little economic efficiency. With a determination to get rich and break through in his hometown, he decided to quit his job in a busy mechanical shop to work in the green asparagus farm.

“In the past, locals only grew crops like corn and peanuts on this fertile alluvial plain along the Day River. There are even many families who are abandoned because there is no labor force. Looking at the fertile land suitable for roads and growing grass, I feel very sorry and always aspire to open a business on this land one day. So I’ve been talking to my family about leasing and re-auctioning the land to start a new direction of economic development,” Manh said.

In 2018, he visited the Baby Cauliflower Cultivation Model and the Green Asparagus Cultivation Model in Dan Phuong District (Hanoi). After the visit, Manh was even more motivated to learn about the process and method of cultivating green asparagus, realizing that this is a suitable crop for the soil and climate conditions in his hometown, once planted for 10 harvests can years, the product price is very high, has high nutritional value, rich in minerals, vitamins, and is the solution to many health problems. So he decided to invest in building a green asparagus farm on his own land.

While studying, learning and practicing, Mr. Manh first planted 1.4 acres of green asparagus in the alluvial plains along the Day River with the help and enthusiastic guidance of agricultural technicians from the Agricultural Company Global Product. Besides learning how to care for green asparagus plants from books, internet and successful models, asparagus plants have brought stable income for his family after 1 year.

With the results from the first plot, in early 2022, Mr. Manh boldly took out a loan from the Social Policy Bank and suggested that the local government apply for the conversion of inefficient crops to expand 1 hectare of land and increase the total area expanded the family’s farm to 2.4 hectares to grow asparagus organically and has received the support and favorable conditions of the Municipal People’s Committee, the Farmers’ Union of Son Cong Municipality.

Profit 800 million VND/year

As a plant in need of care from organic cultivation without chemicals, the care has stricter technical requirements. Manh said that with green asparagus, it is necessary to regularly prune old branches and clean grass. The first and most important step is selecting the breed. The asparagus variety must be F1, with high yield, clear origin, resistant to many diseases and easily adaptable to local climatic conditions.

Around the season, after asparagus seedlings have germinated in the pot for about 3 months, they are planted. About 500g of seeds are needed on an area of ​​each hectare, the density is about 18,000 – 20,000 plants/ha. The pH of the soil should be in the range of 6.5 – 7, the suitable temperature for asparagus to grow best is 25 – 30°C. The usual sowing time is late August to early September for February and March planting and late February to April for April to June planting (solar calendar). From planting to harvest around 6-8 months.

Due to the characteristics of asparagus plants, which do not tolerate waterlogging, it is necessary to raise beds to about 30 cm in height, 80 cm between rows, 40 cm between plants and 1 tree in each hole. Bamboo shoots have fragile stems. When the tree is about 40 cm high, it is necessary to stick a stake to prevent the tree from falling.

Regarding plant fertilizer, the amount of fertilizer for 1 ha is applied by Mr. Manh’s family as follows: in the fertilization phase, rotting manure or microbial organic fertilizer, melt phosphate fertilizer and urea fertilizer are fertilized; Top fertilization 2 times/month with NPK fertilizer or composted manure combined with nitrogen and potassium. From the 2nd year, the amount of fertilizer can be increased to 10-20% depending on the growth situation of the tree.

“Unlike other vegetables, green asparagus has very few pests and diseases and doesn’t like to use pesticides. The disease is mainly mold, growers only need to sprinkle lime powder for plants. The harvested product is the young and fat green bamboo shoots, so it is very important to prevent and treat soil worms, green worms, aphids and insects that bite the tree,” said Mr. Manh.

Since green asparagus is a plant that harvests young shoots every day, it is very important to water regularly and sufficiently every day at all stages of growth. In the dry season, the soil moisture must be kept evenly at 65-70% in order for the bamboo shoots to be sweet, soft, high-yielding and of high quality. In the rainy season, you need to take care of drainage, in no case do not flood for more than 24 hours, otherwise the tips of the shoots will deform, warp, the roots of the shoots and shoots will get sick, rot, the plants will not give up bamboo shoots or bamboo shoots are in significantly reduced in quality and cannot be harvested.

To ensure consumer health, Mr. Manh’s family uses only home-made probiotics derived from herbs such as pickled peppers and garlic diluted with water to combat pests when detecting pests and diseases.

Green asparagus plants need 6-7 months from planting to harvest when they are first young, and from the 2nd year they are harvested continuously. Bamboo shoots are harvested for the whole month, for the whole year, but it is best to harvest about 25 days/month, 8 months/year when the weather is warm, the rest of the time in winter should give the plant a break from tillering continue Instead of the mother body, the breeder does not have to invest in seeds again.

In particular, the best harvest time for bamboo shoots must be from 4-6am or at night, as this is when the plants give off the highest levels of nutrients. If the asparagus plant is harvested at sunrise, it is likely to be bitter and not high in nutrients. Currently, Mr. Manh’s family can harvest an average of 60-80 kg of bamboo shoots/day every day in an area of ​​2.4 hectares. The bamboo shoot pickers dig around the tree with their hands when it is about 25 cm tall and then pull it out.

In order for consumers to learn more about the nutritional value of green asparagus, Mr. Manh actively promoted the product image through seminars on agriculture, while promoting and promoting the family’s asparagus products on social networking sites such as Facebook, Zalo and Youtube. As a result, green asparagus products are known and accepted by a large number of customers across the country.

After picking the bamboo shoots, the products are sorted before being sold in the market. Accordingly, Mr. Manh’s family currently classifies bamboo shoots into 2 types: Type 1 bamboo shoots (large and beautiful) are sold at VND 100,000/kg, mainly for restaurants and weddings. Type 2 bamboo shoots (in buckets) are sold at a price of VND 60,000-80,000/kg. In 2022, Mr. Manh’s family profit of 2.4 acres of land along the Day River after deducting all expenses is VND800 million. Currently, Mr. Manh’s family’s asparagus garden also creates stable jobs for 4 local workers with an income of 6 million VND/person/month.