Fræðaþing landbúnaðarins - Mar 2011, Page 429

VEGGSPJÖLD | 429
also the time of seedling production of “Koros” for Flúðir was longer and resulted in a
delayed and lower harvest compared to Korpa.
Beside that, also fertilizer application might be a reason for variety differences in
yield. Whereas N application at both locations was the same for broccoli, cauliflower
at Flúðir received threefold amount of fertilizer. This resulted in much chickweed –
indicator species for fertile soils rich in N. Therefore, at Flúðir growth of cauliflower
seedlings might be inhibited and resulted in an especially high number of dead plants
in “Mayflower”. This variety is characterized by an early harvest and small as well as
few leaves. In contrast, plants with many big leaves at harvest (“Chamboard”,
“Herman”, “Dexter”, “Fargo”) resulted in higher yields. However the amount of dead
plants was also here rather high, possibly because these varieties have a longer growth
period and were at the beginning suppressed by weed.
It seems that with longer growing period, yield of broccoli and cauliflower increased
at Korpa. However, this was not the case at Flúðir possibly due to lower solar
irradiation and temperature in broccoli and high fertilizer application in cauliflower.
Beside earliness also the duration of the harvest time is important for the choice of the
variety. A variety with nearly homogenous maturity saves time (during harvesting) for
the growers.


Even under Icelandic conditions it is possible to grow outdoor vegetables. However,
the success of harvest seems to be connected to the date of planting. It is
recommended to choose early maturing varieties to prevent damage due to an early
beginning of freezing with following stop of harvest.


We thank Samband garðyrkjubænda for their support of this research and Þorleifur
Jóhannesson from Hverabakki and Guðjón Birgisson from Melar for providing their
fields and their assistance.


Gunnlaugsson, B., Vestergaard, B., 1995. Prófun á fljótsprottnum yrkjum af blómkáli sumarið 1994.
 nr 190.
Sverrisson, H., 1990. Afbrigðatilraun með spergikál 1989.  nr 173.
Þráinsson, S., 1985. Tilraun með mismunandi spergikálafbrigði á Reykjum 1983.  nr
127.