Growing Wasabi well is not easy
Growing wasabi in the garden should be a real challenge, since it is famous as being the most difficult crop in the World. As yet, I have not grown it myself, but I had the chance a few years ago to visit the Wasabi growing trials in central Victoria. This may not seem like much to go on, but I am a horticulturist of the "Old School" - the one that taught you to see what plants were telling you and to find ways of growing them when there was literally nothing to go on.
This was important information, since I was just starting on the development of my home Aquaponics system. The important requirements there included flow (but not too much), oxygenation, Iron and Calcium (among other things). So it seemed that the two things were pretty much made to go together. OK, so what reliable information is there about growing wasabi? To begin with, Wasabi is a Brassica - meaning it is related to Cabbages, Cauliflower, Broccoli and Mustard. This tells us that Sulphur nutrition will be important and that, where Nitrogen is concerned, 'Controlled supply' will be the operative term. This is especially important since wasabi takes two years to fully develop.
It is also known that wild wasabi grows in cool mountain streams under heavy shade, which is the way in which this plant differs the most from other brassicas. From this we may deduce that only a small, but continuous supply of Nitrogen will be needed and that there will probably be a bacterial association on the roots (similar to that in Rice) to aid nutrient uptake. It also indicates that Phosphorus nutrition should not be excessive. However, integrating wasabi into an Aquaponics production system should take care of both these things.In fact, the hardest thing about producing wasabi at home is likely to be getting hold of the plants. Don't bother trying to look for seed - you probably won't find it and if you do it probably won't grow. Wasabi is so adapted to aquatic environments its seed has no dormancy and even freshly collected seed must be shipped moist (and probably oxygenated) if it is to have any chance of germinating at the other end. As soon as I find reliable sources of plants, I will add a link here. In the meantime, you can start with your Aquaponics system so you can be ready to start growing Wasabi later on. The real problem is that the art of growing Wasabi remains a closely garden secret, so making good information available will require us to do our own research. If you are interested in Wasabi, you could help us by donating to the cost of this research. By way of a "Thank You" for doing this, when you complete the form below, you will get two Complementary E-books free - one on Aquaculture and the other on Sustainable Free-range eggs.
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