Rain, hail and fluctuating temperatures have made for another unpredictable season for West Gippsland's asparagus growers. A warm September was followed by intense hail storms which damaged the plants. With less than one month until the end of harvest, Dalmore grower Alan McDonald said it's been a difficult year."We had some very low weeks when we should have had peak production, and cold weather knocked everything on the head," he said. "We had people ringing up for asparagus that you haven't got, but we were more worried about getting it cleaned up."Mr McDonald said growers receive less for hail damaged asparagus, even though the affect is only cosmetic.Despite this being the second consecutive year of wild weather in the area, Mr McDonald said Koo Wee Rup and Dalmore are still the best places to grow asparagus."I think there's still a future growing asparagus in the area, even though it's fragile, it's fairly hardy," he said. "The plant itself tends to survive fairly well and this seems to be the perfect area to grow it."Source -abc.net.au