Asparagus is one of the first plants that greets us in springtime. It’s a perennial, which means that once it gets established, asparagus will return year after year. Early spring is the time to plant asparagus, so what are you waiting for?
Note: Asparagus plants may take 2 to 3 years to truly get started and produce, so patience is needed! But then again, the plant can be productive for 20 years or more, producing ½ pound of spears per foot of row in spring and early summer, so we think it’s worth the wait.
Asparagus are dioecious, which means that there are male and female plants. The key to the sex of the plant appears in the fall: Red berries form on female ferns. Inside the berries are tiny seeds—about 19,200 to a pound—and, yes, you can plant them—although it will take at least 3 years before you have a harvestable crop. Because male plants do not need to expend energy in producing berries, they have stronger root systems and can be up to three times more productive than female plants.
Regions with cool winters are best for this cool-season crop, which is planted in early spring.
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harvesting asparagus
how long can you harvest asparagus in a well established bed?
Year three
This is my third spring since I planted my asparagus and I only got three shoots. Every year they seem to get bigger and bigger and I leave them all summer, but they aren't multiplying. The plants reach over six feet tall and are a solid inch thick at the base. I planted the crowns three different places around the property to determine the best spot. All locations are the same only three or four shoots.
Dead asparagus
My 30 year old carefully maintained and productive asparagus did no t come up this year. The old crowns are just doing nothing underground. Scattered volunteer babies are growing well enough around the bed edges. But the fat spears from the original plants are just gone. Do these plants finally reach an age where they just die? The patch was planted at 2 separate times so there were a couple of varieties. They all died. Any ideas?
no spears
What a disappointment! Certainly 30 years is a good run, and by most estimates near the max, but it’s hard to believe that all of the crowns would fail from age all at the same time. The plants could be diseased, with fulsarium wilt or a rust. Cornell U is a reliable source of info on this; scroll or search this site for specifics re diseases: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/factsheets/AsparagusInfo.htm You could also inquire of Cornell’s Plant Diagnostic Clinic http://plantclinic.cornell.edu/contactus.html or consult the folks at the cooperative ext nearest you: https://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services
asparagras
have you heard of salting your beds to control weeds ?and what do you think of this practice
save the salt
This has been a question for centuries. The belief a hundred years or so ago was that it improved production or, at least, controlled weeds. Today the thinking is that salt on an asparagus bed is not beneficial. It can form a crust that impedes was absorption and can actually harm the plants. Save the salt for the dinner table. And go lightly.
Asparagus
Why do they cover the asparagus fields with foil in europe?
foiled again
No idea. Where did you see or learn of this?
Transplanting Asparagus
I planted crowns this spring and now have new ferns about two feet tall. I planted the crowns about a foot apart in my raised bed and want to remove every other plant so remaining plants will have proper room to grow and I can share plants with my neighbor. How and when can I dig up the plants and transplant? Do I go through the winter with typical cutting back dead ferns and mulching then dig up entire plant in the spring to transplant?
fall growth of asparagus
We have cutback our asparagus and have warm temps still. I now have 12 inch tall growth in my plot. Do I wait till brown or should I keep it mowed?
Mow or not?
The rule of thumb is to cut back the ferns when they turn brown. If this is new growth, it may not get to the fern, then brown stage in the remaining few weeks of the season. Our best bet would be to wait until a hard frost then cut it back to about 6 inches.
asparagus
My asparagus bed is 15 yrs. old. Because of excessive rainfall this year, a vine has grown on my asparagus ferns. The ferns are browning in early September before frost. Will this harm my asparagus plants?
brown asparagus...
Asparagus is vulnerable to a number of diseases, including rust, fulsarium wilt, and stem/crown rot. It is difficult to know which your plants might have, but excessive rainfall (or watering) on soil that does not drain well is one of the causes. At the risk of too much information, this link provide pics and info on what seems like the full panoply of possibilities, with some advice: https://www.limgroup.eu/applications/limgroup-productsite/assets/books/e... (Note: it is a European source) If you can identify your problem, you may be able to consult a local nursery for guidance.
plant info
dont have any info about once harvested ow to store it
Storing Asparagus
We have updated the page to include info on storing asparagus. Please see above!
asparagus
Didn't wait for the fronds to turn brown will this affect next year's harvest?
No growth, year 2
I planted 10 roots last spring and left them grow through the fall and then cut them back . They looked great. This spring, I see no growth from any of the plants. Should I replant or just be patient and see if they come up next yeat ?
No sign of spears yet
This is a tough one. Did you properly prepare the trenches: check the soil pH, add in a heaping helping of compost and aged manure? Are the trenches getting enough water (hand or sky delivered)? If you mulched them for the winter, have you tried moving some mulch to see if any spears are poking up? You do not say where you are; if you’re in the north country, this might be normal. (Are you seeing it growing anywhere else in your area?) It would be a shame to start all over again. Before you do anything, contact your local cooperative extension and see what they have to say about it. Being in your area they know better what you can expect/need to do. Choose your state here and contact the one nearest/for you: https://www.almanac.com/content/cooperative-extension-services
Thanks
Thanks for the suggestion, I will contact my local extension office. I am located in Minnesota and yes, I did prepare the soil properly but have not checked the pH. Will also do that.
Maintaining Asparagus soil
My asparagus plants are into their 4th year and looking ok. They are fertilized regularly and weeds kept clear of the rows. I know the soil is not the best, so I am wondering if during the fall after the ferns die I could till in some sandy loam in the rows, say 3-4 inches deep.
fall care
Asparagus is fairly tolerant to a variety of soils, but does like sandy loam. If your plants look healthy, it might not be necessary to add the loam. If you do decide to try it, however, you might set the depth at 2 to 3 inches instead, to be sure not to damage any shallow roots. Or, if you have a small enough bed, gently work the loam in at that depth with a rake or shovel. As you have indicated, the plants should be dormant when you do this. Some gardeners instead add aged manure or compost in fall, along with a layer of mulch, which will gradually improve the soil structure and health. Others might work in soil amendments in early spring, before the spears appear.
Asparagus
We planted asparagus crowns last year. This year I noticed a rabbit had eaten one of the spears, so to protect them I put a hoop frame over the bed. The spears are now about 24" long, and branching out. Do I just leave them or should I be doing something with them?
asparagus care
As they are still too young for a full harvest, and it is past harvesting stage (when spears are about 8 inches tall, and not branching), then you should, as you have suggested, just leave them to grow. Eventually they will grow tall with ferny leaf growth–too tall for the hoop frame, but at that point, perhaps the rabbits won’t be as interested in the plants. Wait until fall, after the foliage has died and browned, before cutting the ferns down to about 2 inches above the ground before winter. The leaves will help the plant make food for itself to survive over winter and grow healthy spears next year.
asparagus spears/ferns/foliage
My asparagus is in its third year this year, should I cut off last years spears/ferns? They are about 8 inches high and fallen over due to winter
cut the ferns?
If you cut down the plants’ ferns last fall, leave those that appear now. You should be seeing some spears any time now, too.
Thin Asparagus and weeds
My asparagus bed is four years old and I am having a problem with some of the spears being way too thin to harvest. Also, can't keep weeds from taking over bed. Heavy running rooted weeds,crabgrass? Any advice?
weeds in the bed
See the advice immediately below re fertilizer, pH, and compost to increase the size of the spears (for that matter, read the advice we give above, too).
As for the weeds, you need to pull out as many as you can and then mulch. Several inches is not too much. And “edge” the bed: Push a spade or edge into the edge of the bed to cut the weed roots there. (You’ll need to do this every year.)
Old asparagus bed
I have a big asparagus bed that is over 30 years old. It still produces lots of ferns, but most of the spears are pencil-thick, and some roots seem to have died off. Every year I spread on a thick layer of compost/ seaweed. All I've read says that asparagus beds last for many years (this site says 20 or more), but none suggest what to do with an old bed. Do I dig out the old roots and start again? Leave a few plants and till deeply all around them? Abandon the site? No article has told me.
old asparagus bed
Some people would love to get pencil-thin spears!
Have you checked the pH? Asparagus likes lime. Everything you’re doing sounds good…so it might be the pH (you can get an inexpensive kit at a nursery). Digging out the roots would be a lot more work than you might think; roots could be 4 to 6 feet or more!
Then there is this (a few questions below yours): you might want to fertilize: Scatter 2 pounds of 10-20-10 fertilizer (or its equivalent) per 20 feet of row before growth begins in the spring. After the last harvest, apply an additional 1 to 2 pounds of 21-0-0 (high in nitrogen) per 20 feet. Always water the fertilizer into the soil.
With this, your plot should come back to life.
old asparagus bed
Bought a ranch once with a huge asparagus bed. Previous owner forgot to tell me. No defined rows, very old. It was late October and the whole area looked like dead weeds. So I started to pull them. They didn't budge. Got heavy gloves. No luck. Finally got a shovel and dug roots all day. It was impossible to get it all. Finally gave up. After the snow melted and I had long since forgotten those weeds, I was stunned by the prolific production of fat asparagus. I don't think thinning an old bed and loosening the soil could possibly hurt. Lived there a decade, it always produced plentifully.
My only complaint about growing asparagus is that I couldn't manage to get much in the house. I ate it all raw as I picked it. Had the same problem with the peas and of course the strawberries.
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