Yup - we have had 2 meals off ours already! ;) At the rate we 2 are pigging out on them there will be none left for freezing.

I too missed the pre-emergence weed treatment as they caught me off guard so it's back to crawling around in the beds on the hands and knees for me. With all the rain we have had the weeds are thriving too. :(

Enjoy that gus!!

Dave

Ken, I was thinking of you yesterday when I bought my first asparagus plants. Couldn't find any at Lowe's or Home Depot. I found it at Walmart. They had M Washington and Purple Passion. I bought the M Washington. Martha was not spelled out, just a huge red M. I hope it is the same as you mentioned. There are 10 roots in the peat moss. They were packed by Dutch Valley Growers in IL. They have a web sight. I have been searching the net on how to plant and take care of it. Where do I buy corn gluten? Is there another name? I couldn't believe the tender annuals out already in the garden centers. We still have 6 weeks until it's safe to plant these here in Western NY. I'm tilling up today to plant the asparagus, peas, onions and spinach. I started the tomatoes yesterday in the basement under grow lights. Is it true the male asparagus plants produce more spears?

When planting the 'gus roots, do it NOW, dig the hole about 2-3 inches deeper than the length of the roots. Build up a slight inverted 'cone' of soil in the center of the hole, so the crown is about 2-3 inches below the surface of the soil when covered. Wet the roots with water and carefully fan out the roots so they are draped over the sides of the dirt 'cone' with the crown resting on its pointed tip. Carefully cover them with soil so the top of the crown is about 2-3 inches below the soil surface. Afterwards, be sure to water well the first few weeks as the roots tend to dry out a lot before being planted. I use corn gluten twice per year as both a weed deterrent as well as a great nitrogen source. Preen is a commercially available product that is very similar, so look at its label to be sure its 100% corn gluten, as some older Preen products are not. I buy mine from Ohio Earth Foods, and just had about a TON of fertilizer including 300 pounds of corn gluten delivered here. The total cost of my supplies were over $500, but will last me at least 2-3 years. Martha, Mary, Washingtons, they are all female plants and will yield a bit thinner spears compared to male plants like Jersey Knights. The purple ones, here don't seem to grow very many, or large spears, even though mine are now about 4 years old. Never harvest any spears that are under a pencil size in diameter. These should be allowed to grow into big ferns, which helps build strong roots. The 'gus bed can last over 20 years. Depending on the planted root ages, they may take 2-3 years before you can harvest any. Many people seem to only get puny spears, and thats obvioulsy a sign they need a lot more nitrogen fertilizer. I still get a few persistant weeds in my patch, but with the heavy applications of the corn gluten, the weeds are much less now than they used to be. My patch grows larger every few years as I expand on its edges. Last year I started 12 new plants from collected seeds, and 10 survived to this year, which is a good yield. The baby plants also had some fairly good sized spears already, but were still under a pencil in diameter, so they get left alone. Roots of asparagus an go as deep as 20 feet, so they don't need a lot of watering unless its very dry. Here, we do need rain as its getting way too dry now, compared to last year. When we hear about brush fires this early, its a major concern. In just the last two days of 70+ degree weather, the fruit trees are now showing signs of green and the blossoms are not far behind. I put out another colony of Orhard Mason Bees and some have alreay broken through their mud filled openings. The 'gus plants yoyu usually see are just bare roots, about a foot long. In the local Agway here, there was a whole case of them right outside their store, next to onion sets. The baby chicks were inside peeping, and the ducklings were all sold already. Some of the baby chickens were black, kind of unusual for around here.

Ken, Thanks for the information. There is a huge wholesale Farmers Market in Buffalo. I'll check there for Jersey Knight asparagus.

This is the best year for my "gus" bed. The Jerseys planted about 2 years ago, are now coming in great. I put some chicken bedding over them before the rains came, and the results were fantastic. Even the smaller Washington's are producing enough to warrant keeping them.

Just planted most of my tomato seedlings for this year. I hope to have a lot for canning. Went a bit lighter on the peppers this year, as still have quite a few jars of pepper enchilada sauce from last year's crop. Also planted pickling cukes and hubbard squash this week.

Temps soared to 95's this past week - and the peas decided about time to exit - but still a few left. Beans about 2 inches high - just right for birds tidbits - but foiled them with some chicken wire protection before the rascals had a chance. Had a great crop of cabbages - now seeing some worm damage for the last of the crop tho. Bugs damage all in all has been minimal so far. My guess is the cold/cool spring that we had.

Bejay

Last summer I found a wild asparagus bed on our property. Too late to harvest, but clearly asparagus. I was stupefied at such a lucky find, then I read Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" where she talks about all the wild asparagus out in the country and how her dad used to harvest from them.

So now I am super excited to see spears! The soil temp just reached 50 degrees, which I understand is the trigger for them to send up spears.

Yes. Also one way to help 'foster' the wild asparagus is to give them the same treatment that you give a regular garden plant. Weeding is VERY important, as well as good slow release fertilizer. I use a LOT of corn gluten in my 'gus patch and thats where the nitrogen supply comes from. They get a heavy dose of the bright yellow corn gluten in fall and in spring. I was a litte bit late this year, as a single dandilion made it through, but the 'gus plants crowns are now almost 2 feet around, where the oldest ones are. I waited until today to pick them as I will usually wait until the tallest spear starts to seperate its buds a little before cutting most of them down. I leave any that are still shorter than about 6 inches. They grow quite fast. For wild ones, you will probably see tiny yellow flowers and then some green pea sized berries in mid to late summer. These I pick off and dry all winter. Then split them open to expose 3-4 small black seeds inside. These seeds get started in small pots in February and by late spring, early summer I transplant them outside. Wish we had some rain soon. Its really dry here now, and when I tilled the garden it was very dusty.

Had a friend give me 3 root starts today. He had ordered asparagus starts and he had to many and I got some of his excess. I divided one of the crowns(?) and planted all in a trench. I don't know if it was the correct thing to do but it seemed right. Each division had plenty of roots and I'll keep everything wet for the next few days than let up a little on the watering. My ground is mostly mulch and rich in N.

Not sure. I don't ever 'divide' mine. Most of the time the crowns on 2-3 year old plants are about 1 inch in diameter or smaller. They will have maybe 4-10 long roots. Dividing (cut in half) the crown may have killed them. Asparagus are quite hardy once established, but can die a certain death if not planted properly or the roots have dried out too much. I don't like to see a lot of bare roots, but thats about all people sell. If yours were bundled together like with a rubber band or string, then yes, they should be seperated and planted. Dividing tends to lead me to believe a knife slicing through their middles, ouch!

I didn't use a knife but broke it apart. The two halves may not survive but I thought I'd try. It is pretty hot down here anyway and may be to late in the year for them to live.

If you see any green spears showing up in summer, just water them and give them a good weeding treatment, as well as the corn gluten. I let mine grow to ferns once the temps are at about 70 or more all day and night. I allow the ferns to remain throughout the summer until late fall, when they turn brown and I cut them down to the soil level. Today, its almost 75 here, while last night left frost on my greenhouse roof. That may also kill off the apricot blossoms that just recently opened and I manually polliated them with a Q tip.

Hey Ksrogers --

What a great idea about the corn gluten -- fertilizer and weed control in one! So you apply it in fall and spring? Is it too late (or detrimental) to apply it once the spears have started coming up? (meaning -- is it too late for me to do it now?)

Emily

No, its fine at any time. I actually applied a heavy dosage on my plants just a couple of days before they started to shoot up spears. I picked a larger batch this morning. Some of the gluten applied is so heavy it is 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep in the 'gus bed in some places. I will reapply a little more as its been applied by hand and is spotty and lacking in some areas. It cannot harm the spears or plants and because its slow release nitrgen, it will not harm the spears. Nw all we need is a little rain here to soak some of it into teh soil.

Drum roll, please. I have asparagus. I planted it Tuesday evening and it was up on Friday. Today a fourth is up which means the crown I broke apart and one of the pieces have taken. I'm waiting a few more days hoping that last broken piece of crown comes up.

I put them all in a trench and have kept the soil damp. It is raining today which is fine because my beds are raised and drainage is good. The rain keeps it cool for another few days. Yea!!!!!!!!!

Just leave it alone and dont harvest any as its just too small to give any food this year. Harvest only after you start seeing spears that are bigger than a pencil in diameter. Here, some of my older female plants (5+ YO) will still have some thin spears, but on the same crowns larger sized ones also grow, so I cut them all. It can take two or more years to get good seized spears. For now, let them all grow into tall green ferns, and then cut them off at soil level in late fall when they turn brown/tan color. Do NOT put the ferns into a compost pile as it can harbor the infamous, nasty asparagus beetle. Because your roots were a little longer than a foot, suspect the plants were 2 years old. The 3 year old crowns are usually almost 2 feet long. I would holld off on any further watering as they seem to have enough for now. If you get little if any rain in the next 2 months, then it can be watered a little. If you add that corn gluten now, you can reduce weeds and give those new plants a good dose of nitrogen too. Apply now and in the fall, then again next spring in early March or before they shoot up new spears. Usually by mid summer they don't do much in the way of new spears, and thats when the roots grow due to the big ferns you leave on them.

I was told to put them in a trough and than once they come up add a couple of inches of dirt and wait until those are taller than more dirt until my area was level? I will hold off on the watering as we are getting plenty of rain and all seems to be doing well. I'm wondering could the roots come up as asparagus? I am surprised at how fast they responded because they were in the refrig for a couple of weeks before I got them. I have the strong urge to run out every few hours to see how much they've grown.

My fifth one is now up. It would be the smallest piece of crown and maybe had 2 or 3 roots. Wow. This stuff is a weed.

Weeds, yes! Tasty, yes!, hard to grow, yes!. No, the roots will not form new crowns, so they do not spread out new crowns. I tried the method of adding soil technique originally, but not one single plant survived. Placing the roots in a cold fridge does help to wake them up sooner when planted. As mentioned, older 'gus plants can get a crown of about 12 inches around or larger, so keep the plants at least 2 feet from each other. Instead of a trench, I used the method mentioned above to plant mine. Because I also start a batch of plants from collected seeds, these just get transplnated about the end of May, and nothing needs to be done as they are still small enough, and contain the soil they grew in in pots. I have kept tack of the weight of my harvest so far, it weighed in at 11 pounds. and I am still harvesting spears about every two days. A few of mine are the purple type, which tend to be slower growing. This is their first year for harvest, as previous years they were just too thin. The purple ones were planted about 5 years ago.

I appreciate your responses as I know nothing about asparagus. I wish I had planted the crowns further apart but I didn't think they would really grow.

Now I'm excited. I've been harvesting for 6 days now, and already have a sizable bag in the fridge and have served them 3 times. There are only 2 of us and one will eat two spears if forced! I canned some last year but wasn't happy with the texture -- too soft. I've frozen in the past, but those aren't wonderful, either. Does anyone have a suggestion that works well for you?

None of the preservation techniques seem to hold texture and flavor well. Blanching and freezing might be the eastiest. For me, they keep well in the fridge and I just have a few nights of dinners with lots of asparagus.

I was away for a few days and came home to my aspargus turning into ferns. It looks like some of the ferns have small balls which could be flowers and than seeds?

The 'gus will have grean pea sized pods that contain maybe 2 to five black seeds. The yellow colored flowers are very tiny. I think these are the Mary Washington variety, which will produce more smaller spears, compared to the Jersey Knights.

I am in dire need of advice! I planted the crowns-15 of them in late March. They grew long, tall ferns, which my well meaning mother cut down. Will the asparagus die? Will this affect it in any way? I dont want to lose the bunch! Any help is appreciated!!

Its an 'iffy' situation. Hope that more foliage (spear) is going to emerge. The 'gus needs its green growth to bring growing strength back to the plant and its deep roots. I have been harvesting a few thin spears, only because the same plant has just previoulsy given me some really big spears. I am still harvesting as of yesterday, and also added another dozen new plants. The started from seed plants I put in last year, lost about 50%, even though they all had several fine firns. Asparagus if planted properly and well watered its first year should come back, but you do get losses. I had bought 6 of the purple variety years ago, and have only two left, which are finally giving me some to harvest. In Z8, if you don't see any further green ferns emerging as thin spears by this summer, it may be a lost cause. In any case case, nest year, try to plamt some new crowns in early February, or when the soil is not still frozen. The earlier you plant the better chnage they have, provided the supplier is selling plants that were dug that same spring. My recent ones had some yellow spears sprouting, so I know they were fresh plants.

Thank you for the help! I ordered these from Parks Seed and I had a HECK of a time getting them to send them in time to plant for my zone! They would ONLY send them in march! I will keep my eye on things-pray and do a little dance!

My latest batch of asparagus plants were ordered from Richters (Canada), and they wrote me telling me that the ground has just thawed enough for them to start digging and shipping. I just planted the crowns a few days ago, where my 'gus bed has been producing for nearly 3 weeks now. Hang in there. After buying from them, I was at a local Agway store where they had a huge box of crowns ready to plant. I asked about them and was told they were there since February. Maybe chosing a nursery that is in a higher zone number may help.

Asparagus harvest is still going on, but I am now gettting fewer spears. No signs of life from the ones I recently planted from Richters, even though some had short yellow spears forming. The weather has been warm, cold, and dry, so they seem to be governed by that. Corn gluten was put down a month ago, and still is visable on the soil surface. Usually when I harvest its about every two days. Now, I have to wait about five days for some spears. I think its time to stop, as this last batch looks like its about all the plants can give me. From then on, any spears remain, and will grow into ferns. The area will be very green and fern like by about mid June through to October.

I just had a new shoot come up and turn in a fond. A couple of the crowns have 2 fonds which are now growing apart. I assume the crowns are growing in diameter.

I am so impressed with myself I've decided to put in a bed of strawberries. The plants are pretty sad and it is getting hot here but we'll see.

Strawberries planted right now in Z9 are a bit late. Be sure to water well and avoid planting in full sun, or use a light weight fabric cover to help prevent sunburn. Usually strawberry plants are planted in early spring for Z9, that could be mid, to the end of February. Here in Z6 its almost too late to plant too. The reason is simple, the plants need root strength to flower and produce berries. With new plants, and the way they come out of dormency they start producing too much leaf and flower ends, and roots are not going to be able to catch up well. To reduce root forming stress, pinching off flowers and any runners can help. Be ure to use a good fertilizer in the prepping of the soil.

Yes asparagus crowns can get bigger than a foot in diameter. Some of mine are at that size now. A 'gus bed lasts about 20-30 years.

Thank you, I'll baby my strawberries. I had no idea asparagus crown's could reach a foot in diameter. No wonder we're not plant them close. You have been a world of info, thank you for sharing.

My asparagus are having another surge in growth. More asparagus are coming up per crown and there is a asparagus some distance away from any crown which is coming up. Is there a limit on the number of fonds per crown? How does asparagus expand other than a width of a crown? Does the crown shoot out little crowns which in turn form asparagus?

NO. Asparagus plants are usually grown from seeds, provided you have some female plants. I have a few types. Jersey Knights, a purple variety, and a Mary Washington variety. Some of the MW ones are male and are a bit larger in spear size, compared to the female plants that set out small round, pea sized pods when they grow out to ferns. Once planted and grown to maturity for the first year, the nurseries will remove any plants that produce seed pods and only sell the male plants. I have not heard of anyone succssful in cutting up a crown to make several plants. The MW variety produces smaller sized spears, compared to other all male types, but usually more spears than the male plants like a Jersey Knight. I will collect seeds every fall and grow several new plants indoors starting in about February. By June, they are big enough to be planted outside. Only catch is, the winters may or may not kill a few off, so I will usually try to replant in the same locations, provided I have enough space between each. I have a small 1 foot high wire fence around my 'gus bed, just so I know where I can walk and where the plants are. Around the edges of the fence, oak leaves tend to pile up, giving a few, some natural mulch. I used to cover the area in late fall with a heavy weight plastic fabric, and remove the fabric in early spring, but found after 3 years, it didn't do much of a difference. I just applied another corn gluten treatment, as well as cut out a few small weeds that made it through the gluten barrier. I don't harvest after the end of May, and it should be sooner in higher growing zones. Cutting all the spears and not leaving a few of the smaller ones to continue to grow will weaken the plants. They do need some foliage to grow better the following year. Cutting off all spears could even kill the plants. Never pull out the spears, and always use a knife to slice the spears near the soil surface. My last harvest was about 3 days ago and I did it in the rain. I left all that were under pencil diameter, and some are already well established as ferns. I harvested about 35 spears, and this may be the last for the season, unless I see a few more big spears emerging in the next week or so. By mid summer, the whole area is up to about 4-5 feet in green ferns. These get cut down in fall after they start to die out. I use a modified weed wacker with swinging plastic blades that slice through the tough stalks. A mature crown can have anywhere from 3 to 20 spears, depending on how old it is. Some of mine are at age 12 or older, and are very active in producing big spears. They don't all emerge at the same time, however, so you do have some spacing of a couple of days between each harvesting. The roots of very mature asparagus can reach down to almost 20 feet deep! Most places sell a 2 or 3 year old plant, when you buy them.

The spear which has come up some distance from a crown is from one of the broken crowns. My crowns were set deep and dirt was slowly added. Sounds like the spear is coming up from an angle because there is no way that broken crown has grown that much in diameter. These fonds are short.

My beds are raised and filled with a garden mix. This particular bed is a couple of years old and has additional home grown compost added. I'm not very good at making finished compost. The bed is about 4 feet wide and has eggplant to the other side. We have hard packed clay underneath the beds and if that asparagus can go deep through that stuff than more power to it. I had no idea the asparagus would grow and should have planted each crown further apart. I have dug a trench between the eggplant and asparagus and buried more compost. The soil is so easy to work with weeds are not a problem.

I cannot move the eggplant because it would break my heart. I have tried several different types of eggplant and cannot start any from seed and couldn't find small plants last year. Eggplant could winter over because of our mild winters and will act as a shade for part of the day for the asparagus. They made need shade in our hot hot summers. Most of the fonds have produced flowers and seed which has fallen to the ground. It has been so windy the seed is knocked free before I know to catch it. If the seeds produce more asparagus they will be easy to move because the dirt is soft.

Is your beds a mix of types? Do they cross as other plants?

The crowns should only be about 2 inches deep in the soil. I don't add soil when they grow, and just plant to the proper depth in the beginning. If its a fragment of a crown, and its sending up a spear, leave it alone so it will grow to maturity. Crowns enlarge very slowly and can take several years to get to a foot in diameter. Asparagus loves sunlight. Just let it grow even if its near the eggplant. Once planted, 'gus plants should not be moved or relocated, unless they were just planted a few weeks ago. Even for that, if they have new spears already showing up, it may be too late to relocate them. The 'gus I have is all mixed. If you see round, green, pea sized pods, they hold a few black seeds inside. I pluck several off and let them sit indoors in a small dish to dry out some. The green skins turn red, and then start to shrink. This is when I split them open and remove the 2-4 black seeds inside. It appears that you have female plants due to the seeds you mentioned. I have a few that also have tiny yellow flowers. If you want big spears, a all male variety is a better choice. Cross pollination can only happen if there are flowers. If there are more than one type of 'gus and they are female and male mixes, its hard to know what will be the result. the single purple plant I have is a male with no seeds or flowers. Normally regular asparagus has a purple tinge when small. The pruple variety was originally 6 plants but the rest have never shown up. For white asparagus, you cover the plants with something to block any light. Then harvest. They are naturally very light white, and once exposed to sunlight they start to turn green. Young 'gus plants may just have foot tall ferns, but mature plants can get ferns up to 6 foot tall! Because your soil is a mix and mostly clay, it is a good idea to go down about a foot to add these ammendments. If you have weeds sprouting in there, use a stirrup weeder. I love those as you just drag the blade over the surface of the soil and it slices off any weeds from their roots. The addition of corn gluten twice per year also helps to not only reduce weeds, but also feeds the 'gus plants a very good source for nitrogen. Many write about puny, thin spears, but if they added nitrogen fertilizer or the gluten, the spears would soon become much bigger. Once in a while I see a very small spear sprouting nearby my bed, which is probably due to a few seeds getting planted. These don't seem to make it after their first year, because they are so young, and our winters are just too much for a very small 'gus plant. If you have small seedlings, you can leave them be, or relocate them to another area. Be sure to dig down deep, about 8 inches or so, so you get most of the fine roots. Once in a while I get spears that are twisted and gnarly, and these are OK, but were probably due to some bug in the soil, or my accidentially stepping on a crown. Never add the asparagus ferns to a compost pile. There is a beetle that can do damage to the 'gus plants, so removal of the dead ferns in late fall is when you put these someplace else, away from the bed or compost pile.

A friend gave me 3 bags of asparagus she bought from Lowes a few months ago. They've been in her hot garage. They were pretty dry. The dirt fell of the roots as if dust. I soaked them a few hours in water and than planted them and watered some more. Most of the roots seem flexible. Some of the roots were dried up like string. They didn't cost me anything so I'll try but the weather is so hot.

It might be that a few have survived after a long few months storage. Roots do dry out and are not very brittle even if almost totally dry, as they are quite fiberous. About all you can do is to soak them like you did and plant asap. Keep the area well watered every day through the summer. By mid to late summer, you should see a few spears/ferns. Allow them to grow to maturity and then in late fall after they die out, cut off at ground level. Don't cut any spears that emerge. I stopped harvesting mine, even though about 6 spears were quite large. Thats it for this years crop, which was over twice what I had last year.

Guess What? That old dried up asparagus root is starting to come up. I'm calling this bed 'God's Asparagus Bed' because I am clueless about growing asparagus. If this keeps up I'll have asparagus my first full year just because there are so many crowns.

Now that you see spears, do not harvest any!! They need to grow nice and big (into huge ferns) to give strength back to the plants and roots. In the fall, after they are dieing and turn tan color, cut them off at ground level. Apply a heavy coat of corn gluten after that. Suggest fencing off the area with some of that 1 foot high, wire fence that you push into the soil. It helps to remind you that you should not step on the crowns while they are growing. The corn gluten will prevent weed seeds from germinating. Very early next spring, like mid February in your zone, you should apply another heavy coat of corn gluten. I had run out, and by the time I got a good layer down this year, a few weeds made it through. Once the corn gluten remains a while, it breaks down in to nitrogen which is essential for the 'gus. When its active it sets up a protien barrier that will block any seeds from sprouting, so apply it only to the area where you don't want a lot of weeds growing. I go in and routinly use a stirrup weeder and its got a small sharp blade that slices through the weeds and their roots.. Never pick any asparagus that are smaller than a pencil in diameter. Cutting all the spears their first year will weaken the plants severly. I have stopped harvesting mine now, as there are just a few left that will grow tall ferns.

I'm not going to pick any now but this next spring, I'm hoping. The spears are way to thin. I cannot believe those dried up roots are producing spears. More are up every day.

Thats a good sign. Suggest that you fertilize this summer and keep them well watered as they are not only producing the thn spears but many complex roots that can reach down m,any feet into the soil. As mentiond corn gluten is great to control the weeds, but a good general purpose fertilizer is also a good way to help them get going. If by next spring you don't see spears bigger than a pencil, that I suggest that you add more GP fertilizer as well as the corn gluten. You will soon be rewarded with some decent sized spears. The small plants grew from seeds last year before spring, were still quite small and thin this year, so none were cut. I expect that by next spring they should be big enough to cut some to eat. I am also seeing a few small spears showing up outside my patch, which is due to the fact that some of the seeds they produce have taken root. If I don't want these small plants to remain in these places, I can easily dig them up, but have to take about a foot of the soil under, and round them.

I have saved this thread, and hope to establish contact with someone who can guide me in setting up a bed, to plant next year.

My first question is how much sun do they need. The side of my house is 30 feet, and we could use the who 30 feet that gets sun in the afternoon.

Thanks.

Mine has full direct sun. ksrogers is the expert but I think 30 feet of asparagus sounds like enough to supply a local store.

30 Feet long, how wide? If its a single row of plants spaced 2 feet apart, thats not very much. My 'gus patch is about 30 feet long, but alnmost 20 feet wide now and has about 5 rows. The sun here is early moring up to about 3:30PM in the summertime, then after that time its shade. Because most of my plants are well established, I don't usually need to water them, unless its their first year there.