Also, I am assuming they need to be hardened off--I can't just leave them outside without having acclimated them first.

The usual recommendation when grown from seed, which admittedly very few do anymore for many reasons, is 3-6 months before transplanting so 3 months is the minimum. Root developments is quite slow and a good root ball insures tolerating transplanting. Some commercial growers wait as long as a year before transplanting them out of containers into the field. The choice is yours but survival rates apparently fall off dramatically if you rush the process.

Can't say whether they should be transplanted to larger containers or not as have no idea what size they are in now. But multiple transplantings should be avoided so if they have to go into bigger containers then you might as well put them in the garden and hope for the best..

Dave

I don't mind waiting until June. They just look so spindly. I just don't know if they're supposed to look that way or not.

You mean the fern stems are spindly? Yeah, even year old plant stems are wire thin. They won't begin to look like spears of asparagus for another couple of years.

Dave

Thanks Dave!

Sure, you can wait to transplant but then watering concerns become paramount. I'd take advantage of spring moisture 8 soil to make transition easier.

You should notice lots of small spears the first year and next year you will have spears that you could harvest, although not advised. Actually if you rob one or two spears per plant the second year there is no harm done and if a freeze is predicted go ahead and cut all spears since they will be lost anyhow.

Once again, I have no idea where Dave gets his information.

I put them outside yesterday, on my shaded porch. They seem perkier. Tomatoes and peppers are hogging my grow lights, so maybe they needed more light. Added a bit of compost to their containers too.

I grew from seed because crowns are expensive and because I like challenges. Seeds are cheap. It's like a science experiment.

"Once again, I have no idea where Dave gets his information."

Same place we all get it: in the dirt. Same as you.

People here are in different parts of the entire world and have things grow differently where they are. Zone info is there to help you deal with that. There's no need for deliberate insults because your experience differs.

Like I was saying in another thread, I planted asparagus seedlings from a big box store last year. They were maybe 6-9 inches tall. I just planted them normally, and they grew into big ferns without issue. I had some harvestable spears this year but decided to let them all go to fern... didn't seem worth it to cut 4 spears. If your ferns are hardened off I'd say go for it and plant them.

Once I had asp seeds germinate in pots, after I thought they were bad seeds. I planted them a month after germination, when they were about five inches high and very thin (maybe pencil core thin), which was mid-July by then, and watered them. They were fine.

I looked up my records from last year. I sowed Mary Washington in cells the first week of Feb, got 20 seedlings. Potted up to solo cups March 30 and set out in garden on June 15 (I intended a couple weeks earlier, but family issues intervened). All were spindly, very thin two to four shoots, but most about a foot high. Then, after a pretty brutal winter here in the Highlands of the Hudson Valley (Putnam Co NY), I only lost one to frost heave. Now they are all uniformly about 2 to 3 feet tall, two to 8 spears per plant, a few have spears in excess of one half inch diameter. This in 15 months from sowing. Not too shabby, IMO.

So I would go with Dave digdirt's advice, which I have found generally on the money. If you start hardening off today, you'll be able to get them in the ground by Memorial Day easily.

Just a word about seeds and variety: I agree with the OP on cost (if I bought 20 crowns at local garden center they would have cost me about $80 to$100, at which price I'm getting my gus from the farmers market) and the joy of seeing things grow from seed (btw, I use a sunny window with seed cells on a warm radiator, very low tech). Also, Mary Washington was the only seed variety I could find locally, why pay shipping and handling? The variety has been somewhat maligned on GW because it produces two many females (sexist!) and seeds, more modern varieties have greater disease resistance, etc. While that may be true, if the old fashioned varieties were good enough for my grandma, they're good enuf for me.

<Once again, I have no idea where Dave gets his information.>

From over 50 years of growing it, lots of it. And do much of it from seed. Plus I have several contacts who grow it commercially and we talk about it.

The point is, gus is very slow growing. Gus's roots are very slow to develop beyond the hair-thin stage. You need only look at the roots on a 1 year old crown to see that. So, while it isn't recommended, if you elect to risk the plants by transplanting them before they are sufficiently developed to survive that is your choice. But there is no reason to rush it. Water is always available for it and the root development speeds up somewhat in warm soil.

Photo 05-03-15. Seeded in Oct. 2014 so going on 7 months old.

Root development of the plant on the right above.

Dave

I'm not sure if I agree that buying crowns is really all that expensive. I bought 2 packages of 10 2 year old Jersey Supreme crowns at a garden center for about $15 total and I think there were closer to 15 in each package. Online Nourse Farms sells 25 crowns of most varieties for $22.50 not including shipping. Seems like a small price to pay to be able to harvest 2 or 3 years earlier than from seed.

Yes they are less than $1/crown, not really expensive at all.

IMHO, I would be more concerned about transplanting them in the stressful heat of summer, than having very developed roots. Also you would want them to have a nice long growing season outdoors, they are sun loving plants that need a long season... my one crown that got shaded a bit is much weaker than the others. But JMO, based on my limited experience.

Asparagus definitely does much better in full sun. The first bed I planted 7 years ago does not get very much sun and is already getting out-produced by a 4 year old bed.

You guys have helped me enormously. Right now, I think I'm going to wait until June, but I'm keeping them outside until they get a bit sturdier. Right now it's really windy and thank goodness they're on the porch and not in the bed. As for crowns--if this experiment fails, I may try crowns. Right now, though, they seem to be pretty content.

Grew my asparagus from seed many times, no problem, you will not need to grow from crowns unless you want to. Some of the Jersey varieties are available as seed too.