The spears will turn into ferns if not harvested. They just keep growing and the tip ferns out and also the little leaf like things that are along the length of the spear.

The crown don't sprout ferns. It sends up spears. When not harvested the spears turn into ferns as they grow. Suggest you might want to find some better resources. :-)

Dave

Jack beat me to it.

Dave

Thank you, guys. These are the first spears. Should I let them turn into ferns, or harvest and eat them?

Thank you. I think I'll just let them fern out for now.

No. You do not harvest the first year - this is year 1 for them - and when grown from seed not even the second or third year. Asparagus takes at least 3 years for the crowns to develop to any size at all and that all depends on how well you keep it fed regularly and watered. Which is why most plant established crowns not seeds.

Dave

Couldn't afford the crowns. Thanks again, Dave.

All great advice you received above.

When you say "huge" my first thought is large diameter, but on second thought for one new to growing you may well mean height which is mostly an indication of how long an individual spear has been growing. The diameter of the spears gives a good idea of how well the roots/crowns are developing. If yours are actually "huge" in girth you must have provided ideal conditions last year.

In later years, you can harvest the larger diameter spears. Stop harvesting when the new ones growing are smaller in girth...definitely stop by time new ones are the diameter of a pencil. Those will then continue to grow taller and eventually send out the ferny growth and provide energy to replenish the roots. At the end of the season the above ground ferny part dies back and only the roots remain alive. You can trim the dead growth back to the ground during late fall, winter, or if you are slow like I sometimes am, remove them in early spring :)

Your "brown sticks" are last years dead ferns (first year growth never really looks like spears since it is so tiny and wispy) They are dead, as they should be, and they will not grow anymore, only rot away eventually. Go ahead and remove them if you want.

If you have a freeze forecast like we had southwest of you last night you may just as well harvest any visible spears since they will get hit and will just die back to the soil surface. But I just fertilized my bed and there were no signs of new spears yet.

Some spears are thin, but more than a few are huge in girth. I don't know how it happened--I was prepared for very thin spears.

I've had to cover them three or four times in the last week and a half. I read that they can withstand temps of 28 degrees. Tonight it's a low of 38, so no need to cover. If I could figure out how to post a photo, I would. But no matter how small I resize the photos, the simply will not post.

Asparagus is magical. It is GORGEOUS. I've never grown anything like it. It is worth the wait for edible spears, just to watch it do its thing.

There is that perception that a year after planting one will just have thin spears and that may be the case if an older variety is started but with the newer varieties the spear diameter is large. I cut one spear per plant the very next year after starting from seed and from almost 1000 plants that single cutting paid for the seed cost.

I love my Asparagus! My 3 year old bed and 6 year old bed are really starting to grow fast and I need to harvest daily. I'll be pickling some in the near future.

Baerrie2m, 1000 crowns! Did you get them from DeBruyn's? They seem to have the best prices at 100 Jersey Knight crowns for about $27 and $32.50 for Purple Passion.

I just planted 26 crowns of Purple Passion and 26 crowns of Pacific Purple on 4/9 purchased from Nourse Farms and most of the crowns have already sent up spears. Nourse recommends planting these types at 6-8" spacing between crowns because if planted at normal 12" spacing the spear diameter is too large and the closer spacing will be more productive. I used 7" spacing and got 26 of each in 2 4'x10' beds. I'll need to be adding a couple inches of soil/compost mix to the beds pretty soon.

I grew asparagus from Bonnie seedlings, planted in early Spring, and I could have definitely harvested in year 2, they made large crowns with tons of spears. They were extremely vigorous growing from year 1. Meanwhile the 2 year old crowns I planted clearly will need several years to really get established.

I purchased 1000 Jersey Supreme seeds from Rupp to start my last planting. Seeds are much cheaper than crowns. 1 M was $74. when I purchased. The best price I got for 1000 crowns was $375. You can get Mary Washington cheaper but I had planted that 30 years ago and would not plant again.

OK thanks, just wondering. Don't know about Debruyn's quality but their price for 1000 - 2 year old Jersey Knight crowns $270. They don't offer Jersey Supreme.

Not sure I would want to try to harvest from 1000 plants! My back hurts just thinking about it.