I have an asparagus patch in my back yard, and I want to encourage the plants to multiply in the coming years.
Now that the spears are coming up, should I harvest them, leaving a few to grow into ferns, or would it be better to let them all grow into ferns?
And I plan to dig up a few plants and divide them. When should this be done? In the fall?
Depends on when you planted them. From what I read, you’re not supposed to harvest them the first year after you plant them, and sparingly (like once) in the second year, but game on the third and subsequent years.
After that, what you do is harvest them 3-5 times, and then let them grow out all summer, so that they both grow larger underground and build up ample food reserves in the roots, so that in the spring, you can harvest the shoots several times without actually harming the plants. Our patch started out about 2’x1.5’, and is now about 4’x3’ and we have more asparagus than we care to eat each spring.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/organic/files/2011/03/E-503_asparagus.pdf’
Asparagus | Archives | Aggie Horticulture
http://theagriculturalist.blogspot.com/2010/03/growing-asparagus-is-really-easy.html
I’m bumping this thread, because there’s a new problem. This year the asparagus spears came up as usual, but for various reasons we didn’t harvest any of them. They all grew normally into ferns. Then they died and turned brown. We didn’t do anything differently this year, no weed killer near them, etc. So does this mean the crowns are dead, or will they come up again next year?
Hard to say.
I’ve started asparagus at every place I’ve ever lived where it can be successfully grown, and here’s what I’ve learned:
Once it is established after 2-3 years, you can hardly kill it if it likes where it is planted.
Asparagus prefers a slightly alkaline environment, sunny location, light soil for good drainage but also loves being regularly watered. Best thing you can do for it each late summer/early fall is side dress with rich, nutritious compost.
It will reward you nearly forever. I hope it comes up again for you next year!
No help here. I’ve tried year after year to grow asparagus with no luck. The is ONE wild one the grows about 5 foot tall, but other than that, nuthin’.
Just to make sure I understand correctly, your asparagus eventually turns brown and ‘dies’ every year (as mine does in autumn), but this year turned brown and died before it was even summer? What are your normal growth strategies? Although you used no weed killer, are you doing anything like salting the asparagus bed or adjusting the soil pH levels? Asparagus is salt-tolerant, but not salt-invulnerable. Some people salt the bed to reduce weeds, but this can eventually make it difficult for even asparagus to grow there. Asparagus is said to be an ‘acid-loving’ plant, and growers may try to (sometimes unsuccessfully) adjust the pH levels with coffee grounds or agrichemicals.
Are there red berries on the brown, dry ferns? I have collected those, put them in a plastic bag, and stored them in the freezer over the winter. (To the best of my knowledge, they need to freeze in order to successfully germinate later.) In the very early spring, I smashed the berries in a bucket of water, collected the seeds floating on the surface, and planted them in a tray of 50 peat pots with 3 or 4 seeds per pot. I ended up with 2 or 3 new plants in every pot, and now I have an 8’ x 12’ bed full of asparagus.
I haven’t done anything differently this year, which means I haven’t done anything. No salt or pH adjustment. Everything came up normally, on time, then died. No red berries at all. One plant remained green a little longer than the others, then it turned brown as well.
That is weird. Asparagus seems super hardy to me. Using my Google Fu skills, I see articles that in warmer climate zones, fungi can do a lot of damage to asparagus. Also, if there are gophers in your area, they might kill the plants from underground. There are no gophers where I live and climate zone maps tell me I am in zone 5, which may be cold for enough of the year that fungus problems are less common. If all of my plants turned brown out of season, I would start wondering if someone else did something to them.
Maybe dig up a dead plant and see if the roots appear rotten or eaten? Do you have any jerk neighbors?
My best guess is lack of water. I’ve had that happen to plants I was accustomed to ignoring, but in recent years, rainfall wasn’t enough to sustain them. I didn’t notice until they’d died.
I agree with @Retzbu_Tox that digging up a plant to inspect roots for damage. If no obvious damage, then I think lack of moisture is the most likely culprit.
If the roots seem fine and it has been extremely dry, try watering the patch. I get a few new shoots during cool/wet spells in the summer and fall. If your patch puts up any new shoots, continue watering occasionally and it might be fine come next spring.
I think we’ve had sufficient water this spring. We may have had too much.