Fields:
Asparagus beetles |
Asparagus bed how to start? |
Asparagus -- New Bed |
Asparagus bed with tap rooted weeds in crowns |
asparagus questions |
Another asparagas question |
Asparagus in containers? |
Asparagas During the Winter |
asparagus - one sex |
asparagus growth cycle |
Asparagus Question
From: gwoods@albany.net (Gary Woods)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Asparagus beetles
Norman Klug <npk@tis.eh.doe.gov> wrote:
>How do you get rid of asparagus beetles? We are in zone seven.
Mine isn't even up yet! (zone 5). Rotenone dust has always worked well for me. Pretty benign otherwise, and a couple of dustings are enough to get to where the ferns are too tough for the beetles to eat after the harvest is over.
-- Gary Woods O- K2AHC Public key at www.albany.net/~gwoods, or get 0x1D64A93D via keyserver gwoods@albany.net gwoods@wrgb.com fingerprint = E2 6F 50 93 7B C7 F3 CA 1F 8B 3C C0 B0 28 68 0B
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From: beecrofter@aol.com (BeeCrofter)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Asparagus beetles
Log off go outside and handpick the beetles. Rub the eggs and larvae off the stems with your thumb. If you approach the beetle it will drop straight down so put a hand under where the beetle is first an it will drop right in. If you avoid using pesticides and go after the beetles pretty soon wasps will come in and haul away the larvae reducing damage below notice. Now this may not be practical for big acreage but my asparagas patch is only 24x40 and this takes 10 minutes or so a couple times a week.
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From: "JER" <MILOSEK@prodigy.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Asparagus bed, how to start?
Good Morning,
I want to start an asparagus bed capable of producing enough for 2
people eating asparagus twice a week. How large should it be? How much
sun? When should it be started from seed? I live in Zone 5 100 miles north
of NYC in the historic Hudson Valley.
Thank you for your time, Jer
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From: "John Denu" <jldenu@fullnet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Asparagus bed, how to start?
We have five plants that are 3 years old and accomplish that task nicely. We started them from roots, though. Starting from seeds takes an extra year or two to get good production.
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From: Chris Owens <caowens@redsuspenders.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Asparagus bed, how to start?
> I want to start an asparagus bed capable of producing enough for 2
> people eating asparagus twice a week. How large should it be?
Depends. My husband and I seem capable of eating any amout of asparagus. However, for about 12 stalks per person twice a week, for the month of asparagus season, you would need around 200 plants. That's 200 square feet of bed you will need, too.
> How much sun?
Full sun.
> When should it be started from seed?
Don't. Buy crowns. You will get much better results much earlier.
This works best in a raised bed. Add two pounds of sharp sand, and 1/2 cf each of compost and composted manure per sf of bed space. Till well, and plant your crowns [in about two weeks from now] in rows, with 1' between plants and 18" between rows. Don't harvest this year, and harvest lightly next year. Let unharvest spears grow until they wither in the fall, then cut off just above ground level. Mulch between the rows during the growing season, and the whole bed in winter. Feed with 1 cf composted manure per sy of bed each month during the growing season, just before mulching in for the winter, and just after removing the mulch in spring. Split crowns every 3-5 years.
Chris Owens
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From: Guy and Diane Bradley <bradleys@inlink.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Asparagus bed, how to start? Reply-To: bradleys@inlink.com
You may be under the impression that you can keep picking asparagus all summer, but that is not so. You can pick for maybe a month or so in the spring. At some point, you have to let them go to produce for next year.
Picking twice a week isn't much, you can get a new crop every couple of days. I would consider maybe ten plants, separated by two or three feet.
You can buy one-year old roots or start your own from seed. Asparagus is subject to various diseases, which are fortunately not carried by the seed, so this is a good way to go. Actually, it is probably too late to plant roots this year, but not too late for seeds. Get them in the ground now. Thin to about a foot apart, so when you dig them up next spring you won't destroy any of the roots.
The recommended procedure is to dig a trench, about 1-1.5 ft. deep. Improve the soil in the bottom of the trench, such as by digging deeper than that and filling in with good soil (compost helps here). Dig up the roots, just as they are starting to grow is convenient so you can find them, and take as dirt as possible with them so as not to set them back. As the shoots grow over the summer, fill in the trench with decent dirt until level with the normal surface.
Don't take any shoots the second year, after transplanting. The third year you may take a few, but be judicious. The fourth year and from there on take what you want, subject to my warning above. Keep the area weeded and apply annual topdressing of manure, compost or some other fertilizer. Watch for asparagus beetles, they can strip your crop. However, rather than insecticide, you might consider handpicking either the ugly gray larvae or the handsome beetles.
I hope this helps.
Guy Bradley St.Louis MO zone 6
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From: "John Denu" <jldenu@fullnet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Asparagus bed, how to start?
We have five plants that are 3 years old and accomplish that task nicely. We started them from roots, though. Starting from seeds takes an extra year or two to get good production.
John
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From: Neason <Rebecca.Neason@foxinternet.net> Reply-To: Rebecca.Neason@foxinternet.net
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Re: Asparagus bed, how to start?
I agree with the essential points of Guy's description of building an asparagus bed. I would be a little more aggressive during harvest, however. You can harvest some spears (2 weeks worth?) the second year and maybe four to six weeks the third year. Thereafter you can harvest until July 4, unless you live in a region with an especially early first freeze date. I start my harvest in April and keep it up until we are sick of the stuff... usually about mid-June. We get maybe 8 weeks out of our 15 year old bed and could eat asparagus every other day in May if we wanted to.
Asparagus beetles can be a problem early. Rotenone works on them but I find that handpicking them works pretty well and doesn't retard the ladybug population growth like Rotenone does. When the ladybug population gets up to mid-spring levels they tend to take over the job. (The lady bug larvae eat the asparagus beetle larvae.)
Steve (Maritime...)
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From: beecrofter@aol.com (BeeCrofter)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Asparagus -- New Bed
New asparagus beds?
Stand near the bed and point at it with your index finger. Now harvest any spears that are fatter than your index finger and none that arn't.
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From: Helen Kay <enhkay@mailbox.uq.edu.au>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Asparagus bed with tap rooted weeds in crowns
On 5 May 1998, Jerome R. Long wrote:
> I have tap rooted weeds such as dandelion that have found the crowns of my
> asparagus and I can find no way to extract the tap root so they just keep
> coming. What happens if I spray (organic purists please don't respond; I try
> but there are limits) the bed with a broadleaf weed killer which works on
> lawns? Will the asparagus crowns be damaged or will they respond like grasses?
>
If you must use weedkiller, and the bed isn't enormous, I'd suggest painting the leaves of the offending plants rather than spraying the entire bed. This will eliminate any danger to the asparagus and will also prevent spray drift. And it uses less weedkiller, which both economically and environmentally desirable.
Helen
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From: giovanni@physics.wayne.edu
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: asparagus questions
In article <3590848d.112773492@news.visi.com>,
babalon@nospamvisi.com wrote:
>
> greetings:
>
> i've been considering growing asparagus. mary washington was
> recommended for my area (zone 3-4, mpls, mn).
>
> i have a question though -
>
> what does it look like!?! i've only seen it in stores or in pictures
> of the harvested product. once you harvest it in spring, does it stay
> small or does it grow 5 feet tall?
>
> also, if you're using the square foot gardening method - how much room
> do they take?
> *babalon*
> Zone 3/4
>
> Shit happens - let's compost it.
i have them, and they do grow to 4 ft in zone 5. one asparagus per square foot is the ratio, so plan on, say, 20X20 sqft.
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From: nettece@stortek.com (Cheryl E Netter)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: asparagus questions
They grow straight up and the tip that you see on the stuff in the grocery store branches out into very airy, ferny foliage. Have you ever seen the house plant called asparagus fern? My asparagus get about six feet tall now. The foliage turns golden in the fall.
cheryl USDA zone 4 Golden, Co.
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From: jrlong@vt.edu (Jerome R. Long)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: asparagus questions
If you enjoy asparagus and are in a climate with a complete dormant season it is easy to grow asparagus, but you must dedicate some space in a sunny, fertile part of your garden. Nurseries sell dormant asparagus root crowns and frequently the equivlent of a pack of seeds is a bundle of 25 crowns. They can best be maintained by planting them in one long row about 30 feet long. A good nursery keeps crowns on cold storage and can still ship for planting now. The hard dogma is to plant them very deep, but this is most debatable. I would rototill a bed four feet by thirty feet and then split it down the middle with a wide trench up to a foot deep. Lay the crowns out in the trench and barely cover. As the crowns send up sprouts resist all temptation to eat a shoot. When they are up a foot or so begin back filling the trence a little each week and when the backfill has become a hilled row you may add a heavy does of manure or 10-10-10 and a thick layer of mulch. Over the course of the summer the grassy ferny plants will get about four feet high and when winter comes they will die and should be cut. During the winter cover with manure and drive some stakes and run horizontal wires much like you might for grapes. In the spring of the second year you may break off a few shoots, but use much restrain and provide lots of fertility and water. They may grow six feet tall that second season. The following spring after that second growing season you can begin harvesting shoots at the rate of about a pound per day for about six weeks. Then let the tops grow up and repeat the cycle. Its very easy. Less work by far than staked tomatoes.
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From: jrlong@vt.edu (Jerome R. Long)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: asparagus questions
In article <359d5ee1.168652265@news.visi.com>, babalon@nospamvisi.com says...
>>> i've been considering growing asparagus. mary washington was
>>> recommended for my area (zone 3-4, mpls, mn).
I forgot to say, don't plant Mary Washington which is a very old obselete variety. Go with something like Jersey Giant. A single asparagus planting can last until you are too geriatric to care for it. One of the worst enemies is seedling which become like weeds. The plants are sexed. One does best if all the plants are male. The male plants waste no energy making seeds and it all goes into renewal of the root which makes the next year's shoots. The female plants dissipate energy on seeds which make weeds...kind of the inverse of growing sensimilla.
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From: cauce.nospam@vo.cnchost.com
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: asparagus questions
See ye here, babalon@nospamvisi.com (babalon) crafted the following words:
>>> what does it look like!?! i've only seen it in stores or in pictures
>>> of the harvested product. once you harvest it in spring, does it stay
>>> small or does it grow 5 feet tall?
>okay - let me try to make the question more clear :
>
>what does ASPARAGUS look like? the plant, not the shoots that get cut
did you STFW?
http://pathfinder.com/@@9QTzvAUAfjKzTO2*/vg/TimeLife/CG/Books/E10/Html/E10001X.html
Shows spears and a single fern frond,
http://hammock.ifas.ufl.edu/images/4h/aspofa1.jpg
shows a large bed full of fronds.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/easygardening/asparagus/asparagus.html
Seems a good page for learning ALL about growing Asparagus.
If you search on "asparagus fern" you will get 100s of pictures of the ornamental types. The ones with the most open, airy look are closest to the edible asparagus's adult fronds. Other common ornamental asparagus ferns look like bristly tubes or like flat fronds (often used in flower arrangements).
jc
All email sent to the address used for this post is deleted unread (although headers may be used in my spam filters). To reach my real email box, send to personal@ at the above domain.
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From: Neason <Rebecca.Neason@foxinternet.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Another asparagas question
chamokar wrote:
> The property we own had an asparagas bed started when we purchased the
> property. I had never eaten it before, and now it is a rite of spring.
> We have a tremendous variation in the diameter of the stalks, some less
> than pencil thin, some quite large. Is this normal? We harvest it all,
> but of course the thinnest are tastier. The stalks sold in the store
> all seem to be the same diameter. Should we harvesting all diameters,
> or not? I just found this ng, and am learning a lot already, although I
> still have 500 posts to read!!
> Karen
Karen,
Lots of things affect the size of asparagus stalks. In an established bed you should clean off every shoot for about 8 to 10 weeks (6 weeks in a really short-season climate) and then quit picking altogether and let the ferns grow. There is no right or wrong size in an established bed.
Here are some thing that cause variation in asparagus spear size:
1. How vigorously the fern grew last year. Sometimes the beetles chew up one plant more than another and the more damaged ferns will produce smaller stalks the next year.
2. How heavily you harvested. If you pick some plants more than others (by always starting at one end of the bed and quitting when you have a "mess", for instance) then the heavily picked plants will have reduced yield the following year.
3. If the plant has very good conditions the previous year and produced more heavily than normal it will produce less heavily the next year.
4. Winter damage, from moles or weather, can reduce yield and size, although moles can be helpful by aerating compacted soil. The second and third year after a mole tears up a hill is usually very good in my silty clay soil.
5. Some older varieties have significant variation as a matter of course.
6. Generally speaking, the deeper the crowns, the bigger the spears, up to a limit. I mulch mine 3 or four inches every two years.
More than you wanted to know, eh?
Steve (Maritime...)
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From: "Larry Maxcy" <larrymax@ivnet.net>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Another asparagas question ec.gardens.edible:7020
In article <355505FB.6ED2@cyberia.com>, chamokar <chamokar@cyberia.com> wrote:
Karen, Yes, size variation is normal. Commercial growers harvest by clear-cutting an area, then the stalks are sorted by size for retail sale. So as you can see, a thick stalk may be no older than a thin one. (And I find the thicker stalks tastier, but that's probably a personal quirk!) When all the stalks coming up are thin, it's time to stop harvesting, let the stalks grow into tall fronds. If you get snow, leave the fronds in place until spring. If not, you can cut them off when they turn brown in the fall.
Larry
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From: d bethel <dbethel@erinet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Asparagus in containers?
Will asparagus grow in containers? If so, how large a container would be necessary to get to a productive size?
D
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From: Neason <Rebecca.Neason@foxinternet.net> Reply-To: Rebecca.Neason@foxinternet.net
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Asparagus in containers?
d bethel wrote:
>
> Will asparagus grow in containers? If so, how large a container would be
> necessary to get to a productive size?
>
> D
Don't bother. Asparagus needs lots of room per plant. You might get one to produce in a whiskey barrel, but one plant is not a crop. There are many other more productive uses for limited space.
Steve (Maritime...)
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From: dbartlett@synapse.net
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Asparagas During the Winter
In article <01bd8cfd$15bf1220$4305bfce@expvncog>,
"Charmaine & Mike Michaud" <michaud1@magma.ca> wrote:
>
> Hi there!
>
> We planted a package of asparags seeds for fun about a month ago (we had an
> extremely early spring). They were planted in a fairly large but portable
> planter and are all coming up fine. We are aware that it takes 2 to 3
> seasons for them to grow to a reasonable size. Our question is: What do
> we do with them in the fall and winter?
>
> We live in Ottawa, Canada and get really cold winters. Do we bring the
> planter inside or do we leave them outside?
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I too am in Ottawa.... I would work up as deep as possible, a good outside bed, put in some decent soil etc. and set the plants out now. Wter well and let them grow this year, watching out for beatles. In fall, when stalks die, cut down. There is no need but you may mulch for winter, after a light top dressing. In early spring remove mulch. Your second year plants will probably be too small to cut. Fertilize lioghtly and again watch for beatles. You will know in third year when you can start cutting, by the size stalks.
I am not a good gardener, too lazy, but I note the seeds dropping from the female plants do often grow into small plants.
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From: "Don Chapman" <don@bio-organics.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Asparagas During the Winter
I have serious doubts about being able to grow asparagus in a planter. (Of course, as soon as I say that, someone will say how they never grow it any other way!)
The plants normally develop a huge thick root system that can spread out as far as 20 feet away from the crown. I can't imagine that they would be happy in even a very large planter.
However, this is part of the fun of growing things - seeing if something will work when it's not supposed to. As long as you have the space, why not?
-- Don Chapman <don@bio-organics.com> Bio/Organics Supply Center 3200 Corte Malpaso, #107 Camarillo CA 93012 (Near ocean N. of LA) <http://www.bio-organics.com>
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From: gwoods@albany.net (Gary Woods)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: asparagus - one sex
donsoff <donsoff@ici.net> wrote:
> didn't know each asparagus is one sex and needs a companion...
>Hmmmmmm...I'm learning...
>
>Is that why my (1st year plantings) look different?
>Some very ferny,
>some with a flower like a berry
Asparagus doesn't need pollination (unless you want to produce seeds, of course), since you're eating the young stalk.
The ones with red berries are female... Either sex is fine to eat (pauses... thinks... naaah!), but the male plants are a bit more productive, because they don't expend energy producing seeds.
There are hybrid varieties that are all (or mostly) male. I'm starting some this spring for next year's new bed. The seed is pretty pricy, because they are hybrids.
Where do you get seed for all-male asparagus? Think I'll leave that for the philosophical types...
Gotta go finish shoveling goat poo to put under the spaghetti squash!
-- Gary Woods O- K2AHC Public key at www.albany.net/~gwoods, or get 0x1D64A93D via keyserver gwoods@albany.net gwoods@wrgb.com fingerprint = E2 6F 50 93 7B C7 F3 CA 1F 8B 3C C0 B0 28 68 0B
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From: Guy and Diane Bradley <bradleys@inlink.com>
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: asparagus growth cycle Reply-To: bradleys@inlink.com
Iguana wrote:
> We recently planted some asparagus in our garden (mid-May of this year).
> They were dry roots that we soaked in water for awhile before planting.
> Does anyone know how long it should normally take for sprouts to appear and
> what the normal maturation rate is?
Hard to say how to long it should take for sprouts to appear, but I'd say if you haven't seen anything yet they're goners. In Missouri, mid-May is about two months late to plant.
Asparagus is a long-lived perennial, so the question of maturation rate is moot. The normal practice for one-year roots (you didn't say how old yours were) is not to take any spears the first year after planting, pick sparingly the second year and from then on take as much as you want.
Harvesting occurs in the spring, when the spears are tender. Generally, I pick until enough spears that I miss get so tall that the plant stops putting out new ones. If I miss a couple of days of picking, the spears get tough and aren't worth picking, so by accident this happens.
I hope you have prepared the bed well, because asparagus will be with you for a long time. If you see asparagus, rhubarb and peonies in the woods someplace, that is a sure sign a homestead used to be there, for all three of these will last forever. Unfortunately, after a number of years the yield of asparagus will drop. This happened to me, after 20 years, so I have replanted and am in my second year. I grew mine from seed, which has the advantage of avoiding diseases but you have to wait a year more.
Guy Bradley St. Louis MO zone 6
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From: gwoods@albany.net (Gary Woods)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.edible
Subject: Re: Asparagus Question
viffer <viffer@itis.com> wrote:
>Hi, I was just wondering when I should cut the "fern" part off of my asparagus?
>They are getting very tall (5 feet!) and bushy and I would like to cut them
>down some.
Somebody (Cornell maybe) did research that discovered (through radioactive tracing) that asparagus roots scavange nutrients from the ferns any time the winter temp is above freezing.
I leave mine in place, then do a shallow rototiller pass in very early spring to discourage the weeds and mulch the tops (and any stuff I've put on the bed over winter).
-- Gary Woods O- K2AHC Public keys at www.albany.net/~gwoods, or get 0x1D64A93D via keyserver gwoods@albany.net gwoods@wrgb.com fingerprint = E2 6F 50 93 7B C7 F3 CA 1F 8B 3C C0 B0 28 68 0B
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