Re: Asparagus

**Turan** Tue Jun 11, 2013 10:30 pm

llama momma wrote:Huh :scratch: What do mean did I check the flowers?

I thought if it had any flowers at all then the entire crown was a female plant. Please teach me if I'm wrong.

Male plants have male flowers and females plants have female flowers. You got to look very closely to see the difference. Males have stamen which supply the pollen and females have a carpel for pollen to be deposited on and grow a seed.
Asparagus - Page 8 022

You can tell the difference best when the seeds are ripening, they are like red beads.

Asparagus - Page 8 GRT-SO10-asparagus-berries-i

I did not want you pulling out your male plants Wink

**llama momma** Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:34 am

OMG Turan -
I can't understand after reading all the online web stuff that this informative tidbit was not explained by anyone else. Really enjoy learning this! Thank you very much.

I didn't remove any flowering plants yet. Decided to let nature progress since I had open spaces for future plants. There are plants with open flowers that I'll check this morning, can't wait to see what sex they are. Especially since purple passion was suppose to be a shipment of all males. I've been silently disappointed thinking the farm sent me a lot of females. Now I've learned they could be flowering males after all.

I'd like to know more about the beads. Some plants have green beads. Does green or red indicate which sex, or is red just a sign of maturity?

**Turan** Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:19 pm

They start out green and ripen to yellow/orange/red.

I just went and looked at mine that are flowering too. All males that I found.

**llama momma** Wed Jun 12, 2013 2:09 pm

When I was out this morning all the flowers were still closed. I'll have to go back out and check again this afternoon.
Didn't know the bead things will change to 3 colors either.
Glad you found all males!

**llama momma** Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:40 pm

There are some spears still coming up and don't know if that's normal??
Decided I had to taste one. It was about 8 inches tall. It's true what I've read about 'purple passion', it was so tender right out of the garden, needed no cooking and was quite sweet. Here's what's left of it before I grabbed the camera.
The flash washed out almost all the purple color
Asparagus - Page 8 Sam_1711

**Turan** Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:55 pm

I also find aspargus spears fresh from the garden delishious without cooking.

Mine are also still sending up the occassional new spear, both the newbies and the older established ones. I found one crown that made berries which I picked off while still green.

Have you had any berries set?

**donnainzone5** Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:17 pm

It only took two months, but all 8 of my asparagus squares are growing!

**llama momma** Thu Jul 04, 2013 2:29 pm

Yay Donna!

Turan,
yes there are 4 or 5 plants with berries, some have turned red.

littlejo Thu Jul 04, 2013 3:41 pm

I was reading to see if I missed something. Did not know that male plants had flowers! I guess I have just not paid any attention once I let the fronds grow. Learn something every day.
Jo

**Turan** Sun Jun 08, 2014 4:44 pm

I was out counting the plants that have sprouted this year that I planted last year. So far 12 out of 13 Jersey Knights are up and none of the Mary Washingtons. To be fair though, the Jersey Knights were older crowns than the Mary Washingtons.

How have every one else's plants from last year done?

**donnainzone5** Sun Jun 08, 2014 4:53 pm

There have been plants in 7 of my 8 asparagus squares so far this year, some tiny, some edible. So far, 10 have reached edible size. A few apparently froze.

mollyhespra Sun Jun 08, 2014 5:04 pm

All but one of my 'Purple Passion' that I planted 2 summers ago have come up. I don't have much hope at this point. Maybe winter got it, maybe something else. I dunno. The largest are pencil sized so I'm leaving them be until next year. I've got some older plantings that have gifted me a few spears, though, so I'm happy.

I have to admit, though: I was a baaaad 'sparagus mommy last year... Embarassed

...I wasn't very watchful for those damnable asparagus beetles and I think I'm seeing the consequences this year: some crooked spears and others coming up all twisted. It looks like a grub was eating away as the plant was growing underground, leaving a spiraling wound up the spear. Sad

I'm on top of it this year, though. I'm waiting for a good rainy day/evening to get some beneficial nematodes in the ground, hopefully before the beetles emerge. If not, it's hand-pickin' time.

CapeCoddess Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:35 pm

Mollyhespra, where do you get those beneficial nematodes?

CapeCoddess Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:41 pm

Turan wrote:

Mine are also still sending up the occassional new spear, both the newbies and the older established ones. I found one crown that made berries which I picked off while still green.

Have you had any berries set?

this is amazing! do the berries come first and then the flowers, or vice versa? Because it seems like I have berries on all of mine, unless those are flower buds. ?

Turan, why did you pick of the green berries?

CC

**Turan** Sun Jun 08, 2014 8:41 pm

CapeCoddess wrote:this is amazing! do the berries come first and then the flowers, or vice versa? Because it seems like I have berries on all of mine, unless those are flower buds. ?

Turan, why did you pick of the green berries?

CC

The flowers come first and then the seed develops. Honestly I do not recall why I picked off the seeds. Maybe I thought it would strengthen the crown to think about frond growth rather than seed growth?

CapeCoddess Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:11 pm

I cut my asparagus bed down yesterday to about 2 inches. Some were only stems with no fern left and some were golden fern like this: Asparagus - Page 8 Nov_1225

I'll cover the bed with compost this weekend.

Does anyone know how thick the compost should be?

CC

plantoid Mon Nov 24, 2014 5:05 pm

My little book says dress after cutting down with about 6 to 8 inches of compost and a fresh well rotted manure 3 inch thick dressing in early spring if you want some long white spears

**llama momma** Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:17 pm

CC
If you like Barbara Pleasants' articles on organic gardening her full answer to your question is here on page 2 -
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/growing-asparagus-zmaz10djzraw.aspx?PageId=1#axzz3K2D3bcIC

Windmere Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:20 pm

Thanks for this information you guys. My ferns are all yellow (quite tall). There is one large spear, but it's stymied. There is no growth activity with it... just a head of a spear about one inch tall. I guess the time has come to chop the ferns.

I did not read this thread earlier. I have a few red berries on my ferns. Upon opening them, my daughter and I discovered black seeds. Perhaps if I have three years to kill... we could get an asparagus patch somewhere?

plantoid Mon Nov 24, 2014 8:07 pm

Remember to sow as many of the red seeds as you can and let them flower. Discard any plant that develops berries for they are female plants .
Berry production reduces the yield by as much as something like 30 %( If I recall correctly )

Male plants give the bigger harvests .

CapeCoddess Tue Nov 25, 2014 3:00 pm

Thanks, folks! I covered with a few inches of compost, and since I don't have anything for mulch except pine needles or seaweed, I then covered with seaweed:
Asparagus - Page 8 Nov_2610

I know it's not nice and even but I was in a hurry to get back to work so I was just dumping everything on from 5 gal buckets. I don't think the asparagus will be embarrassed, do you?
Wink

CC

CapeCoddess Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:46 pm

Is it OK for asparagus to fall over early? Mine are all down & bent at ground level due to wind. Do they need to be up for any reason?

CC

**donnainzone5** Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:26 pm

CC,

Are these tiny stalks that have grown into fern-like plants? If so, I wouldn't worry.

When they really die down and turn brown in the fall, just snip them. Also, are the first-year plants?

CapeCoddess Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:30 pm

donnainzone10 wrote:CC,

Are these tiny stalks that have grown into fern-like plants? If so, I wouldn't worry.

When they really die down and turn brown in the fall, just snip them. Also, are the first-year plants?

They are 2nd yr plants about 6ft tall now. This photo is from yesterday. Today all of them are over due to weather: Asparagus - Page 8 02212

Some of them are badly bent almost to detachment. Will they be OK?

CC

**donnainzone5** Tue Jun 02, 2015 3:35 pm

CC,

I don't see a pic.

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