Asparagus?

mysticlakemama 3/19/2013, 4:38 pm

Hello All,

Wondering if I should be seeing asparagus popping up yet? We planted purple passion crowns last spring. They grew beautifully all summer long. Then our new gardener chopped them down and covered w/ straw for the winter. I didn't think that needed to happen... but it did.

I pulled back some of the straw the other day but didn't see any activity. Is this normal? I wanted to wait for today's snowstorm to blow over and melt off before I remove the straw.

Has anyone else seen their asparagus yet? Or do we have a bunch of duds?

Thanks in advance!

bnoles 3/19/2013, 7:28 pm

Not seeing mine yet either and keeping my fingers crossed.

GWN 3/19/2013, 10:03 pm

all depends on what zone you are in.
I am in zone 5 and the last frost is still 6-7 weeks away, so no sign of life yet, my recollection is that it was mid to late April last year.

mollyhespra 3/21/2013, 8:13 am

I have purple passion also & every year it seems I'm waiting a loooooong time for those spears to pop up, but I'm in zone 4, so my guess has always been that however long it takes the soil to thaw down to where the roots are is however long it takes for the plant to say, "OH, it's Spring!" and start working on sending the spears up.

Is your ground still frozen? Give it a bit longer before you despair. I doubt you got "duds" if they grew well last season.

**llama momma** 3/21/2013, 8:48 am

I can't find the source right now but I swear asparagus needs 50 degree soil to stimulate growth.

jmsieglaff 3/21/2013, 9:46 am

llama momma wrote:I can't find the source right now but I swear asparagus needs 50 degree soil to stimulate growth.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1603.html

Yep 50F. The snow and ice on my asparagus bed means I won't be seeing spears for at least a few weeks, probably more like a month or more.

bnoles 3/21/2013, 9:48 am

llama momma wrote:I can't find the source right now but I swear asparagus needs 50 degree soil to stimulate growth.

That makes me feel better. I was so afraid I lost all 10 plants.

Windmere 3/21/2013, 10:33 am

jmsieglaff wrote:
llama momma wrote:I can't find the source right now but I swear asparagus needs 50 degree soil to stimulate growth.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1603.html

Yep 50F. The snow and ice on my asparagus bed means I won't be seeing spears for at least a few weeks, probably more like a month or more.

Thanks very much for that link jmsieglaff. It was very informative. Also, I learned something about the male asparagus.

mysticlakemama 4/22/2013, 8:55 am

Patience has finally paid off.

We harvested one spear on Friday.

One.

But it tasted really good! We cooked it side by side with regular green supermarket asparagus. Could taste a difference between the varieties which is very encouraging and makes me want to continue gardening.

There are a few other spears growing. Wouldn't call it enough to make a side dish with dinner, but it's enough to see that some of the plants made it through the winter.

So it appears that everyone who voted for warm soil wins the prize for correct answer.

Thanks to everyone for your help. I appreciate it! Very Happy

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Nice job with link!

first "harvest"!

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