Question For Asparagus Experts

[turnpike]

wifey bought 50 of these at the khon kaen farmer fair.

normally i can usually find all i need to know about planting something such as this on the internet. but all the info i have read so far only deals with the planting of the "crowns" or roots.

do you think i should plant these as is? or should i cut the tops down to the roots (almost) and plant them as instructed in the info i have read.

and another question...do these plants produce year round? or is there a season for them.

already got my raised bed planned (12" +/-) to get the plants off of the clayish soil i have. will start on that when i get home in 9 days.

thanks in advance for any help.

tp

[slapout]

The plants look like young (less than a year) old. I would plant as received as the root system is what needs to develop. The plants go into a dormant stage (no new shoots) and the growth above ground will cease to grow, this is when root system gains growth for the following season. Asparagus does very good in sandy soil so if using a raised bed you may want to consider adding sand into your mixture. Those plants look nice. Like you I only planted root, but did divide mature plants by digging up part of the root with growth like your picture and transplanting. This worked good the few times I did it. Good luck

[turnpike]

The plants look like young (less than a year) old. I would plant as received as the root system is what needs to develop. The plants go into a dormant stage (no new shoots) and the growth above ground will cease to grow, this is when root system gains growth for the following season. Asparagus does very good in sandy soil so if using a raised bed you may want to consider adding sand into your mixture. Those plants look nice. Like you I only planted root, but did divide mature plants by digging up part of the root with growth like your picture and transplanting. This worked good the few times I did it. Good luck

thanks for the reply, slapout.

i figured that would be the way to go but always nice to have confirmation from some kind soul.

i've never grown the stuff ever, but i love to eat it. if i can get a good crop in the next 2 or 3 years, the next step is to get some good jars from somewhere and pickle them. tough to beat an ice cold vodka, tomato juice with a couple shots of tabasco and worshestshire (sp), salted and peppered drank from a tall cool glass with a salted rim with a nice big sprig of pickled asparagus.

thanks for the help, any other tips from asparagus growers, well, i'm all ears.

tp

[jaideeguy]

I'm no where close to being an expert in asparagus, but last year, i raised some from seed and they are now a year and a half old and going into a dormancy period or suffering dry weather/clay soil and neglect. The seeds were the latest high yielding cultivars and looked good for the first year and got up to pencil sized shoots and I resisted harvesting them because the real experts say to wait up to 2 yrs from 1 yr old crowns.

They are now spindly small shoots and hopefully will return to full foliage and give me a little to eat for the next 50 yrs [so the experts say].

I googled all over to find info on growing asparagus in the tropics, but found little and am just going by the guidelines mentioned by slapout......good drainage, lots of compost and plenty of room between plants.

Let me know if you find any info on asparagus in the tropics and i will do same......

best of luck.