Some of my Mary Washington asparagus I started from seeds this year is looking pretty good. The main problem is out of 24 seedlings, only about a third of them have turned into healthy and strong plants. Some just didn’t survive, and other plants are just barely alive.
When you start asparagus from seed you don’t get your first harvest for three years anyway, and even then you get a light harvest.
Now however, I look set to need to keep replanting for a number of years before I get well established plants. I’ll need to make a decision about keeping weak plants, or starting over with these too. Since it’s possible to transplant asparagus crowns after the first year, I need to consider the pros and cons of moving all of this years plants into a single spot, or just filling the gaps with new plants. Decisions, decisions…
I’m starting to see the advantages of starting with crowns instead of seeds. Crowns of named varieties are hard to find here, as are crowns in general. When you do find them, they are pretty expensive. I’m wondering if I’m going to get any seeds from my plants this year or if I’ll need to order some more.
Anyone have any advice?
Did any of the seeds I sent you germinated? The wild asparagus are blooming now, so in about a month or so I should have some new seeds to send you
Hi Gintoino,
I would like to try the wild asparagus again. No, none of the seeds last year germinated, and I think that’s a little strange.
The funny part with asparagus in Greece, is that we grow asparagus is some areas (near rivers) but we don’t used to eat asparagus as country. We export our asparagus mostly in other countries.
Some years before I lived (because of my work) in one area where farmers grew asparagus.
Bravo to you for having the patience to start from seed on your asparagus! We started from crowns and didn’t harvest for 3 years!
Once your crop is established it will reward you for years to come. Advice? When you plant the crowns (or transplants) dig a ditch 4′ deep and 2′ wide, fill it 3/4 with compost and top soil..plant your starts and keep covering them as they grow. It was tough work digging that ditch, but we are never sorry we did it when we harvest the spears!
It is impossible here to get any crowns except Mary Washington, which are fine and I grow lots of them. Last year I bought some seeds of ‘Fat Bastard’….great name….they germinated well and I have planted them out. Once you get a crop going I think it doesn’t seem so bad having to wait for a new crop to start producing. I would say you need about 20 crowns to keep a good supply going. I don’t pull out the female ones, as recommended, and in this way I get some self-sowing each year too which is nice.
Kate: I didn’t know asparagus had separate male/female plants! Searching for this led me to a lot more sophisticated information than what I had before, and I see I probably took the wrong approach to planting it.
What I read before suggested either buying crowns, or starting seedlings indoors and planting them the same way as crowns but waiting an extra year for harvest.
What I see now suggested in several places is sowing the seeds in a row in order to grow crowns the first year, then transplaning those crowns. The suggestion is that it’s not necessary to start them indoors and direct seeding works equally as well. I think this is probably the way to go.
Joy Larkcom says the depth you plant the crowns at determines the thickness of the spears! I have plants grown from seed this year and some crowns coming from T&M which are autumn-planting – so we’ll see how it all shapes up next year….
First thing I did when I got my plot was to plant asparagus crowns. Waiting until the third year was agony, but well worth it.
I planted a variety called Grolim, and it’s been fantastic; huge, fat spears that come in profusion. It’s an F1 variety – which you may disapprove – but I’d recommend it very highly.
Best thing about asparagus is the wonderful crop it gives you when little else is ready to eat.
My Vegetable patch (where I grew nothing this year 🙁 is adjacent to a large field.
My Asparagus was the only thing (because it was there last year) to yield produce.
Whilst cutting the one metre strip that divides the veg patch from the field I noticed a single spire of Asparagus.
Can you tell me if Asparagus seed will normally produce seedlings or if there is a special process?
The seedling was at least twenty feet from the main crop.
Hi Philip,
Do you know what kind of asparagus you have? Do you know if it’s an F1 hybrid or a normal open pollinated variety?
Open pollinated asparagus seed will produce normal asparagus seedlings, F1 hybrids will not.
You should wait about 3 years before harvesting anything, to give the plant a chance to grow and get bigger.
After the first year it is possible to dig up the asparagus seedling and transplant it. Starting with the second year, you shouldn’t transplant it anymore.
I’ve just bought seedlings from the garden centre – cheaper than crowns with the risk from growing from seed taken out of the equation. We’ll see how they fare…
Hi Patrick
I do not know what variety they are. I bought the bare root crowns from terres de sud in Monflanquin three and a half years ago.
I harvested a few spears last year and again this year.
I noticed that we had red berries on the plants last year so I assumed that the Asparagus were freely seeding but it was not until this year that I found the small single stemmed plant in the field some ten metres away.
Thanks
Phil
Dear Sir / Madam
Greetings from India !
I heard that from the seed sowing to the first harvest of Asparagus stem it will take a maximum of just 3 to 4 months. There are some farmer in South India they have sowed some seedlings for their one acre ( 40 cents ) of land & expecting that they will get the frsh asparagus around 1st week of Aug 2010. So pls let me know
1. do we get the firt asparagus stem in 4 months of period?
2. In one acre ( 40 cents ) of land how much will get the yeild ?
Awaiting for your valuable sugestions as early as possible.
Thanks
Nawaz
Hi Nawaz,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I’m afraid I have bad news for you. I think you misunderstood the time it takes to grow asparagus, and in fact it’s about 3-4 years not months.
Asparagus is quite a lot of trouble to get started, but after that will produce asparagus every year.
Normally the first year you plant the seeds and grow crowns. After the first year, you then dig up the crowns, choosing the best ones, then replant them with the proper spacing of about 30cm between plants.
You then let the crown grow undisturbed and without harvesting anything for one full year. During the second year you can harvest very lightly, and only for about a month.
Starting with the third year you can harvest normally. This will actually be the forth year after starting the seeds.
If you are lucky, you may get 1000Kg per acre starting 4 years after planting the seeds.
Good luck!
coupla comments here then a question…very nice website, love the “aura” of those contributing…very genuine and easily understood. planted some crowns this year, jerseys and purple passions. the jerseys are producing berries which i would like to harvest and seed rather than buy more crowns. the question is…does anyone have simple instructions or a site that can tell me how to ready the seeds to plant, when to plant, how to raise etc etc. TREAT ME LIKE A SIMPLETON… dont mind!!!
Hi Rick,
I made a more recent post on my experience growing asparagus from seeds:
http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog/2010/04/low-carbon-asparagus/
In short, let the berries get as mature as possible on the plants, but harvest after the tops have otherwise died back.
You can either directly sow the seeds in the garden in the spring, or you can start them indoors. In either case cover the seeds with several millimeters of dirt, but not more.
Most people suggest soaking the seeds in water overnight, and/or scratching the seed coat with a suitable object. This will help them germinate.
The first year you can grow the plants about 4 inches apart. In the fall or early spring the following year, dig up the plants and what you have are crowns. I assume you know how to plant crowns.
You should check if the varieties you have are open pollinated (OP). If they are F1, the seeds won’t produce plants identical to the parents. Also if you are growing your two varieties side by side, they will have cross pollinated and you’ll have the same problem. In this case, consider dividing the crowns instead of starting from seeds. I explain this in the post I linked to above.
If you still have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask!
thanks patrick. sorry for the delay in responding, but i have just been letting mt asparagus plants do their thing this year. i have LOTS of plants with the red berries on them. am i correct in thinking all i have to do is put these seeds up over winter, either after they fall off or when i cut the brown plants down?
do they need to be kept in the fridge or anything special?
Rick,
Let the berries stay on the plants as long as possible, but if they start falling off it’s probably a good idea to harvest them so you don’t lose them.
They are small berries with a seed inside. The berries themselves will probably mold if you leave them as they are, so try to clean the outsides off before storing the seeds. That’s it. The seeds themselves don’t need to be stored in the fridge, but keep them dry and protected from sunlight. You should also protect the seeds from temperature extremes, so for example put them in a drawer somewhere or the back of a closet, where the temperature is more stable.