Skinny vs sturdy asparagus: strategy?

[Vanisle_BC]

At season's end should I lift my "weaker" asparagus plants & divide the stronger ones to replace them, or ... what?

This is a raised bed uniformly filled with purchased soil and containing 8 'all-male Jersey Knight' asparagus spaced 12x16 inches; all the same age (4 yr?) and raised from seed; but now at the end of April roughly half of them have spindly spears

and the other half are sending up strong fat ones.

Why would this be? They all have the same exposure to sun & weather, although the weaker ones are mostly at one end.)

My questions: will the skinny plants make fatter spears in future years; and if not would it be a good idea to replace them with divisions taken from the sturdier plants next winter. How drastically would production by the divided plants be interrupted: Would I have to quit harvesting them for (say) a year?

[imafan26]

Asparagus beds if they are well prepared and fertilized annually should be good for about 20 years. The first year, harvest nothing and let it grow. Make sure you fertilize and add more compost. The second year you can harvest the larger spears for a couple of weeks. After that, you can harvest twice a year in the Spring and again in the fall for about 6 weeks or until the spears get as thin as a pencil. Male asparagus are thicker and you will be able to harvest more. Female plants are thinner. Some people will pull the female plants and only keep the males if they have enough of them.

A balanced fertilizer about 2 lbs 10-10-10 or 14-14-14 per 100 square feet. When I harvest twice a year, I fertilize after each harvest. Asparagus roots grow upward so I like to top it off with compost and leaf mulch. To keep the fronds from falling down. I have rebar about every 4 feets on both sides and I tie a string fence with some nylon chord. It keeps the fronds up and it is easy to take off when it is time to cut everything down.

[Vanisle_BC]

imafan, these asparagus are already 4 years old & starting to be harvested (yum!) What you say about males vs females vs girth of spears is very interesting to me: it doesn't seem to align with my own experience. ymmv!!

In my older, soon to be abandoned bed, the biggest fattest spears are from a female plant. I have to keep trying to deal with her hundreds of seeds & upstart offspring. Yet there are males (no berries) alongside that make only tall skinny spears.

In the newer bed to which I'm now referring the plants are (i.e. seeds were) allegedly all-male but the difference in spear thickness is remarkable. I think one of the plants, but only one, had a few berries last year. This season I'll pay closer attention; and I'll try to remember to report back here.

It's intriguing how different are our individual experiences & observations. Every combination of garden & gardener is unique!

[applestar]

Interesting that — I was also going to comment that with my purple passion asparagus, the obscenely fat ones are female and regular sized ones are male. ...and was wondering how you get all-male plants by growing from seeds (borne by female plants)


I was curious, but I’m in kind of a shock/stupor after going to see Avengers:Infinity Wars today and have no drive.... If you already know the answer, please post... is it like they are hybrids of sorts?

[Vanisle_BC]

... was wondering how you get all-male plants by growing from seeds (borne by female plants)

That puzzled me too. Looking forward to someone providing the answer.

[imafan26]

I grow mostly Mary Washington since I can get seeds for them. Unless the big box stores bring them in, it is almost impossible to get most of the seed companies to ship live plants to Hawaii. I have to get to the box stores almost as soon as their stock comes in since they are not in optimum condition and the stores don't store them properly.

I keep all of my Mary Washington plants and don't thin them. I do feed them regularly ( I might be overfeeding, since I tend to do that anyway). I don't know which of my plants are male or female but when they first emerge there is not much difference in size. Subsequent harvests they do get smaller and then I start seeing the size difference between the late comers and the early ones that I have been harvesting.

[Vanisle_BC]

imafan26;

Female plants make berries - lots of them. Those berries are liable to self-seed and eventually choke the mother plant. Males don't make berries and I think that's the reason they are preferred; not so much anything to do with spear thickness. Maybe the difference between spears has more to do with the (genetically-determined?) vigour of individual plants - ??

As for not being able to buy plants in optimum condition; my asparagus started from seed quickly surpassed the puny (purchased) roots that were planted at the same time - have you had a similar experience? I wouldn't personally order roots again, especially by mail. The theory, that growing from seed you'll have to wait an extra year to harvest, hasn't held water for me.

I'm still wondering if it would be a good idea to lift my skinnier plants next winter (and before intertwined roots make it too difficult) to replace them with divisions from the ones that have thicker spears. How much would the whole bed be set back if I do this? Every plant a disturbed division!

[jal_ut]

Here we cut asparagus till the first of June, then stop cutting and let it all grow tall and the tall growth needs to stand there all summer till frost. It is this time in the sun when the plant puts food storage down into the roots for next spring's crop. Also, when you go out to cut asparagus, cut everything, large and small. Yes, it is good to fertilize and keep the weeds out.

[rainbowgardener]

I don't think you need to do anything. I think the ones that are sending up skinny stalks now may be thicker next year. Anyway you can eat the good sized ones and leave the skinny ones to leaf out and feed the plant.

[imafan26]

There is a 12 week gap between seeds and crowns. It just takes a little longer for them to mature. I did want to try the Jersey Knights because they were an all male variety. The asparagus does tend to throw seedlings here and there, but I have not had problems finding homes for them. I used to pull the females out, but stopped doing that years ago.

[ACW]

Imafan,
I am interested in your comment that asparagus grows roots upwards.
My garden has recently been trashed by some builders who have covered my lawn and asparagus bed with a 4 to 6 inch layer of stony and rubble enhanced clay sub soil, my well established 3 plants have managed to force their way through this .
will i need to remove most of this top soil or what should i do to keep these producing .
There were more less vigourous crowns that have yet to reappear ,i fear these may be lost..