Hello, I am a new member and am very impressed with your forum. I am also a new gardener and live in the northwest section of South Dakota. Last year I bought some 'male' asparagus plant from an online garden place and planted them as instructed on the internet. This year, I have three female plants and about five or six asparagus ferns. Apparently I am not too bright, because I do not understand what to do next. I just read on the "Bulletin" from "Ohio State University Extension, Horticulture and Crop Sciences" that the female plants that are bearing seeds should be destroyed somehow because the seeds will drop and cause "undesirable asparagus-seedling weed problems" and they also "reduce the yeild of spears". These plants are a year old and produced a few spears last year but I was under the impression that I should leave them alone until this year and then harvest the spears. I now have all ferns and three female plants that are producing seeds. Please tell me what to do next? How do I destroy the female plants? Should I just cut that part off that is producing the seeds? Can the birds eat the seeds or should I destroy them too? How can I get the ferns to produce spears? And when you reply (I hope I get lots of replies), please talk to me like I am six years old because unfortunately, I have no idea what I am doing. I really appreciate all your help! God bless, Julia
The fern-y part of the asparagus plant is mature foliage, whereas what you eat in the spring (the spears) is the emerging stem before foliage is developed. Sounds like you didn't receive the plants you ordered - if you were to have one of the new male-only varieties of asparagus, you wouldn't see any seed production. I might be tempted to pull these out and start over again, and then making sure to purchase from someplace with a guarantee of what you will be receiving. If you want to keep these (you'll be dealing with the same issue year after year, I think), then yes, you can cut off the parts of the asparagus that are bearing seed. Let the rest of the foliage remain to strengthen the roots so that next spring more spears will emerge.
Thank you so much for your reply! It has helped me tremendously and I will probably just keep these plants and cut off the parts that are bearing seeds. Can I give the seeds to the birds or should I just throw them away? Again, thanks for all your help. Julia
I've never seen birds eat these seeds, so I suspect it isn't worthwhile to try and feed these to them.
Thanks again, Daniel, I really appreciate your help and advice. I love your forums and will spend much time here learning all I can.
Daniel please, I am also needing a simple explanation of this MALE only asparagus. I am only familiar with the fern leaves and some have the berries then the whole thing goes yellow it is all pruned back in autumn manured mulched and wait for the next seasons spears. Harvest for a while then let them go to repeat the cycle. Liz
See, that's what I thought too - have they produced some sort of sport cultivar to eliminate seeding? Part of what I loved about my old asparagus patch was that it regenerated itself into my carrots! And then I'd just pick the first year spears of the volunteers and they wouldn't come back again. My original rhizome was about 16 years old when I moved; I was so sad to leave it behind!
Asparagus Millenium produced by the University of Guelph is the choice of asparagus plants these days. I recently plant ten millenium plants. http://www.hortns.com/asparagus-cultivar00.html
That is the claim. But I also like the female due to the pretty berries. I don't see this as a problem in a home garden. It is likely a disaster with commercial growers.
I'm relatively new to growing asparagus myself, but didn't realize there are male and female plants. I too bought a bunch of plants (100) from Gurney's Seed last year, planted them as instructed in the bottom of about a 10" trench and covered them with another 6 inches of soil. Last year, I let the ferns grown and did not cut them down until they died down and were dried out. In the fall, I cut down the ferns to ground level. This Spring I was able to harvest my first Asparagus....some of them pencil sized and others as big as my thumb. I only cut the Asparagus spears for 4 weeks and have quit cutting them down to let the plants get "stronger"....as instructed in the Gurney's book and also in my Western Garden book. I would assume that I let the ferns go and cut them down again in the Fall or when they "die down". Next year I should be able to cut Asparagus Spears for at least 6 weeks. I'm glad I bought as many plants as I did because I was able to harvest enough to have a nice side vegetable dish for my husband and myself this year. They wouldn't have fed a family, but have at least enough for Hubby and myself. Maybe next year I'll have enough to can. I haven't heard a word about the female plants dropping seeds....and in fact, didn't even know there were female plants. For my own garden, I did not have any "wild" Asparagus come up this year so I guess I got all male plants???? If anyone knows more about the female plants and seed drop, please advise.
I used to have a great big patch of traditional, bisexual asparagus. After about two months of harvesting, we'd let the spears go and the berries form; in the fall we'd chop it all down. However, invariably we'd miss some berries and some would fall off of the ferns as we carried them across the garden. We got seedlings all of the time; I found if we snapped the spears off of these as soon as they sprouted, they wouldn't come back the next year. For commercial growers, many of whom do not harvest by hand, I'd imagine seed drop and the resultant startups would be a problem. In my garden, they weren't. I had about 50 plants at the height of that patch. Then I moved.
The number 100 was correct. And I would assume they were all male plants because I never saw any "berries" on any of them.
I had six plants in the last place I lived and could not eat the harvest for two people. I was green before the season ended.
With my 50 plants, I was feeding an entire condo complex asparagus for three months, until everybody was so sick of it that we had to give it to the homeless.
That's okay if I have a bunch of it. It can be canned or pickled and I can sell it at the local Farmer's Market or save it for our own use during the wintertime when fresh vegetables from the garden are all gone.
No. As far as I know, asparagus do not freeze well....or you'd find them in the frozen food section at your local grocery store. What I am saying is that you can preserve asparagus spears by canning or pickling. The only part of the asparagus plant that is edible are the asparagus spears before they grow into a fern. The ferns are not edible. To preserve asparagus via canning you can check it out in the Ball or HP Canning book/s offered at most stores where you can buy canning jars, lids and supplies. The canned asparagus are also very pretty in a jar when carefully packed. (By the way, I have a huge pantry where I store all my canned goods--homemade and store bought). For those of you who do not realize it, homegrown produce in your own "home soil" or local soil where you live are beneficial for your health because they increase your immunity, especially if the produce is organically grown. When I buy local organic vegetables or fruits, I try to make jams, jellies, canned fruit, frozen fruit or canned/frozen vegetables for use in the winter. I think they are healthier than store bought produce....and definitely taste better than produce that has been treated with fungicide, insecticide, gassed or radiated and put in cold storage for who knows how long.
I think if you blanche the spears ala beans you can probably freeze them. They would need very little cooking when used. Liz
aspargus can easily be frozen if it's blanched first. depending on how thick the stems are, you shouldn't need to defrost before cooking.
