I planted this asparagus a couple of weeks ago as on the envelop it said to plant early so now there like 8 inches tall and we have till June to start the outside garden...will these survive..anything I should be doing like transplanting them in bigger pots?
It looks like these plants are desperate for light. I assume you planted seeds and not roots ? These look like miniature versions of what my asparagus plants are like at the end of the season with the fern like tops left after all the stalks have been harvested. I planted roots a few years ago. I'm sorry but I'm not sure what you can do with them. Perhaps you should go to plan B and head off to a nursery when it's warm enough to plant and buy yourself a few asparagus roots, a much easier way to start these plants. My first stalks are just poking through the ground so we should be eating the first asparagus in a couple of weeks. This is a great vegetable to grow in a home garden so stick with it.
Here is how I handled my Asparagus. http://www.durgan.org/2009/From Previous Years/2 April 2009 Asparagus Bed/HTML/ 16 May 2008 Making asparagus bed. Title is not 2006 but 2008. http://www.durgan.org/2009/From%20Previous%20Years/6%20August%202008%20Asparagus%20(Millenium)/HTML/ 6 August 2009 Asparagus (Millenium). The plants haven't started growing yet for 2009, but were large and healthy in the Fall of 2008. It takes three seasons to start producing so I won't be cutting any stalks this year.
Good reply Durgan. The second year we harvested a few stalks and it didn't seem to hurt the plants. Home grown asparagus is fantastic.
I wouldn't throw them away. You may be able to transplant them just fine. If they don't do well this year, you can always buy 1 year old roots next year and you will at the same place with the seed grown ones. I would harden them off and put them outside during the day to give them more light. Good luck!
I started my asparagus bed from seed three seasons ago and we hope for our first "real" harvest this spring. Last year we wanted to cut a few shoots, but we were hit with a late frost. I might put some reemay on this spring, just in case. Like you, I started the seed indoors. For the amount of sprouts you have, you're gonna need a very large planting area. That's a LOT of asparagus for a home garden,unless you have a ton of freezer space. Anyway, don't throw them out. Do take Jan's advice, though, and get those babies some light! Here's my advice. The ones growing in the tray should be pricked out and potted up right away into tall 4" pots. Asparagus has really really deep massive roots, and they're gonna need room to expand from now until June. Once they're transplanted put them in as much light as you can possibly give them (fluorescents), for 16 hours a day. Do not give them any nitrogen fertilizer. Some kelp would be okay (for the stems) but no N. The ones in the cells you can try an experiment on. Check the root systems to see if they're robust and healthy (i.e. busting out of the bottom...) Take a half dozen seedlings, pot them up and cut off the top third of the top growth. Give them a bit of dilute balanced fertilizer and put them in strong light with the others. Mature asparagus develops new shoots from the base and you may be able to force even a very young plant to make new shoots. Worth a try. Maybe we'll hear from someone with experience doing this. Anyways, if it fails you've only killed (or stunted) a half dozen seedlings and by the looks of it you won't even notice they're gone. Good luck.
Hiya- couple suggestions... first, you can increase the light by moving them closer to the window and reflecting more light with a surround of aluminum foil (or used chip bags). Also, the common daylight type CFL bulbs only draw 13-20 watts if you have one of those old 'tinpot' worklamp fixtures. It looks like more soil would help- you can find all sorts of recyclable containers -cottage cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and then mebbe experiment with modifying your soil conditions if that's your style of gardening. As a last resort- y'know 're-gifting'? You can give excess seedlings away easily enough- perhaps a grade school classroom or suchlike?:]
