I started asparagus in January. It seems to be doing well. It looks healthy and is growing steadily. I hope the picture is clear enough for you to see, the asparagus have outgrown the height of my shelving and some of them are really crowding the lights. I have raised the lights up as high as they will go and some of the ferns would be taller if they could grow through the reflectors. They are bending sideways and some have fallen over, but they are all a good green color and still growing. I still have 6+ weeks until after the last frost for my area. What I am wondering is if they will be okay under there for that long, or do I need to get them a better location?

Thank you for any advice.

Lynn

You should probably start hardening them off for a week and then transplant them outside with some protection.
Asparagus is somewhat cold tolerant and with row cover or a cloche, will be fine outside.
Don't forget to plant the crowns deep.

-Mark

Don't trim the foliage, except for visibly damaged ferns. Your growth looks very similar to my plants in a similar zone although last year I had over 800 plants decorating my livingroom at this time. Try to find a way to keep lights above foliage for the coming weeks, a slight amount of yellowing of ferns is OK and some amount of lodging of stems is also OK. You can set plants outside earlier than most other vegetables and you can also plant a few weeks earlier.

Read-up on soil preparation and planting routine since there is more involved with this crop. You're on target.

I will check the roots and if needed-I have some 5 inch pots I will move them to while I wait for the weather to move out of the cold spell we are in this week. And, I will find a way to fix the light situation-my shelves aren't adjustable, so the plants will have to be moved somewhere else. Next week, hopefully, I will start hardening them off slowly before I plant them out. I have a spot picked out in the southeast side of my back yard. My plan is to dig a 12" deep "W" trench to plant in, filling it in slowly as the plants grow. I will look into how to modify my soil before planting the asparagus, so I can make sure I have everything when the time comes.

I would like to get these outside as soon as possible, because I need the room under my lights for other things. What temperature can they tolerate for hardening off? Above freezing? above 40?

Avacado101,
to answer your question- I started them from seed that I ordered from Territorial. It wasn't really hard, I just had to be patient and maintain the right temp. I put the seeds in a damp coffee filter in a sandwich bag. Then they went into an ice chest with an incandescent lamp to keep them at 70+ degrees. It took a long time for them to germinate-like 2 weeks to a month. I was giving up hope, so I soaked them for a couple hours in warm water(80 degrees). Then suddenly they started sprouting one and two each day. I was a little giddy. I tried to get my kids excited with me, but they just rolled their eyes at me. (Asparagus, Mom, REALLY??) As soon as each one sprouted, I took it out of the baggie and planted it, then put the rest back into the cooler. Easy peasy.

-Mark

Thank you for the information. Those commercial plants look great in the small plugs. I will look mine over before moving them. I dont want to cause myself problems by transplanting plants that dont need it. And Of course the "w" trench would be for crowns ;) I'm glad you pointed that out to me. I miss some of the simplest things. As far as hardening off- I could start leaving them outside while I get ready for work in the mornings, then a little while in the evenings. On the weekend I could aim for middle of the day. I will watch the weather and get started on it.

Again, thank you for the info

Lynn