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rosefolly_gw

How long dies it take asparagus crowns to emerge?

rosefolly
14 years ago

Last month I planted 30 one year old UC-157 crowns in a bed. I dug deep and lined the entire bed with gopher wire to keep them safe. Next I amended generously with very well composted horse manure. My soil is a sandy clay loam. Then I planted the crowns. I've been watering every few days. Nothing has come up and it has now been nearly four weeks.

I noticed that the crowns looked a little desiccated, but not too bad, when I planted them.

Did I get crowns that were past their prime?

Did I plant them too late in the year?

Or should I be patient a bit longer?

If all of this was a loss due to some factor or another, I'd like to try seeds if it's not too late in the year. Is it? Given that asparagus takes three years to first harvest, I'd really rather not lose the whole year.

Rosefolly

Comments (5)

  • tomacco
    14 years ago

    Mine took over a month, maybe even two months (I thought they were dead) but are now happy and growing like weeds.

  • sushi_deluxe
    14 years ago

    I planted 25 Jersey Supremes last month and the shoots were up within two weeks in zone 5. I don't know how warm it is where you are, but I read that they don't need that much water.

    HTH.
    Rachel

  • digdirt2
    14 years ago

    I advise patience. ;) Unless you planted them just way too deep (more than 8"), it can take as much as 6-8 weeks for shoots to show. Less frequent but much deeper thorough watering will allow them to hydrate faster.

    If necessary you'd do better to replace them with quality crowns rather than seed.

    Dave

  • weedlady
    14 years ago

    You did not mantion how deeply you planted your crowns...
    I planted 12 crowns about 2 weeks ago after a brief (15 minute) soak in seaweed solution (Maxicrop). We have had a lot of rain since planting day, and the normally fast-draining compost/rotted horse manure mix in my 12" deep raised bed (lined w/hardware cloth against voles) seemed to become really saturated. The crowns were only covered with 3" of soil (I dug 10" deep holes but covered the crowns shallowly as I will be adding more soil gradually as the shoots appear -- as per more modern planting directions) so I was fretting that maybe they had drowned!--but today I looked more closely & saw that most have sprouted thin, spindly little sparrowgrass shoots. Hooray! Of course, it rained AGAIN soon after I made this discovery today and before I could add more soil, so that task will have to wait until a drier day!

    The link below will take you to an episode from one of our local TV stations in which I demonstrate how I planted my asparagus. Click on Growing Green, episode #2. My segment is about 15 minutes or so into the show (you can drag the bar from left to right to "fast forward" to it).
    Good luck, rosefolly! Hope yours are OK!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Asparagus planting video

  • rosefolly
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thanks to all of you who responded. I'll give the bed another month before I give up on these crowns. As for watering, I live in a summer-dry climate (no summer rainfall at all), so I do have to water some. I'll make sure I don't overdo it -- say, once a week. I think they are 4"-5" deep.

    If they don't come up at all, I'm tempted to start seed rather than wait another year for new crowns. I'd like to use UC-157 because it is supposed to be well adapted to my local climate.

    Rosefolly

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