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primarycanary

Asparagus 'sprout' time

primarycanary
14 years ago

I decided to add asparagus to my urban homestead this year. I bought 25 crowns from Walker Brother farms and spoke with the owner about how to plant it. I followed his printed instructions pretty much to a "T" (6 inch v-shaped trench, cover only with 3" of soil, etc). I planted the crowns on May 26 of this year. When will I see signs of life? I tried google-ing this, but there are no good answers. The word time just brings up the fact that you can't harvest for 3 years. But when should I see something break through the soil?

We've had cool nights lately, dipping down into the upper 40s. I know that will slow the growth of asparagus. I just want to make sure that I did everything correct and that the crop is actually growing.

Thanks in advance. (I also tried searching the forums here to see if this question has already been answered, but I'm having problems navigating the sight. I'm new here, so it may just take me some time to figure everything out. Please excuse me if this is a double, triple, or 15th-time post.)

Comments (13)

  • mauirose
    14 years ago

    Mine rocketed to a foot in a little over a week but the soil stays pretty warm here ; )

    Here's a link to a very recent thread with some other answers.

    And you meant April 26th i think?

    Here is a link that might be useful: Asparagus

  • mudflapper
    14 years ago

    I assume you planted in April 26th as it is not yet May 26th yet... I just planted around the same time and have 70% up so far. If in two weeks you still have no sprouts then I would get nervous. Me being in z8 and you in z6, just give it a bit of time as I'm sure the temp plays a huge role in this.

  • vtguitargirl
    14 years ago

    I planted 10 crowns of Jersey "Something" that had the beginnings of nice succulent shoots. They've all shot up.

    I planted 10 crowns of Purple Passion which were dry roots in the same raised bed. They still aren't up.

    I planted both sets of crowns on April 26. Watered a few times & it has rained a few times, so I'm a little concerned that half are not up. I'm thinking the dry roots need more warm weather to get the cue to start growing.

    I'd definitely appreciate hearing the experience of other Asparaagus gardeners!

  • primarycanary
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Hmmm....I forgot to tell everyone that I can perform time travel.

    Mine were dry crowns as well. I soaked them quickly before planting them. The variety is Jersey Supreme.

    I'm afraid that they all might be dead. There is no sign of anything doing anything......How late can I try again?

    Thanks for all of the great replies too!

  • jollyrd
    14 years ago

    Don't give up, don't overwater them, keep them warm, and as soon as they start to show - hill the soil around them . I planted 11 crowns of Martha Washington in mid April, dry, did not even soak them. Two weeks later - only one crown was showing -- huge ferns, but no others. Three weeks later - three more crowns showed up. Now, mid-May - I have all ten (one left) showed up, some are smaller than others, but all are doing well.

  • amandab123
    14 years ago

    I planted 10 purple passion roots on April 26th and they still haven't broken the ground. Been tempted to dig around to see if anything is growing down there, but the roots were dry when I planted them (soaked them for 12 hours before planting) and it's been off and on pretty cold around here (30s and 40s) so I decided to give it a couple of more weeks before I start digging around to see if they survived.

  • winchesterva
    14 years ago

    I planted 25 "dry" crowns on Easter day. This is what they look like today. On the advice of this board I ensured they were planted approx. 6-8 inches deep and added phosphate in the trench before putting in the crown. Oh, and this spot was my old compost pile, so the soil is very well amended.

    {{gwi:60748}}

  • primarycanary
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Thank you so much for the helpful advice. My girlfriend and I were surveying the homestead yesterday, low and behold, I discovered one asparagus tip breaking through the soil! Now I'm excited.

    I've read a lot of the other posts that are being put on this forum, but unfortunately, I do not believe I am proficient enough yet to post a possible answer to any of the questions. I'll keep hanging around though and maybe one day I can helpful to another gardener.

    Thanks again!

  • vtguitargirl
    14 years ago

    Well, of my 10 crowns of Purple Passion (which were very dry & planted April 26)) TWO popped up in the last day. The weather is going up into the mid 70s today and low to mid 80s tomorrow. So I watered this morning, and expect to see more now that things are finally warming up here. I'm glad I didn't get impatient & dig them up to replant!

  • greenbean08_gw
    14 years ago

    I planted mine in early April. I am just now seeing some pop out. About 1/3 are up. I think a few more days of warm weather and I'll see a lot more growth.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Tales of a Transplanted Gardener

  • missemerald
    14 years ago

    I think that waiting for Asparagus to pop though the earth is one of the most tedious things a gardener can do. It takes great patience-- at least in Zone 7, where I am. My Jersey Giants took about a month to break though, and I'm still waiting for the Martha Washingtons. I did notice, though, that once they sprouted, they rocketed skyward!

    Our weather here has been wierdly chilly, which may be why the stuff in the garden is acting funky this year. Maybe it is the same in NJ?

  • primarycanary
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    10 asparagus!!!! 10!!!!!!......or should that be 10????

    Of my 25 crowns, I have 10 asparagus tips? ferns? green alien tentacles?

    How nerdy am I? I'm exciting over 10 asparagus!

    And, I have an apple too! And the tree was planted last fall, but it produced an apple for me!

    Ok, so on the serious contributory side of this post. I planted 25 crowns like I had stated before. They were put in the ground on April 26. It is now May 20, and there are 10 "tips" of asparagus.

    For future readers with this same question. It seems to take about a month or so to see anything. Which is a lifetime compared to the usual 3-7 days that most other seeds take.

    Also, cold weather doesn't help asparagus at all. We had one day in the 70s and that is when most of my asparagus started to show.

    I do hope that the remainder of the crowns pop through the soil soon.

    Once again, thank to you to all of the helpful posters here who have shed led and given hope to me for my asparagus.

  • jollyrd
    14 years ago

    update -- as you can read above, I planted 11 crowns in mid April, I did not water them before planting, just covered with compost. We had rather cool and rainy spring. They were coming out 3 at a time. Last weekend - almost 6 weeks later, I finally saw the last one of them come out. So now I have lots of ferns, and hope to eat the fruit next summer.