Drown your asparagus?

[I'mOne]

I found what asparagus likes. Ih ave tried for a couple of years to get an asparagus bed going. I think i found out what i was doing wrong. I bought plants and immediately transplanted into coffee cans with my potting soil perlite mix and watered well. I forgot to cut holes in one coffee can. The drowned plants look great after sitting in water all night long. The other plants look like crap. I went ahead and cut some small holes in my drowning plants coffee can. Who knew?

 

[TorturedSoul]

I've heard and read that it does better in a well-drained soil, and that standing water will quickly cause its roots to rot. Lots of sun and adjust the soil to a pH of 6.5 to 7.5.

IDK personally, though, as I have not grown any (I'd then have to eat it ). I just double-checked the above - to make sure I wasn't misremembering - before typing it, and when I did I read that it's male plants that are preferred because they produce more and better spears, and that females are easy to spot because they produce orange-red berries.

Hmm... I wonder if the berries are edible and, if so, what they taste like and whether they're nutritious?

I was being (slightly) facetious above; the real reason I haven't tried to grow it is because I'm sitting on heavy clay that doesn't drain well, and nothing ever really seems to dry out, even at the end of a drought. So if you intend to keep yours wet, please keep us updated in regards to whether that works out for you.

 

[Weaselcracker]

There’s a large part of my province where wild (actually feral) asparagus grows all over the place, and when I happen to be travelling through there in the spring I gorge on it. The wild asparagus zone is all very dry and hot semi-desert country. After the spring growth pretty much everything dies down or goes dormant and by mid summer it’s bare sand, cactus, and pine trees.
This suggests that the gardeners aren’t lying when they say it likes dry well drained conditions.
The berries are poisonous

 

[I'mOne]

Wow...the plants i have gotten from the store have always been dry as a bone and didnt respond to getting in the ground and being watered. Looks to me like soaking them at the start woke them up? At any rate as soon as frost danger clears i will get them in the ground...
By the way i have two more sets that didnt get drowned and are looking pretty bad...dry and dead. One has a small shoot that is flexible but not growing any.

 

[Joe Brewster]

When you buy a started asparagus root they are dormant & should be soaked over night in a transplant starting solution before planting.
dig a 2' wide trench 1' deep , mound 6"sandy soil in center, drape root over mound (like a mop) back fill with compost, soil & peat mix to the crown
as plants grow add mix on top till level or bit higher than ground surrounding
don't pick first couple years & leave the tall plants till fall to put energy into the root system
It will grow from seed also they won't last in a pot, need to be in the ground & last 20-30 years

 

[Weaselcracker]

Mine has been dropping seeds for a few years and I haven’t noticed that any of them sprout. I’m going to go pick some off the bush now and see if I can make them do anything.

 

[Joe Brewster]

Mine has been dropping seeds for a few years and I haven’t noticed that any of them sprout. I’m going to go pick some off the bush now and see if I can make them do anything.

they take up to 3 weeks to germinate, so in the wild they don't grow very often my granny did start some beside the house just by dropping seeds in the ground (sandy fertile loam soil) though
the seeds need to be removed from the berry
birds probably eat up most of them

 

[Weaselcracker]

I went and picked a handful of the berries today and I’ll see what I can do.

 

[Joe Brewster]

I went and picked a handful of the berries today and I’ll see what I can do.

Put them on a heating pad 75-80 F I grew some last year pretty sure they came up a bit before the 3 weeks still waiting to see if they made the winter

 

[Weaselcracker]

Hmm that emoji was maybe a bit more enthusiastic than I meant but -thanks

 

[I'mOne]

I had given up on two of the asparagus varieties thinking they were dead...left them on the patio...it came a huge rain and this happened! They all three have green shoots!

 

[Weaselcracker]

View media item 1673304
Success with sprouting the seeds from my asparagus berries. It took about a week in the paper towel method and I changed the paper towel halfway along, to avoid things festering.

 

[Joe Brewster]

plant it in the ground & wait 3 years, you'll be eating asparagus

 

[I'mOne]

Well thats cool....good on you for not giving up

 

[I'mOne]

Ok this is hilarious. We habe tried a couple of times to plant asparagus to no avail. Earlier this year i bought some and forgot and left it in a closet in the dark. It looked dead. No green anywhere. I dropped it in the mulch pile and forgot about it. I went and bought more and planted it in coffee cans and left it out in the rain and it sprouted although it looked dead.
Yesterday i walked by the mulch pile. I hadnt turned it over in a while and heres what i saw...

 

[Weaselcracker]

Asparagus. Rebel without a cause.

 

[I'mOne]

I transferred to the garden mking "hills" for each one. Our weather can be extremely wet in spring and fall hopefully they will do well.

 

[Weaselcracker]

View media item 1682680
They’re sooo cute...

 

[I'mOne]

Cool...i found another one in my mulch pile and transferred it to the garden!!

 

[Weaselcracker]

I always completely sucked at planning for the future so..... this is good. Feels like going waaaay out on a limb