Re: Asparagus

rosenlund wrote:
> 
> Oh yumm... I will try that recipe, thanks.
> About April for beginning harvest, oh good.
> 
> What kind are these Steve ?
> If you have female and male plants, do they indeed perform
> differently ?
> 
> Sincerely,
> ~Carleen~
> Keeper of Sheep & Old Roses
> Rainier, OR  zone 8
> ----------
---snip

If you plant crowns this spring you should not pick any of the spears
this season.  Next year you can harvest a bit in May but you should not
take spears from any one plant more than two or three times.  The
following year you'll be in full prduction and, if the bed is kept
well-mulched, you'll have a slightly longer and fuller harvest each
year.  My bed is 17 years old.

(If you start from seed add one year to the cycle, in other words you
can't pick any spears for the first two years.)

I have a variety of plants, some started from seed and others from
crowns.  They are both make and female and I don't pay any attention to
which plants produce more.

Also, asparagus beetles can be a problem early in the season.  I
hand-pick the adults but you have to develop the technique as they drop
to the ground or fly away at the slightest disturbance.  The larvae are
like grey slugs, but not slimy.  If hand-picking bothers you, use
rotenone on them.  By June the ladybugs usually are quite activly eating
the larvae and I don't worry about it after that.  (Note that a ladybug
larva looks like a tiny grey dragon.  Don't confuse the ladybug larva
for an asparagus beetle larva and pinch or spray it.  The ladybug larvae
eat the asparagus beetle larvae.)

Steve  (Maritime...)
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