The Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-04-23, Page 62Growyour own asparagus an
"With a little special care and prepara-
tion, you can grow your own asparagus and
enjoy it year after year," says Asparagus
Besearch Extension Specialist Shalin
Khosla of the University of Guelph's hor-
ticultural science department.
"Asparagus is a perennial crop that can
grow in the same garden for 20 to 30 years,"
he says.
Asparagus has a crown consisting of
underground stems called rhizomes.
It also has an extensive network of fleshy
roots that store the food reserves.
Buds - formed on the rhizome - develop in-
to edible spears, which if not harvested,
develop into the green fern foliage that
manufacture food reserves for the next
season.
A sunny, frost -free site is ideally suited for
asparagus Culture.
The soil should be well -drained (sandy,
sandy loam) with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0. •
Add line to the soil if the pH is below 6.0.
Then incorporate peat moss and a 10-10-10
fertilizer applied at a rate of eight
kilograms per 100 square metres in the top
30 centimetres of soil.
(Applying a 10-10-10 fertilizer at a rate of
eight kg per 100 square metres every spring
just before the spears emerge, will help
maintain plant vigor and ensure a good
stand). •
Asparagus plants may be started from
seedzaour years before first harvest) or
crowns (three years before first harvest)
and both are available from garden centres
or nurseries.
The cultivars currently available are the
Viking lines, derived from Mary
Washington.
Newer cultivars, Centennial and Lucullus,
should be available soon.
If the planting is started from seed, sow
the seed in early May in a nursery bed 2.5
cm to four cm deep and five cm to 10 cm
apart in the row. (Sow some radish seed
with asparagus to identify the rows since
asparagus germinates slowly. )
Maintain a weed -free seed bed and water
frequently throughout the growing season.
Asparagus seedlings will emerge two to
four weeks after sowing, depending upon the
soil temperature.
Allow the seedlings to grow for the full
season.
The following spring, transplant these
seedlings (one year old crowns) to a perma-
nent bed.
Place the one -year-old crowns, buds up
with the roots spread out, at the bottom of a
15 cm deep trench and cover with two cm to
five cm of soil.
"The crowns should be planted in early
spring before the buds on the crowns break.
dormancy," Khosla says.
A spacing of 30 cm in the rows, with the
rows 100 cm to 120 cm apart, is optimal for
rapid root growth and minimum crowding.
Maintain a good weed control program,
together with adequate moisture,
throughout the growing period.
As the fern grows, the trenches are filled
in gradually. This controls weeds and
prevents suffocation of the plants.
Allow the plants to grow for the whole
season and permit the fern to overwinter.
In the spring of each year, (before the
spears emerge in late April or early May)
mow down the fern, apply fertilizer and add
manure, if it is available.
Incorporate these lightly into the soil (five
cm deep); avoid deep cultivation to prevent
crown damage.
Commence harvest in the spring, usually
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early May, off the third year after the second
full season of growth in the permanent bed
for example, if the permanent bed was
planted in 1985, you will harvest your first
crop in spring 1987).
In the first year of harvest, only a two to
three week harvest period is recommended.
A four to six week harvest period is
recommended in the second season and a
full harvest of five to six weeks can be car-
ried out in subsequent years.
Cut off spears at the soil surface or snap
them off when they are 15 cm to 25 cm high.
At harvest, remove all spears that
emerge.
After the harvest period, maintain op -
Fl
ei
Cr
,AGE 31
timal growing conditions and allow spears
to develop into full ferns for the remainder
of the growing season.
Asparagus beetles can be a major pro-
blem in asparagus plantings since the
beetles chew the fern - thereby decreasing
the food manufacturing ability of the plant.
A recommended insecticide can control
this problem.
Two diseases, asparagus rust . and
Fusarium crown and root rot, are often a
problem too.
The incidence of these diseases can be
reduced by minimizing plant stress such as
weed competition, overcutting, deep tillage,
moisture deficit, and so on.
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