[jameshuk]

This is my first year of growing asparagus and I have got some pretty pathetic shoots up.

All of them seem to have gone brown now.... is this normal or have they died? 

I'm not sure what went wrong here as they were never left in completely dry ground and the soil was prepared and they started ok?

[mark.carline]

.....were never left in completely dry ground.....

I am a newbee but I am in the same boat as you.  I have read that asparagus is very suseptable to rot if they are too wet.  How deep are the crowns when you planted them ?

[barney rubble]

Did they put up shoots , which then turned into ferns, some of which might have had small whiteish bell shaped hanging flowers?

[Pompey Spud]

Or...it might be the Aaparagus Beetle with its larvae?

Mine are 1st year as well and a few withered after sprouting ferns.

PUP!

[jameshuk]

they put up shoots , which then turned into ferns but nothing white hanging off them.... They have just turned brown and seemingly died though..... 

They are planted as per the instructions on this site and watered etc accordingly so just not sure what I've done wrong!

[barney rubble]

I think its just the female plants that produce flowers, so you may have all male plants, but its my first year of growing them, so I've been taking advice on the forum too.

I can't find any disease or pest that my books say produce the browning you describe, and it seems incredibly early for them to be dying off naturally, as this is usually late Autumn. It might be possible that they've not been able to take the very hot weather we've had, and even if they were well watered, it may not have been enough?

There hasn't been any weed killer or pesticide sprayed around them has there?

Thats all I can think of, but others probably can advise you better

[mark.carline]

how about some pictures ?

I'll try and post one of the ones of mine that might be the same

Mark

[DD.]

Both male and female have flowers, the male need them to produce the pollen. An expert eye would tell the difference from the flowers.

Therefore do not ask me!

[mark.carline]

jameshuk - Just a few questions:

- Where did you get your crowns from?
- When did you plant them ?
- Was there more than 5cm of soil over the crown ?
- How many did you plant ?

[barney rubble]

Both male and female have flowers, the male need them to produce the pollen. An expert eye would tell the difference from the flowers.

Therefore do not ask me!

Now I've had several that haven't produced flowers at all, just ferns, so I thought they were the male ones.....

But they're still putting up spears, as many as five from one crown, altho none of they are thicker than a pencil, and some are matchstick thickness

[mark.carline]

.....But they're still putting up spears, as many as five from one crown, altho none of they are thicker than a pencil, and some are matchstick thickness

Very similar to mine.  I planted 50 around 4 weeks ago (i know its late) and all apart from 2 are looking great.  Some are very fine ferns and some have smallish balls on them.  I did try and make sure that there was no more than 5cm of very fine seived soil on the crown and root.

[barney rubble]

The "balls" turn into the flowers Mark

[strangerachael]

Mine all went brown last year and when I looked closely discovered I had a serious asparagus beetle infestation. I think they did quite a lot of damage as some of the crowns haven't regenerated this year. They have come back this year and I have resorted to 'Bug Clear' and this seems to have got rid of them for now. Have a close look and see if you can see any beetles (google for pictures), or larvae - little dark grey/green maggoty things.