[Sprout]

I now have some small asparagus plants in 3" pots grown from seed earlier this year.

These plants have all produced small, and I mean small, shoots which I have allowed to grow on & develope into the usual fern like growth.

My question, when should I move these plants into open ground on my allotment plot?

Edited to correct spelling of "asparagus" for search purposes.

[JayG]

I would suggest you overwinter them somewhere with some shelter as the shallow roots will be very vulnerable to frost if we get anything like last year's winter.

Plant them out around next March/April when the worst of the really cold weather should be over.

[Trillium]

I agree with Jay. If planted now, they're liable to be forgotten or lost by next spring.

[sunshineband]

I saw some 1yr old seedings for sale in our local garden centre a couple of weeks ago. I knpow what you mean by small 

I think the advice about keeping them from freezing is perfect, but they will need to put on some growth at some point to survive open ground successfully.

In the spring, when they come up again, you should be in abetter position to know if they are robust enough to transplant

[Sprout]

Thanks for the advice & suggestions. Think I will ovder winter in the greenhouse & plant out in the spring possibly under a cloche or something similar to hepfully give them all a decent start.

[simpson-allen]

I was thinking of doing the same but by using the seeds from this season's plants. Did you just let the seeds dry and then plant them in pots the following year and hope for them to take? I know if you buy from Suttons etc they send you plug plants, so just wondered if that's because it's difficult to grow asparagus from seed?

[JayG]

I was thinking of doing the same but by using the seeds from this season's plants. Did you just let the seeds dry and then plant them in pots the following year and hope for them to take? I know if you buy from Suttons etc they send you plug plants, so just wondered if that's because it's difficult to grow asparagus from seed?

You are certainly contemplating doing things the hard way! 

The seeds are contained in the berries, which when ripe need to be gently mashed or rubbed against a grater to get the seeds out. The seeds then need to be washed several times to get rid of their coating, then dried thoroughly.

After all that palaver you might not have seeds which breed true to the parents (they definitely won't if they were an F1 variety) and of course growing from seed rather than 1 year old crowns adds another year to the already long wait before you can start harvesting.

[DD.]

That's the way I did it and I've got 39 established crowns now that cost me nowt.

One of the drawbacks is that you'll get female crowns that are not as productive as the males when it comes to the width of the spears. 

[simpson-allen]

Thanks Jay. Will be chucking both dried plants and seeds in compost bin tonight!!!

[sunshineband]

Thanks Jay. Will be chucking both dried plants and seeds in compost bin tonight!!!

And you might have asparagus come up like weeds 

If you can see the tiny little things of course 

[sonic]

I've grown a bed of 48 crowns of asparagus from seed.  I agree that the initial plants look a bit wimpy.  They're so thin they're almost invisible.  Stick with it.  When I planted them out I used coloured golf tees so I could see where they were when I planted out and kept another load in reserve in case they failed.  I know they look fragile now but they'll grow into big bad boys that will give you alot of pleasure when you come to harvest them.  Remember to separate the female ones out.  Get ready to say hello to Mr Asparagus Beetle.  He will find you.  Beautiful insect that I've never seen before but a pain in the ass on my plot.  Derris dust was the solution but they don't sell it any more.

[sunshineband]

I spent three weeks squashing thos pretty beetles and their horrid grubs --- and then one day they were finished 


until next year 

[BabbyAnn]

I also spent some time squishing the beetles and larvae this year and discovered the reason I never noticed larvae before is because they hide!  Without my reading glasses I can't see very well but from a distance could see some dark shadows ... when I approached squinting at the smudge, it was gone so I peeked behind the stem and saw the larvae actually move away    This year I also grew pot marigold in the bed - maybe it was a combination of both hunting the beetle and the pot marigold, but there was definitely significantly less damage than in previous years 

[sunshineband]

Sneaky little devils 

I was surprised at the number of larvae given the bluetit population and the number of ladybirds we have,

Maybe they taste bad

[NN2Blue]

I've grown a bed of 48 crowns of asparagus from seed.  I agree that the initial plants look a bit wimpy.  They're so thin they're almost invisible.  Stick with it.  When I planted them out I used coloured golf tees so I could see where they were when I planted out and kept another load in reserve in case they failed.  I know they look fragile now but they'll grow into big bad boys that will give you alot of pleasure when you come to harvest them.  Remember to separate the female ones out.  Get ready to say hello to Mr Asparagus Beetle.  He will find you.  Beautiful insect that I've never seen before but a pain in the ass on my plot.  Derris dust was the solution but they don't sell it any more.

What a handsome insect! I'll keep a look out for this one in Northampton having just created an asparagus bed from seedlings given to me by a friend. The Lily Beetle is handsome as well.