[Apostrophes]

Only one of my eight asparagus crowns that I planted in April has made an appearance above ground, and even then only one spear. I dug down to see what was going on down there and found one of the other crowns. It has a white shoot about two inches long pointing upwards. Is that a good sign?

[ACatCalledElvis]

yes - dont worry - asparagus is a long termer - and only likes heat - we have had an up and down season re temperatures - so it has not always liked growing

[ziggy66]

How deep did you plant your crowns?

Advice that I was given was to cover them as the spears grew. The crowns themselves can be only threeish inches deep now the ferns are in full bloom.

[Wombat18]

A lot of mine didn't come up the first year because the soil was too wet and heavy so they rotted over the winter.  This year I dug heaps of leaf mold and soil improver in and only one or two didn't come up.  All I can suggest is wait, keep them watered and don't disturb them too much.   If you've got shoots on the way that's a good sign.   If you don't get anything in the next couple of months you might need to think about soil quality before you plant in the same place again.

[SUTTY1]

i think i was early april i planted year old crowns of gynglim(spelling?) and pacific purple. The gynlim have all sent up 1 spear and flowered, no signs off pp yet. Been suggested it might even be next year before they show.

Thinking in a light hearted way. 5 people on our plots have planted asparagus crowns this year. The ones that have taken, which is most except pp, have ALL sent up 1 spear.

Does anyone think the spears could be sitting 8ins under ground talking to each other;

You go up and have a look!!
No, you go up and have a look!!
Too much risk off frost for me!!
I'm sure theres beatles up there no-way i'm going!!!

You big whimps i'll have a look !! 

 

[Ice]

I planted three kinds of year old crowns and it has been a slow process waiting for them to show their heads above ground.  I had given up, but finally all of them have appeared.  So don't give up just yet.

[Apostrophes]

Thank you all for your responses.

Ziggy, I planted the crowns about 12 inches deep and there is plenty of compost in there.

[Ice]

I planted mine six inches down as Alan Titchmarsh suggested.  At twelve inches down I would derfinately give them more time to prove themselves.

[SUTTY1]

Dont plant at 8ins they wont shut up!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ziggy66]

I planted three types this year (Backlym, glynjim and collosal), all have shown but the tops of the crowns are only about three - four inches below the surface. Plan is to mulch over winter and so increase the depth. I don't know if this is the correct way but seems to be working so far.  :happy:

Neighbour has planted three types including pp and pp definitely slower and less consistent. That said I noticed some spears just starting to show last week.

As suggested previously, I would wait.