My one year old asparagus crowns will be coming up to 3 years old this season so I can start to harvest them Does anyone know - do I harvest all of them as they appear or leave some of them to grow on.
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I still have another year to wait! My RHS book advises that you can cut all the spears from end of April to late June and no longer. After that you should allow the ferns to grow and apply a fertiliser.
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You should be OK this year Growbag - just reward for patience! - but don't be too ruthless (e.g. it would be sensitive to developing plants to tail off cropping a little earlier than you might in future years). When you crop spears don't forget to cut BELOW the soil surface.... I assume this to to minimise scent of asparagus (same tack as, say, when thinning carrots to minimise visits by carrot fly - keep debris to a minimum). Asparagus doesn't have too many enemies but it does have one (apart from humans ), the asparagus beetle, which can infest (check with Google Image, they're quite vivid). There are both organic and inorganic sprays to combat them but for most garden beds picking them off by hand and 'despatching' is more common and an adequate deterrent (the grubs will over-winter in the soil and set up a cycle that's harder to combat so the trick is to get them early!) A friend (who grows better asparagus than me, grrr) always allows ONE plant to go straight to fern (i.e doesn't crop that one at all, different one each year) to act as a lure on the basis that any asparagus beetle turning up on the bed will naturally go for the easiest option. He then inspects that plant every day (or so) during the cropping season and removes any beetles he finds. Seems to work. Happy munching. b..
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