Asparagus seeds

[flighty1]

Hi folks,
A silly question perhaps but here goes. I have recently obtained some asparagus crowns. However prior to getting the crowns I thought about buying some seed. My question is about seeds from all male varieties. If the said variety produce all male crowns where do the seeds come from as the seeds come from female plants. There told you it was silly.
Thanks Sheila

[Paulottie]

Sill from selected female plants - they just sell the boys.... I don't know if there is a smarty pants way that breeders can tell in the first year whether a plant is male or female. I have to wait for flowering to tell the difference. (even that takes experiance.) Sometimes they do flower in year one; but more normally they flower in the second year. You can then just divide and set out the 2 yo crowns

I'm not sure you they really can guarantee the sex of 1 year olds so don't believe everything you are told by suppliers..... Out of the fifty crowns I brought 7 years ago from a 'reputable' supplier as all Dutch f1 hybrid males 7 or 8 were female)

I don't find that much difference in the quality or yield anyway.....(And, as a bonus, I have bred quite a few dozen plants from their seed).....I guess the ongoing trouble is if you let them set seed all over your bed..... As with a weedy bed it gets overcrowded and worked out reducing the quality. At the end of cutting season I look around for any self sets with my normal weed, feed and beetle crushing routine. It also helps to cut out any ferns with berries a bit earlier than November to stop the seed ripening an dropping everywhere.