Update - I've got sprouts! Sewing Diva's asparagus

[Reinbeau]

Well, I have my answer now. I am near Sewing Diva, she's just posted a picture of her asparagus, as of 4/15/09 - it's lovely. And it proves that mine is dead. All 25 plants were alive, healthy, gave me a nice harvest last season - this would have been year four. Nothing is coming up out there. I'm thinking it's the clay soil there, this past fall and winter two times at least I remember standing water near there, I'd never seen it before. I guess the crowns must have rotted in that wet clay soil. Dammit. I am truly amazed and dismayed.

 

[obsessed]

I am sorry.

 

[seedcorn]

Before I'd pronounce them dead, do an autopsy. Mine (in sand) are just starting to break dirt here in Indiana. I'm not saying they aren't dead but there can be many reasons for a different sprouting date.

 

[RedClayGardener]

I agree with seedcorn. Mine are just now coming up too! Good luck!

 

[vfem]

 

[VT Chicklit]

I live in northern Vermont and I do not expect to see anything from my asperagus for another 2 or 3 weeks yet. We just ran the rototiller through the bed to break up the crust because the top layer of soil is always compacted and hard for the stalks to grow through. I had been told that mulching was not good for the bed, so I never mulched. I have since found out on this site that mulching is ok and I plan on mulching this year. I hope that it will help the texture of the soil there.

 

[SewingDiva]

Oh Ann I feel horrible for you!

Truthfully I have no aspagragus skill and I think its just beginners luck. We have it in a raised bed about 1 foot tall that does drain really well, so maybe that has helped us a bit (although we cheated by filling it with trucked in loam.)

Phyllis

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I'm so sorry to hear that, Reinbeau. Especially after it has been established for four years.

I would try digging one up, if you are too curious to wait and see. It seems to me that asparagus in a raised bed would probably come up earlier than asparagus in the level ground.

I do hope they haven't all perished!

 

[Reinbeau]

I actually have dug down on two of the crowns, and the odd thing is the old stalks (what's left of them below ground) are still pretty firmly attached to the crown - there's just no shoots coming up! I'm hoping this weekend and the warm weather will cajole some up, if any are still alive.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

If they don't look rotten, there is hope!