Do Asparagus Plants Come in Male and Female? Master How and When to Harvest Asparagus
Harvesting asparagus is worth the wait, until you have to start a new asparagus bed from seed or crowns. In the fourth year after planting seed, the edible spears are not of eating quality. Therefore, the asparagus harvest becomes more valuable every year. Growing asparagus from seed allows a person to plant any variety of the vegetable, but growing from one-year-old crowns gives a faster asparagus harvest - three years after planting the crowns. Learning how to pick asparagus can ensure the longevity of the asparagus bed.
Asparagus plants are either male or female. Female plants will develop many spears, but when harvesting asparagus, the most productive harvest will be obtained from male plants.
Learning how to harvest asparagus includes understanding the differences between male and female plants, which are easy to spot once the tasty vegetable emerges and grows. Female plants put most of their energy into seed production and can be identified when red berry-like seeds appear later in the season.
Male plants have no energy invested in seed production and provide thicker, longer spears, which is what people want when harvesting asparagus. There are newer asparagus varieties that provide only male plants, which do not require pollination.
Asparagus is one of the earliest garden vegetables of spring. Knowing when to pick asparagus will bring the most delicious experience of the crop.
In the third year of growth, after planting one-year-old crowns, the spears will be ready for asparagus harvest. In the first harvest year (the third year), only harvest the plants for the first month of optimal production. Removing spears for more than a month during this important growth year will weaken and may kill the plants.
Harvesting asparagus should begin when the stalks are 5 to 8 inches long and finger-sized. Of course, the width will vary with male plants. Length may determine when to pick asparagus, but you will want to get it early enough in the season while it is tender.
Cut or snap the spears from the attachment point closest to the fibrous roots. Excessive disturbance of this area can cause damage to spears that have not yet broken through the soil.
Once you know how to pick asparagus, you will enjoy the spring asparagus harvest for years to come. A properly prepared and harvested asparagus bed will increase in production for many years, generally up to 15 years, possibly as long as 30 years, as the vegetable becomes more abundant.
