Asparagus seedling question...please?

I took ripe seeds from my new crop of asparagus (just planted early this Spring...doing really well...from Nourse Farms) and I want to grow as many out as possible. This is more of a personal challenge than a commercial one!!! I JUST WANT to do it!!! So...I really need to know what to do next (you will see why).....

I grew out the seeds in an open seed flat...all growing together instead of individual little pots as I have read others do it. Last year I tried transplanting them into bigger pots when they were at this stage and lost every one!!! They are all about 5" tall and thin like string.

My growing season is almost all year round for vegies...we get down into the mid 50's once every 10 years!!! Nights are cooler than they are closer to the coast. The asparagus grow beautifully here.

1. At what size/stage do I transplant? I don't want to plant them directly into the ground because we get heavy rains and I am afraid they will drown. I think the roots need to be better formed.

2. Any special tricks to the transplanting...like be sure to face E. or sing a certain song? LOL...

Many many thanks in advance....

Carol

I start a lot of seed in window boxes, and after a certain point, they just stunt out and languish. Too much competition, or something. I tried the same thing with asparagus seed. I didn't tranplant them in a timely fashion, (oops!) and they too just languished & ended up in the compost.

I'd try starting in individual pots, as deep as I could find 'em. Onion seedling growers swear by that method. Maybe use old milk/cream waxed paper cartons with the tops cut off (which works well for morning glories which are notoriously fussy about their roots). The roots may be getting stunted. And/or maybe it's a drainage thing too, once they're in the next stage of pots. Make sure your mix drains quickly.

Try some directly sown in the ground too, as a control group. You may be surprised. If the soil drains well, there shouldn't be any problem with the rains. We've had record rain this season, but with my sandy loam, the asparagus are rockin' out, and very lush.

Good luck!

OK...I see some new seeds on the plants which I will try right into the ground!!!

What I am faced with is a flat of seedlings already UP...maybe I just take them out as a mass and put them in/on the ground!!

I planted a pot I had that was like yours out at the stage yours are now, and four years later we have asparagus coming out our ears...
It does help to face to the east and chant your favorite mantra while being naked...
Hope your neighbors have a sense of humor...LOL

OH, good.... thanks for that encouragement! I will get right out there!!! HAHAHAHA...no neighbours!!!!

I don't TRY to set seed from my Asparagus, but since I set the plants three seasons ago, I have had "baby asparagus" sprouting up throughout the bed - some have even appeared in the strawberry bed next to it. I even had a couple appear under my oak tree, but they didn't live long. The ones that were very crowded, I transplanted, but I did notice that very few of them survived doing so.

This year, I thinned the crowded babies and tossed the thinnings - I'll have to wait until next year to see if this worked.

There always seem to be far more seeds than plants, so I suspect the birds eat some of the berries - which could explain why asparagus pops up in other places

I did this last year, took the seeds into my greenhouse and put them in a tray scattered them and placed them on a heat mat, this was in December of'08. In March of '09 they popped up just as I was going to toss the tray cause I saw nothing. I kept the seeds reasonably wet but did let it dry out a bit between waterings. In March they grew like crazy, little gus spears that ferned. I planted them in my raised gus beds in May or June and they have done great. The roots were more hairy texture than crown like but I just covered them well left the ferns sticking up and kept them wet. They stayed shaded by the mature gus ferns and I will move them to their own bed this Fall. I have about 1,000 gus seeds from my crowns this year and am going to do alot more this Winter to sell in a year or two.

Thanks for the advice, everyone!!!