Hello,
I have a couple of questions about gus. Is there a way to distinquish varieites of established crowns when you were not the person who planted them? And how long is the seed viable and does it need stratification or scarification?
Thank you,
Susan
Asparagus Question
Can't help you much, other than I thought transplanting bare root was the wa to to it... are they your own seed?
-joe-
yes, they are. I germinated some last year and got 20 crowns from it. It was great, I just want more info on the topic.
I have seeds that fall off and germinate on their own so I don't think you need to do anything special! 26 years ago my 4 year old son picked up a lot of the red seed berries and planted them in hills I had made in the garden. We are still harvesting the asparagus from that garden today! I have no idea how to identify a variety from looking at the stalks except maybe the purple ones - don't know how many different purple varieties there are. You may just have to enjoy them if they are good producers!!
This message was edited Jan 13, 2010 11:04 PM
I have no purple, I am trying to tell if they are the older varieites like Martha Washington, that is what I was refering to.
There is a possibility that they aren't a named variety, just plain old asparagus. Martha Washington is the most likely variety. Jersey varieties are supposed to be all male with no seed.
yeah, I bought some from a grower about 4 years ago and they were suppose to be Jerseys but I got two females. Then 2 years ago I bought 25 from a different company and got one female, they were suppose to be Jersey Knight and Jersey Supreme. My first batch of crowns are now producing huge (diameter) spears. They get really fat fast. I have been germinating the seeds and getting more crowns which is nice but I don't know what kind I am producing when I do that? Do they germinate true to variety?
I don't think the Jersey's are hybrid crosses, exactly (only the university would know for sure). I think it was more a matter of selecting and re-selecting the best ones in the patch. In that case, they should come fairly true from seed - including some of the disease resistance - but won't be all male clones. If you reselect the best and get rid of the rest, you will be even closer.