Asparagus plants: asparagus plants are male and female? How and when to choose to harvest asparagus

Harvesting asparagus is worth the wait, and so you have to start new asparagus beds from seeds or crowns. Four years after planting seeds, edible spears do not have edible qualities. As a result, asparagus harvests become more valuable each year. Growing asparagus from seed allows people to grow any kind of vegetable, but growing asparagus from an annual crown allows for a faster harvest-three years after planting the crown. Learning how to pick asparagus ensures the longevity of asparagus beds.

Asparagus plants are male or female. Female plants develop many spears, but when asparagus is harvested, the most productive harvest of male plants will be obtained.

Learning how to harvest asparagus involves understanding the differences between male and female plants, which are easy to spot once delicious vegetables appear and grow. Female plants devote most of their energy to seed production and can be identified when red berry-like seeds appear later in the season.

Male plants don't have the energy to invest in seed production, providing thicker and longer spears, which people need when harvesting asparagus. There are newer asparagus varieties that provide only male plants that 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 the annual crown, spears will be ready for asparagus harvest. In the initial harvest year (third year), plants can only be harvested in the first month of optimal production. Removing spears for more than a month during this important growth year will weaken and possibly kill plants.

Asparagus should be harvested when the stems are 5 to 8 inches long and the fingers are large. Of course, the width will vary from male to male. Length may determine when asparagus is picked, but you'll want to get it early enough in its tender season.

Cut or break the spear from the attachment point closest to the fiber root. Excessive disturbance of this area may result in damage to spears that have not yet broken ground.

Once you know how to pick asparagus, you'll love spring asparagus harvests for years to come. Properly prepared and harvested asparagus beds will increase in multi-year production, typically up to 15 years, and possibly up to 30 years, and vegetables will become more abundant.