I had asparagus, Purple Passion, from the garden for lunch, today. YUMMMMMMMY!

Was that insect a red/orange & black thing? If so, that's the asparagus beetle & they will DEVASTATE your bed. As much as I hate using chemicals, Sevin dust is the only thing I've found that will knock 'em dead.

Let us know how the soap works, please.

I've got 2 beds. One is planted in clay soil & is 30 years old & produces like mad & I've never fertilized it. My other bed is a raised bed with excellent soil...is 10 years old & I've never fertilized it either, & I have PLENTY of asparagus. I give at least 20#'s away each year.

I know of a 50+ year old bed that's never been fertilized & there's no shortage of asparagus in that bed, either.

With the exeption of the bug - and that could be 100's of things - your bed's growth sounds perfectly normal to me. How old is the bed? Will you be harvesting this year?

Dave

Forgot to mention that yes, feeding certainly won't hurt it. Normally gus beds are fed at least 3 times a year. Once in early spring before emergence, once at the end of the harvest period, and again in the fall when putting the bed down for the winter.

Dave

I've been using Rotenone for years--just a little dusting. Works fine.

Thanks for all the suggestions..think it is the beetle you mentioned..will spray today and check in the morning..I put the bed in last year with two year old plants...should I pick the skinny ones with the top separating or just let them fern out??..I have picked the others and they taste great...

Normally harvesting the first year after planting is not done, nor is it recommended. All spears that emerge should be allowed to go to fern and left to grow until this fall when they will turn brown and die. That growth, along with fertilizing, is what will insure you a well-established bed of crowns for future years.

Since you used 2 year old crowns you can harvest next year.

Dave

Our 4 year old bed has the same. Some nice tight smooth
tops are a little red, the ones with beetle eggs on them -
this is our first year we've seen this - are less smooth
and tight - more "feathery" on top.

My question is - the eggs are in nice lines on the stalks,
and even into the flower/top. Are these stalks edible if
you knock the eggs off - or, just dispose of them outright?

Don't want to share too much with the bugs!

Will the cold kill the beetles? It will be in the low
30's tonight.

Thanks!

I've got an asparagus bed that I've probably done EVERYTHING wrong with (plus, last fall the gardener's assistant probably pulled up half the roots... don't get me started on that...). I probably didn't plant the roots deep enough the first year. I didn't know enough to feed them properly. In its second year I was overworked and the bed was overrun with weeds (hence the gardener's helper). Despite all of that I still have some lovely big spears coming up this year (YUM), and have had 30 more roots delivered to make up for the last disasters.

I've noticed that with Jersey Giant roots from Burpee I've gotten "girl" roots, and they flower and go to seed, and so I do get little "volunteer" asparagus babies. Also, I'm willing to bet that as the bigger roots spread out their tips will send up those small "feathery" sprouts.

Geez--looking in on the vegetable forum for the first time in 5 years or so is like deja vu. Gardeners universally have the same problems, it appears.

So for wizzie, you've got Asparagus Beetles, and there are two kinds. The ones that are the most aggravating are the common, or striped, Asparagus Beetle. They lay eggs (as someone mentioned) in a row on the ferns and even on the asparagus. The babies look like little gray maggots and eat the ferns. The eggs are just about the size of the letter "I", so they're small and insignificant if you don't look close. No need to spray--unless you're in a hurry. I grow 10 rows of asparagus 75 feet long each, and I don't spray. You just have to catch the beetles, and squash them and it's not difficult. Look close--you'll see them--and they're almost always into mating and laying more eggs. They're kinda stupid in that their defense is to freefall to the ground when disturbed. Knowing this, cup one hand under them, and disturb them with the other. They'll freefall into your cupped hand and you can squash the little devils. If you let them stay in your asparagus through numerous mating cycles, you'll be infested with them. Your asparagus will start coming out of the ground looking like "question marks", because when they get so out of control they begin eating the asparagus before it even comes up, and it gets stunted and comes up crooked.

So I do an asparagus patrol at least once a day, and squash everyone I find.

The other asparagus beetle is the Spotted Asparagus Beetle. It's easier to see because it's bright red/orange, with black spots, and twice as large as the common AB. They lay eggs inside the asparagus berries (in females) and their larvae eat the goo inside the berries that surround the black seeds, and sometimes they screw up the seeds, too. These suckers are harder to catch than the common AB. You have to sneak up on them, as they're a bit jumpy, and will fly away when they see you. I quickly clap my hands together and squash them. Ginks up the fern a little, but it happens so quick that I usually get them. (And losing a piece of fern isn't the end of the world.)

Just do a daily inspection and avoid poison (is my motto). Also, if you have asparagus, you have Asparagus Beetles. If you don't think you do, you're not looking closely enough. Asparagus attract AB's. Period. It's THEIR insect.

Yep I have the beetles ..they were back at it this evening..even after sparaying with insecticidal soap last evening...don't know how well you have to soak them to get rid of them or are they coming out of the ground so spraying the plant doesn't stop them...will need something to put on the soil...really going buggy

wizzie:

Well, don't feel like the Lone Ranger. Everybody who has an asparagus bed has Asparagus Beetles. If they don't think they do, they just haven't looked closely or they're in denial. Just as potatoes attract Colorado Potato Beetles and beans attract Mexican Bean Beetles, so do asparagus attract Asparagus Beetles.

Ironic that when Lady Bugs see them on asparagus, they make the asparagus ferns their nursery, and they lay eggs and hatch out Lady Bug larvae in the ferns which eat the Striped Asparagus Beetle larvae. I've taken pictures of it--both the Lady Bug adults and larvae eating the Striped Asparagus Beetle larvae. That's why I hand pick the Asparagus Beetles--because Lady Bugs are a natural control for the AB and I don't want to kill them with poison.