Asparagus is a good seller for me, all-though I only get about 150 lbs. out of my 1 row, close to 210 ft. long. I would like to put in another 2- 200 ft. rows of the same jersey giant all male roots. I have been getting $3.00 a bunch of about 1.5 pounds. My goal ultimately is to harvest about 400 lbs. a season .mark

Mark, I have 50' of Jersey Supreme and 25' of Purple Passion. I really only needed about 10'. How much do you think I will have each picking? I like it, but cant eat it daily. They say the purple comes on earlier.

In Lafayette, at the market, we get between $3-4/lb. Some people bunch their asparagus, I don't. My customers enjoy picking their own, some people like skinny ones and others like thicker ones.

Last year, we got $5/quart for strawberries and I heard Indy prices were higher.

Marla

Obrionusa - figure with a good crop 30 # for every 50 plants.I am figuring 50 plants for 50 feet at 1 foot spacing. this can vary dramatically with proper fertile soil. Asparagus likes to be fed every year. you cant just plant and forget. mark

I get $2.00 for a 1/2 pound bundle of green and $2.50 for a half pound bundle of purple and generally sell all I can pick. i have 300 feet of the green and 250 feet of the purple, though 200 feet of the purple is only 3 years old so will take no more than 66% of it this year.

I get $4.00 for a pint of strawberries. I grow the day neutral/everbearing types so have them frost to frost and am also 100% chem free (I would call them organic but we are no longer certified so I cannot use that term)

boulderbelt, I was wondering if pints of strawberries would sell as well as the quarts. I hate to buy quart boxes just for the strawberries. I use pints for more things. I'm pesticide free, but not totally chemical free, only because I can't get enough compost.

marla

Mark, Talk to me about fertilizing. I havent fertilized since I put them in the ground in Spring 2009. Nourse farms catalog says I can harvest for 4 weeks this year. I think I have a half bag of 8-32-16 left. With that in mind I should get about 45 pounds worth of asparagus this year.

Its to bad you didn,t put that fertilizer around them last fall but if you ring the plants about 6-8 inches away and 2-5 inches deep with some good spring rains this march, you should be ok for a first harvest in mid-late may. I am using mid-north michigan tactics so your Indianapolis zone might be 2-3 weeks ahead. thats an excellant fertilizer 8-32-16 for fall and early spring but i use some urea in july to bolster the plants foliage for energy in roots for the next season. mark. Most 2 year old-roots planted need 2 years of good growth for a 50% pick. after 3 years 75%,4 years leave 1 spear for each plant.

Boulderbelt, Are you selling at a market or roadside?

How much 8-32-16 do I need to put on?

Most books say about a pound and a half for every 100 square feet of bed. I use a couple of tablespoons around each plant in a circle about 8-10 inches away from stem.

Obrionusa, i sell at farmers markets, i have a store on my farm (I would call it a stand but, hey it is a building with utilities, refrigeration, etc., so a store) and through my CSA. This spring will have a co-op to supply as well

Marla, i found once i switched to pints my berry sales tripled. No one around here wants a big ole quart of berries as they feel they will not eat them all. very few people do any serious canning and most of the berries that are made into jam the people do not mind paying top dollar as they only want to do a few jars, usually to show the kids how it is done.

The few clients I have who will need serious amounts for canning get a 33% discount on bulk buying.

but because we do day neutral/everbearing varieties we do not ever get the glut of berries that the June bearing always give.

what varieties of strawberries do you have? I tasted the Seascape last year and they were wonderful. I used to have Ozark Beauty but the patch died out and I wasn't able to find them at a reasonable cost when I bought my current berries.

marla

we did Albion for the first time last year and will do some seas scape this year. the Albion were wonderful after we removed all the grubs killing a lot of the plants.

in the past did tri-star and a couple of other non patented types but they tended to be small and the flavor was hit and miss. Like these patented varieties a lot despite my hating the whole patenting plants deal.