I have about a dozen crowns. They're mature and productive, and I get as many as I want to cook fresh during the season. I don't can or freeze them.

When mature, how much can you harvest from April or June each week? From 12 crowns?

Enough for good-sized portions about twice a week for 2 people. Sometimes I have to make cream of asparagus soup to use a surplus.

To put it another way, I have about 20 feet of row.

The simple answer would be "as many as you have room for" because maturity is the primary issue rather than number. I agree with the 50 for a family of 4 assuming they all like asparagus.

The first few years of harvesting they will give you approx. 50 spears (1 each for harvest, rest left to fern). With excellent growing conditions provided by year 5 that count will rise to approx. 100 (2 spears per crown for harvest, rest left to fern) and then increase slowly thereafter to 4-5 harvestable spears per crown.

If you want to freeze/can then you'll need many more crowns in the end but they normally added a few fresh ones each year as older ones slow due to over-crowding, age, or die off.

I have 3 beds of approx. 50 crowns each of mixed varieties. One bed is more than 15 years old now and slowly fading out of production. The other 2 beds are approx. 5-8 years old. The 8 yr old bed is in its prime production years of approx. 1/2 lb. per crown (approx. 8-10 spears).

Obviously well established crowns will produce more spears but you can't harvest them all.

Dave

Dave, can you renovate the old beds? Or it is not worth the sweat for the money?

Sure you can renovate old beds with new plants. You can't renovate old plants.

Dave

Don't short yourself when it comes to asparagus. You only harvest a mature crop for 8 weeks and I've seen late frosts and dry weather that reduced yields significantly during that time. The variety (male hybrid) and bed health also have much to do with your yield. I won't elaborate on my planting because I grow to sell but I have many customers who have found multiple ways to prepare this crop while it is available fresh locally. I relish the thought of it grilled daily.

If you aren't going to freeze or can any than your overall crop needs are much less than others who preserve. You'll likely have times when you wish you planted more and other times when you just can't eat the amount harvested. You also need to figure that when you allow a spear to fern-out you have lost that spear and future harvests become more burdonsome.

Dave, so you can't dig up the old crowns and divide them? If not, then there is no such thing of renovate it if you'll have to re-plant them again.

Well, at least you can buy some new seeds and have some head start. Then this is like re-planting them in a few years.

For me, I think 25 crowns are all I need. There are other crops to harvest....

As for the varieties, I think even the mid-season asparagus is still good. You can still get the harvest before all the other regular vegetables, like tomatoes etc. Most of them do not come that early, April to June.

Digging up mature, established asparagus plants would seem to be a real pain.

Some confusion here.

Anyhow, I just found 12 crowns/person is high. For a family of 4-5, that is about 50' double rows for a family. Or 50'x8' bed. I do not know how many folks can do that. I may have the room, but I have other things to plant.

I'm thinking of 4-5 lbs a week in season. We may be able to harvest about 5 weeks? So that is about 25 lbs per season, that I need.

I heard asparagus bed lasts for a long time. But now I heard folks talking about crop declining in about 10 years or so.

Well, I'll have to plant some to find out....

Certainly more than 1-2 spears/crown WHEN MATURE

But what is mature? Dave says 5+ years if I am reading his post correctly... which sounds like only for the VERY patient gardener.

Years, 5+ to maturity.

Harvest a little by 2nd year. Full harvest by 3rd year and beyond. But they reach the mature production by 5+ year.

The good thing is that you only plant once, not every year. They are supposed to last 15+ years and may be more.....

Some confusion here.
Anyhow, I just found 12 crowns/person is high. For a family of 4-5, that is about 50' double rows for a family. Or 50'x8' bed. I do not know how many folks can do that. I may have the room, but I have other things to plant.

You initially said you wanted enough to can and freeze as well as for fresh eating. If so then as I said 12 crowns per person is NOT high. If not and you only want fresh eating during the few weeks of harvest then plant how ever many you wish.

Also please note the different rates of production discussed above all depends on the maturity of the crown.

Dave, so you can't dig up the old crowns and divide them? If not, then there is no such thing of renovate it if you'll have to re-plant them again.

Talking about two different things. Rejuvenating a soil bed vs. rejuvenating mature crowns. Rejuvenating a soil bed is easy to do once you remove all the old crowns. But no, you can't dig up a 10-15 year old crown and expect it to live. It would be like trying to dig up a giant squid with a teaspoon. :)

Each crown will be a rootbound mass approx. 2-3 feet square with roots easily 5 feet long and heavily entangled with all the adjoining crowns. A ell established asparagus Bed is actually like one giant mass of crowns the size of whatever bed it was allowed. When it hits the limits of that bed where the roots can't penetrate any further it slowly begins to die back just as any rootbound plant in a pot does. Plant it in an open field and sure it may live for 30 years. Contain it in any way and its lifespan depends on the limits of the container.

This all assuming proper feeding and nutrients.

Folks who have never grown asparagus can't really relate to how big these things can get.when mature or how long it takes them to mature. Nor can they relate to how little it will produce at first while sucking up nutrients and water. That is why it isn't a realistic crop for the average backyard gardener. I have acres of gardens but most gardeners don't have that luxury so for many asparagus isn't an efficient use of the available garden space.

RedSun - You want 25 lbs per season? Then, assuming all are male and in full health and there are no late frosts and if sufficient spears are left to go to fern each year you plan on 1/2 lb. per crown from approx. year 5-6 on but not before. By my math that's 50 plants.

And yes Peter, asparagus is only for the very patient gardener who has garden room to spare for the next 10-20 years.

Dave

I think the average backyard gardener can do well with asparagus if you want them just for fresh eating during the season. The advantage is getting a fresh vegetable early in the season before anything else is ready. They don't take a lot of work. They do take patience, but they reward it.

What I am reading is that even 5 years in the future I will get about 50 crowns a year out of 10 feet of row... that is not a rewarding productive garden bed... I hope my experience is different.

My asparagus bed is 4 years old and has been heavily supplied with organics to encourage maximum growth. I started with about 24 plants. Each year when I clean out the greenhouse, I put the residue (seedling potting soil) on the asparagus bed.

I would gladly eat twice the amount of asparagus spears my bed produced this year. By next year, I expect to harvest for about 5 weeks. This should result in about 15 pounds of edible spears.

I started with a 4x8 raised bed, lined with hardware cloth for the gophers. That meant we couldn't plant too deep, but most of them came up!
The next year we noticed some loss due to voles, so we planted another dozen where we noticed gaps.
We are now about 6 years into it and the plants are thriving to the point we "almost" get tired of it fresh with just the 2 of us! I do make gus soup from time to time, give some to co-workers and neighbors, but I'm not one for canning etc.. I still get rouge sprouts from time to time which I either eat while in the garden, or chop up and add to a salad! Either way....YUMMMMMMM!!!!!!! Nancy

Nancy, so you planted about 20 crowns? Yes, I think that is too much for 2 people.

This is the reason I question the rate of 12 crown each person. I think for regular consumption, 6/person is enough. So a dozen for a couple and 25 for a full family of 4-5.

Of course you can add to it if you consume more than the regular amount. I do not like freezing food. I froze some hot peppers and they taste not good when cooked. Texture is totally different.

I just did a little more math.

According to university data, the yield in year 5 is about 0.5 to 0.67 lbs each crown, for all-male variety, good culture practice.

So for 25 crown, it is 12.5 lbs for the year. With 5 weeks of harvest, it is 2.5 lbs each week. So I think that is adequate for 2-3 cookings.

For 1.5' spacing between the row, it is about 40' row.

Of course you can add and reduce it to suit your needs. Some like to eat everyday and some just want to eat once a week....

I just did a little more math.

According to university data, the yield in year 5 is about 0.5 to 0.67 lbs each crown, for all-male variety, good culture practice.

So for 25 crown, it is 12.5 lbs for the year. With 5 weeks of harvest, it is 2.5 lbs each week. So I think that is adequate for 2-3 cookings.

For 1.5' spacing between the crowns, it is about 40' row.

Of course you can add and reduce it to suit your needs. Some like to eat everyday and some just want to eat once a week....

You know, IME Dave is right - 12 per person is about right. You will not eat every night, and you will freeze very little, but those nights you eat there should be enough.

There is no such thing of right or wrong. You just need to work on some numbers and decide on what is right for YOU. The numbers can be all over the places....

"Work with numbers" vs. actual experience don't always jive. *smile* One reason why many gardeners prefer to ask for info from experienced growers rather than rely on vague estimates.

But every garden - and every gardener - is different so like I said above, plant as much as you have room for. Then you'll know if it is enough or not.

And be sure to come back to this thread in 5 years and let us know how much you actually get vs. how much you are predicting you will get from the number of crowns you eventually decide to plant. It will be helpful info for other new asparagus growers when they ask.

Dave

"There is no such thing of right or wrong. You just need to work on some numbers and decide on what is right for YOU. The numbers can be all over the places...."

then why post at all?

I did not know the math when I posted. Or I questioned the 12 crowns per person rate. Now I know how to calculate it.....

But again, there is no one single number, like 12 crowns. But if it says it can yield, say 3 lbs. a week, then the math is clear....

Aside from the beds, I plant asparagus all over. Most of mine gets eaten outside. Must have 60-70 plants, maybe more--2 beds of 25 each plus many others. Anyone growing Crimson Pacific?

I planted 24 crowns in spring 2012. In 2013 I picked about three or four spears from each crown over about four weeks, and then I let the go. This year I had so much that my wife and I couldn't possibly eat all of it.

This is only your 2nd year. The yield will at least double over the next two years. Send me some :-)

First thing I would take into consideration is how much do you like asparagus? If you really like it than plant as much as you have room for, you won't regret it.

My next door neighbor said her asparagus was dwindling; of course, it's a total weed-fest over there. Anyway, her father rototilled them, thinking that would get rid of them. Apparently, that spurred on the plants, and now they are swimming in asparagus. I guess that goes to the comment about how far the roots will go and how easily they get rootbound. Maybe if you have a bed that you're going to give up on anyway, it might be worth a try!

We had a patch that was going on fifty years. Crabgrass made it impossible to keep weeded and bugs of some sort had infested them so we just mowed that area and turned it into lawn. I've missed having asparagus here, so this year, I decided to start a food forest, and behind the serviceberry bushes, I planted 50 crowns. They all came up, and already, many had two or three stalks. They are all ferned out, and at this point, taller than the serviceberries. I can't wait till I can start harvesting some. I have some in my vegetable garden, too. Those will be three years old next spring, so I should be able to harvest those with abandon. Unfortunately, there are only about 6 plants that survived from the first year.