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Is your plot fairly old? My asparagus stopped producing edible size spears after 15 years and became a rather useless patch of weeds so I dug them out.

oops, eta - I never pruned mine, just harvested the large spears and allowed the smaller ones to fern out.

No it is 5-8 years (I planted crowns twice)

For sure the tiny ones are new, I get more and more each year (I see the red berries on the ground). They pop up everywhere within 20 feet of the bed. I am still getting large stalks hence my concern they will get choked out.

The thin spring growth, aka sprue. Is feeding the roots and thereby improving the crop of asparagus. That is if the thin stems are coming from the main plants. If they are simply self sown seedlings you can pull them out. A gentle tug will tell you the difference. Fwiw what I can see in your picture is just sprue. Leave it to nourish your plants.

" No it is 5-8 years (I planted crowns twice) "

If you bought all male crowns to plant then it sounds like you got some females in the mix since your plot is producing many berries and thin spears?

Yes I got females somehow, I have had them. I think some are missing my question. My garden IS producing large good spears. My concern is that I harvest all the main large spears - while letting smaller new ones grow.

In a month the small ones are going to be 2-3' tall and I stop harvesting large spears. Now the established crowns send up spears I do not harest - BUT they are fighting with a hundred already open stalks blocking sunlight.

Good idea floral also I did not know it was called that and I will do you light tug idea.

If you can identify and remove the female crowns then that may be a better solution to give the males more space and sunlight rather than just pruning the females. Pruned females will return next season and repeat the same problem.

I agree, but I did not note where they were - but I can this year. The more I think about this my mature plants get 5-8 feet tall they will grow past the young ones easily. Also I forgot they are getting nutrition from the crown so I suspect it is not to bad if they get a little sun blocked for 2-4 days while they are below younger ferns.

You're making a big mistake not cutting every spear down to the ground during harvesting season, and it's a classic mistake many make. Your mature original crowns will send up all sizes of spears, even small ones, and letting the small ones grow is weakening the original plant by using energy stored in the crown to grow the small ones taller, and most importantly signaling the crown to stop sending up new spears, and shift from spear production to foliage production.. this leads to a choked out bed with no more spears at all coming up during the harvest season.

It may be the original crown sending up the thin spears or volunteer seeds that may have grown, it doesn't matter you should always cut every spear every day during the harvest season regardless of size. Doing this will kill off any immature volunteers that may have grown, and keep the energy in the original mature crown for spear production that will send up more, and bigger spears.

I've been growing Asparagus for 30 years with over 200 plants growing. I always cut everything down to the ground during a harvest season unless it was a crown I replaced and marked with the year planted. Because they do eventually die of old age I'll go through and dig out volunteer seedlings and put in a nursery bed to plant in the spots with dead plants the next spring. Never allow volunteer seeding to grow in your established bed and consider them a weed.

OH, you're also giving the asparagus beetles a place to live, feed and breed on those spears you let grow. Your population explosion will cover your big fat spears with beetle eggs too unless you don't mind eating them.

So the OP can take their choice. My method, ie leaving the sprue (NOT seedlings) to grow, has worked well for me for many years. Kevin's method has obviously worked for him.

I googled it but it was misleading, is sprue spears from crowns not from seeds correct?

Yes. Sprue is from the crown. It's not seedlings.

It isn't my way floral and aren't my words. It's what university agricultural extensions across the country have determined is the best practice for growing asparagus based on science and studies, who educate the county agricultural agents to teach these practices to farmers, and even home gardeners if anyone asks.

It's what I learned researching the best practices for growing asparagus from these universities, extensions and guides 25 years ago, and none has changes so far. I go to the experts when I decide to grow a specific crop, and follow what many professionals have invested much of their lives to determine what works best, and given away freely to the world. It's like the old saying, "you can lead a horse to water but can't make it drink". Every bit of knowledge from a century of learning is out there for everyone, but they can't make a person learn what history has taught.

Many rely on Facebook as a source for information for growing Asparagus, I do not. People like Youtube channels like HOSS with questionable information. I only use university AG extensions, commercial guides, science review papers, and sometimes country department of agricultural, (or ministry of agriculture in some countries).

The USDA emphasizes a practice often called "clean harvest," which means you should harvest all spears that emerge during the designated harvest window, regardless of their size. The is affirmed through the USDA's Cooperative Extension partners, which are many university extensions.

What's your harvest window and what zone are you in?

I walked through my asparagus patch this morning and cut every spear sticking it's head above ground. Most were tiny that came from volunteers of one and two years old plants shallow in the soil, the established crowns are deeper and won't start coming up for about another week or so. But everything gets cut, until, I get sick of asparagus.

Very good info and I will do this next year! Thanks evryone especially Kevin, that makes a lot of sense. I had a feeling I was doing something wrong. I was out of town for 4 days and a lot shot up but it is what it is. I will learn from this and harvets a LOT more going forward. I hand pick asparagus beetles daily and because I am on all over it they never get bad. At least not yet!

THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been picking asparagus for two weeks now. Once it starts it grows very fast. I've never had seedling volunteers to deal with but I do leave very thin stems, not that there are many, as I stated above. If one has a lot of plants I can see this would be fiddly but if you only have a few it is not difficult. The beetles haven't appeared yet but when they do I hand pick.

TTT for the other thread asking about asparagus. Update I went out of town and lots shot up. I can clearly see now how this works and Kevin9408 has GREAT advice!!!!!!!!!