Why did my asparagus beds fail?

Hi. In early spring 2020, I planted a bed of 20 asparagus plants. Half were Jersey Giant and half were purple passion. I planted about 9” deep, a foot apart. They were pampered. I did not harvest them. The next spring the asparagus beds just went berserk – each crown sent up about 10-12 huge spears but I again did not harvest: the asparagus formed a dense hedge about 8’ high. They were fed with organic fertilizer and watered. This year, I looked forward to a healthy harvest, but the bed has failed almost entirely.

Many crowns did not produce spears at all. Others sent up one or two big spears but then nothing more and surviving plants are all weak and send up spindly, thin shoots. I dug down to one of the crowns that had failed entitled and discovered that the roots were still alive, thick and seemed healthy, yet there were no shoots at all. It’s very disappointing. Both varieties are supposed to be disease resistant. Before I dig it up and junk the asparagus beds, do you have any ideas about what happened?

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Posted by David Muir on June 21, 2022