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Vegetables

Asparagus Growing Guide: Planting, Care & Harvest

A long-lived perennial from crowns, left to build reserves for two years before spears are cut each spring for a decade or more.

Asparagus

Asparagus officinalis

Growing calendar

Typical timing for central Japan (Kanto region). Shift it for your own climate, and record your actual dates.

Sow / plantGrowingHarvest

Guides

Common problems

Start from what you can see on the plant.

Pests and diseases (20)

Problems recorded for this plant, most serious first.

Late Blight

Disease

Dark green water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves and expand quickly into brown dead tissue. White mold forms on the underside and at the lesion edge, and dark brown lesions spread to stems and fruit.

Brown Leaf Spot

Disease

Small light brown to gray-brown spots form on the leaves and enlarge into irregular lesions. When they merge the whole leaf dies and plant vigor drops sharply.

Rust

Disease

Small raised orange-yellow to red-brown pustules form on both leaf surfaces, then rupture and release powdery spores. Heavy infection yellows the leaves and kills them early.

Anthracnose

Disease

Light brown to dark brown round lesions with sharp margins form on leaves and fruit, slightly sunken in the center. In wet weather salmon-pink slimy spore masses ooze out on the lesions.

Damping-off

Disease

The stem pinches in at soil level, turning water-soaked to brown and thin, and the seedling topples over. Infection before emergence makes the stand uneven with missing plants.

Bacterial Soft Rot

Disease

The crown or the head becomes water-soaked and soft, then collapses into a slimy mush. The rotting tissue gives off a distinctive foul odor.

Root Rot

Disease

Fine roots rot brown to blackish brown, growth stops and the lower leaves yellow. The plant wilts easily in the daytime and eventually dies outright.

Root-knot Nematode

Pest

The plant wilts in the daytime and does not recover with feeding or watering. Pull it up and the roots carry beaded chains of galls of varying size with few fine roots.

Gray Mold

Disease

Water-soaked brown lesions form on flowers, fruit and leaves, densely covered by a fuzzy gray mold. Fruit rots and drops, and decay continues in storage after harvest.

Leaf Spot

Disease

Small round brown to gray-white lesions appear on the lower leaves, the centers turning gray with tiny black specks. As they multiply the leaf yellows and drops early.

Crown RotFusarium Crown and Root RotWhite Root RotFusarium Wilt and Damping-offViolet Root RotStem BlightLeaf BlightBrown Sclerotial Root RotFusarium Head BlightBlue Mold

Read next

Keep a growing history for Asparagus

Type the plant name, add the planting date, and take photos as it grows. Next season you will have your own dates for sowing, flowering, and harvest instead of a generic calendar.

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