Can i transplant asparagus

A crowbar may also come it handy for loosening the larger clumps and—in anything but extremely sandy soil—a garden hose is useful during the final root-tracing-and-dividing process. When you've found your source of transplants, don't just start in shoveling, or you're apt to cut the roots badly. Instead work on one clump at a time, and begin by inspecting the dead foliage from the previous year to determine the exact location of the crowns.

These will be concentrated among the clusters of dried seed stalks, and must be treated with care. After all, it's the crowns that will send up edible spears the following spring. Working carefully, use the spading fork to "explore" a circle of ground that extends 6 to 12 inches from the outer edge of the group of dead stems. After you've determined how far the main mass of the root system reaches, you can use the shovel to dig a circle around it.

This trench should generally be about one spade's depth, but it's best to check to see how deep the root structure goes and to dig accordingly. You'll have to continue working around the mass until you start to tunnel under the root system. You might as well accept the fact, however, that you won't be able to get it all out intact. Rather, the object is to save as much of the "fat" root system as possible, because it contains the stored food that will help insure the plant's survival.

If the clump is relatively small, you might be able to loosen and lift it with the spading fork. But whatever tool s you're using, make sure that you work the implement under the roots instead of cutting through them or—worse still—slicing into the crowns.

Once the tool is in place under the root mass, move around the trench—prying gently at a number of points—until the clump can be lifted out whole. Sometimes the plants in an old bed may be too closely intertwined to remove by simple circling and lifting. In that case, your best bet will be to start at the end of a row or the corner of a bed, and use the spading fork, as before, to locate the edges of the tangled root clumps. Then, to find the dividing line between the intersecting roots of two adjacent systems, insert the fork—from the side—at a point about halfway between the clumps' suspected centers and lift gently.

If you've found the right spot, the ground will break above the tines as the two root masses pull apart. When you meet resistance, move a bit to one side and try again, always working from the edge toward the center, and inserting the tool gently to avoid damaging any roots.

If you meet no resistance when prying, move in closer and try again. When the asparagus is finally out of the ground, you can begin to evaluate your prizes. If the soil is sandy, most of it will have fallen from the roots by this point, but clay may hang on and will have to be washed off before the untangling job can begin. A gentle hosing will remove the dirt and cause less damage than would trying to shake or claw the earth off.

A mature plant will have a large, healthy crown with, perhaps, some smaller crowns loosely connected to it. The roots will be large, too, but not tightly packed.

When you're fortunate enough to find an asparagus of this type, all you'll have to do is pull away the extra plants before transferring it to its new home. An overcrowded clump is altogether another story, though. It will likely be a real mess, with a lot of stunted plants jammed tightly together.

The roots of one may even grow through the crown of another. In such a case, the transplanter pretty much has to settle for a salvage operation. When you can't save all of the plants, you have to try for the best and sacrifice the rest. When your asparagus roots are cleared and separated, you'll have to determine where to put them. I'm sure that the plan-ahead types reading this will wonder why this point wasn't brought up before, but there's no way to know how many plants you'll have to relocate until you actually dig them up!

The commonly quoted rule of thumb says that you'll want at least a half-dozen plants for each member of your family. However, I think a full dozen apiece would be closer to the truth. Your needs will vary, of course, according to how much your clan likes asparagus. You may need to be patient and get stuck in with your hands as well as the fork. Have a bucket on standby to pop the crown in for transportation to its new home.

Once lifted take the opportunity to remove any weed roots that are tangled in with the roots and give the crown a bit of a drink of water before placing it in its new position on top of the mound of soil you will have prepared. Gently spread the roots down away from the crown and cover with soil after giving it a final drink of water. Repeat for each plant then sit back and be patient hoping that your beloved spears will continue to come through. It may be wise not to crop too heavily if at all the first year after moving the asparagus to give the plant a chance to re-build its strength.

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Varieties of Asparagus. Planting Asparagus. Planting from Seed. Harvesting Asparagus. Stop the Slugs. Asparagus Plants. Caring for your Asparagus. Asparagus Beetle. I planted it over 5 years ago and I get asparagus every year.

Looking back, I should have prepared the soil a bit better as to make it more loose. A few bags of cheap soil would have been a nice addition. I decided to move my large plots of asparagus over to my raised beds. Fall is the best time to transplant asparagus.

The roots will have time to heal and grow and establish themselves before the spring. They will get about days to rest before growing shoots in the spring. Make sure that you also have compost available for when you move the asparagus plants to their new location. The most difficult part of transplanting asparagus is dealing with the roots.

Make a large circle in the soil with your shovel going around the dead foliage, but without prodding the shovel around too much so that you chance cutting the roots. Continue to shovel until you can get underneath the crown.

For more extensive root systems, you may need to continue following the roots in the ground and digging around them to avoid harming them. This will allow each plant to thrive with their newly-separated root systems. Untangle roots much as you would a string of Christmas lights, with a little extra force for heftier root systems.

In that case, work toward saving the healthiest, most established root systems. To help you see the root systems more clearly, you may want to gently spray the roots with a garden hose to remove clumps of soil.

Asparagus needs excellent, loose soil for its extensive root systems to grow. It also needs sun and a well-draining location, so make sure that your new garden area or bed is adequate to meet the precise needs of your transplanted asparagus. An important thing to remember is that asparagus can survive for two decades. Make sure your new location is the perfect one to keep your asparagus in for that long, as frequent transplanting can harm your plants. Make sure you have enough space in your garden area to plant each one at least 18 to 30 inches apart to avoid further root entanglement and competition.

First, add compost to the bottom of each of your dugouts for the new plants and then mound up some soil. Place an asparagus crown on top of a mound, allowing the roots to fall over the sides of the mound. The roots for each plant should be spread widely for adequate growth, and the pointed end of the asparagus plant should be facing up.

Move the soil back over the crown and roots, packing it down firmly over the roots.