A five year old bed can be harvested for about 5 weeks, then any other
asparagus should be allowed to "grow up". Meaning allow it to fully develop
into fern. What this does is allows it to work on it's root system of younger
plants, and allows for seeds to fall and grow into new stalks. Also, any stalk
less than or equal to the diameter of a standard pencil should be allowed to
grow into fern stage, as it is more than likely a younger plant not as
established as most of the others. Cut the shoots between 6 and 8 inches in
length, at or below soil level, and allow plenty of water for your patch. Good
luck--Scott
Hi All,

I have a question about asparagus harvesting.
Say you have some mature asparagus plants (5 years in the ground)
I've been reading that you should just cut the spears as they come up
and then in late Summer stop cutting to let the plant recover.

Well how about if you let the plant send up one spear and let it leaf
or fern out and let it collect solar energy, generate sugars and feed
the rest of the plant?

Wouldn't you get better tasting spears?

Would you get fewer spears because the plant isn't as "desperate" to
get a fern out?