Asparagus bed rehab help?

Hi everyone! So my expensive cedar raised beds I bought didn't last 6 years, and I need to replace them. It also seems like my asparagus bed could use some division so I'm doing that too. But I'm not sure which of the roots I'm finding are the best options to re-plant?

I have huge crowns, some with what look like 4-5 growing points, I think these are the original ones I planted. I also have smaller crowns that seem to be offshoots & babies of the originals. Is it best to plant these smaller, younger ones, or to divide the bigger ones & re-plant them? I have more than I can grow, so I can afford to be picky with what I re-plant in the new bed. I'll reach out to friends too, and see if anyone wants some for their gardens, I'll try not to waste the extras.

There are also lots of random sections of root, they don't seem to have growing points, but can these become asparagus, too? Not sure what to do with them.

I've attached pix of one of the big clumps with my hand for scale, one of the small ones, and the random roots.

I'd also love any advice on how often I need to do this division. The bed is more root than dirt, which is probably why they didn't yield much last year. I love asparagus & want to do better!

Speaking from experience, I would say the trick to asparagus is manure. I harvest and sell asparagus from a patch that was planted by my great grand parents, probably over 100 years ago. Every generation since the patch was started has made a habit of cleaning out the barn onto the patch. That patch is a hill that is formed from broken down straw, cow, and chicken manure.

It gets picked for 6-8 weeks in the spring and then the fronds are left to grow the rest of the season. The tall green fronds are what feeds the root for the growth next spring. It's important that the fronds re left to photosynthesise for as long as possible. The can be removed early the next spring before growth starts.

Leora,
That sounds like an amazing patch you have there! What a gift your family created for you so long ago.

I don't give my patch quite as much manure probably, but I do top is twice a year with chicken manure, plus compost and other amendments. And I did know about letting the fronds grow, I've made sure to do that every year. I want to get the division & replanting part right, I know that is probably super important for the future of the bed.

Thanks for your insights!

I'm following this thread in hopes of some good info about successfully dividing asparagus. I've tried twice and both times they all died (sigh). Not sure what I'm doing wrong, and here growing asparagus means starting again from seed (they are very rare here, nobody sells crowns, I can only get seeds), which means another few years blown. I grow them in a deep container, and they do great, but space gets tight so I felt dividing was important-- in retrospect, not super smart.

I think whether you want to keep and divide the old crowns or use the new ones depends on whether the original crowns were a modern variety from a crown or grown from seed themselves. If they are all seed grown, then I feel it won't matter and just select the crowns that you like the look of most - if you can remember for example which gave the best spears. I've certainly heard that asparagus can remain in the same bed for 20 years or so - 100 is outstanding! Your family must be doing something right Leora!
I struggle a little bit with asparagus although I have some in my old polytunnel space which I am intending to move, so it is reassuring that it will divide. I think I probably don't feed mine enough and it definitely seems to appreciate the extra warmth from the polytunnel in the summer here. I'm hoping I can get it to grow outside on some of my mini hugel beds - better drainage and selected sunny positions perhaps.
My suggestion is to divide when you think it needs it - whether that is 3 years. 10 years or never If the crowns starts to lose vigour, are crowded, and a good dressing of rich stuff doesn't perk them up, then division seems like a good plan.

Nancy,
These are some good ways to think about the dividing question in the future, thanks. These are a modern type, I think, a purple one that I bought crowns of bareroot from either Johhnys or maybe Territorial. I think the bigger ones were the ones that gave the best spears, from what I remember about their locations in the bed & where I harvested from. I'll go though & find the ones with the best looking points starting up and use them. I'm expanding the bed to almost double the size it was, so I should be able to use many of them.

I divided some asparagus a couple of years ago because I needed to move the oldest bed to a different area. We replanted them the same day, and I think 14 out of 16 survived, and in fact in spring they came up so vigorously and thick I think I could have harvested once, but I refrained since I had other beds that hadn't been moved. I replanted only the biggest crowns, because they had either spread or self-seeded so there were more crowns than I needed. I believe bits of roots without crowns are unlikely to be successful.

I'd had to grow it from seed for the same reason as Tereza. Although the seeds I'd started the bed from were supposed to be mostly male they were half female plants, and were dropping seeds that were becoming a weed problem. So in summer I marked the female plants at the base as I removed the seedy fronds. Then in fall after it had gone yellow, I dug out the whole bed that needed to be moved, discarding the females and replanting the males to a new bed. In the other beds, I only dug out the females and replaced them. Sadly the next summer I found that at least 2 of the ones I'd moved thinking they were male were actually female. Phooey!

I had some young friends help me with digging out the bed, and hoo boy I'm glad I had help. Those established asparagus plants are deep and wide and tangled and vigorous!!!

I planted a few early daffodils and other very early bulbs between the asparagus and it's very nice, harvesting the first vegetables among the first flowers of spring.

Rebecca,
Thank you for sharing your experience- this is great info & just what I needed to hear about!

I only had a couple turn out to be female, out of about 25 crowns. Since this is a sudden project when the bed fell apart, I don't have the females marked, but it's ok, there weren't that many and I liked the look of the berries. My whole project is not ideal or well planned, they will be stored for a few weeks while I get the new bed together, and I don't have any young strong friends to help dig! But hopefully they will recover & be ok next year.

That must be so beautiful with the spring flowers, what a great idea. I am interplanting the new asparagus bed with strawberries, the other expensive food I could eat unlimited amounts of.

I am on my third round of asparagus beds, all in Zone5.
First round was in sandy soil, interspersed with strawberries; life got busy, weeds (and a freak accidental daikon horseradish incident...) took over the patch.
Second round was on slightly raised beds in sandy soil, well composted.  It was going well and we moved.
Third round (now) I started from roots I bought and with seedlings my father started, in raised beds over gravel 'soil'.  Lots of good composted manure in the beds and applied annually.
I had to move some 1 year old plants last spring and had about 80% success, moving them direct from one bed to a new bed, no intentional division.
This spring I aim to put strawberries as an undercrop;  asparagus is high value, and commercial upick strawberries are high in fungicides etc.

Douglas,
Thanks for the "asparagus journal", it sounds like you've grown it in a few situations. My setup here is similar to your current setup, raised beds over a gravek area. I'm hoping they continue to do well once I have cleaned them out and put in the new bed. It will be great to have the home grown strawberries, too, I am excited about that!

I have a horseradish battle going on in one of my herb beds, that is a tenacious plant! Live and learn,

Thanks for chiming in!

Also, there is a cultivar 'Guelph Millenium' that is supposed to bare within 1 y of planting.
We will see how it lasts.
cheers Doug