Takes a hard frost. A perennial for zones 2 to 9. Plant out from 4 weeks before to 3 weeks after your last frost. First harvest 2 to 3 years from planting.
What you'll see: Metallic blue-black beetles with cream and red markings chew spears and ferns. Dark eggs stand on end along the spears, and gray larvae strip the ferns.
Prevent
Check spears and ferns every few days from spring on.
Pick spears often and rub off the dark eggs before they hatch.
Organic options
Hand-pick beetles into soapy water and crush the eggs.
Spinosad, neem, or OMRI Listed pyrethrins (without piperonyl butoxide), on the larvae.
Conventional options
Carbaryl, malathion or permethrin, if asparagus is on the label.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
Photo: “Aphids on Kale leaf” by Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.
AphidsPest
What you'll see: Clusters of small, soft-bodied green, black or gray insects on new shoots and under leaves. Leaves curl, and a sticky film may coat them.
Prevent
Check leaf undersides each week; a few aphids do little harm.
Pull nearby weeds, such as wild mustards, that feed aphids.
Grow flowers for lady beetles, lacewings and hover flies, and avoid broad sprays that kill them.
Organic options
Knock aphids off with a strong spray of water.
Insecticidal soap or horticultural oil on leaf undersides, repeated as the label allows.
Neem oil, or OMRI Listed pyrethrins (without piperonyl butoxide).
Conventional options
Malathion or permethrin, if the crop is on the label. These also kill the insects that eat aphids.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
What you'll see: Young plants are cut off at or just above the soil overnight. Fat gray or brown caterpillars curl into a C shape in the soil nearby.
Prevent
Put a cardboard or foil collar around each transplant, pushed a few inches into the soil.
Till the bed before planting, and pull weeds.
Keep a strip of bare, dry soil along the garden edge.
Organic options
Dig gently around cut plants and destroy the caterpillars.
Conventional options
Usually not needed in a home garden. Collars work better than sprays.
Photo: “Puccinia menthae a1 (2)” by Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped). The cropped version is shared under the same licence.
RustDisease
What you'll see: Orange to rusty-brown powdery bumps on leaves and stems, turning black late in the season. Badly hit plants yellow and drop leaves.
Prevent
Grow resistant varieties.
Clear and destroy infected tops and debris after harvest, including asparagus ferns in fall, and remove wild asparagus nearby.
Water at the base and avoid crowding.
Organic options
Sulfur, started when rust first shows.
Conventional options
Myclobutanil or propiconazole, if the crop is on the label.
Bee caution: Don't spray open flowers. Spray in the late evening, when bees aren't flying.
Crown rotDiseaseNo spray helps
What you'll see: The crown at the soil line turns brown and soft or dry. The plant yellows, wilts, or fails to come back in spring.
Prevent
Plant only in well-drained soil, or on raised beds or mounds.
Buy healthy, disease-free crowns.
Do not overwater, and keep water off the crown.
Organic options
Dig out and discard dead or dying crowns.
Fix drainage before replanting in the same spot.
Conventional options
None worth using at home. Fungicides do little once crowns rot.
Read and follow the product label: it is the law. It sets the rate, the crops it is for, and the days between spraying and picking. Products registered vary by state; for organic growing, look for products allowed under the USDA National Organic Program (OMRI Listed). We name active ingredients, not brands or rates.
The link opens this growing guide, so anyone can read it and look up their own planting dates.
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Plant
Establish
Dormant
Spring shoots
Harvest
Let grow
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