spear a thought for asparagus
Fresh asparagus spears are one of
the earliest delights of spring. While
asparagus is often shipped long distances from faraway lands to provide
a year-round supply of this delicacy,
nothing beats locally harvested
spears—particularly those grown in
your own hydroponic garden.
Along with the common green
form of this vegetable, white and
purple asparagus spears are relatively
easy to grow. White asparagus is the
blanched (grown in the absence of
light) version of the green form,
while purple asparagus cultivars
produce sweet spears with a deep
coloration. Indoor gardening offers
great opportunities for producing
all three asparagus types for a yearround harvest.
The asparagus plant is fascinating to
grow. Often considered a temperatezone crop that becomes dormant
through winter, the plant doesn’t
actually require cold conditions
as part of its life cycle. If sufficient
warmth is provided, the plant won’t
need to go into dormancy to survive
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Maximum Yield USA | January 2014
a cold winter and will produce spears
that develop into a ferny foliage yearround. A warm indoor hydroponic
garden is a perfect environment for
small-scale asparagus production,
as the plants can be easily grown in
bags, buckets or beds of hydroponic
substrates such as coconut fiber, perlite or rockwool.
Seeds or Crowns
When starting out with hydroponic
asparagus, there are two options for
obtaining planting stock: seeds or
crowns. Asparagus crowns are usually
sold as planting stock consisting of a
central fleshy crown and root system.
While crowns give a quicker harvest,
they are often produced in the field
and could carry soil and soil-borne
disease into the hydroponic garden.
Fortunately, growing asparagus from
seed with plenty of warmth and good
light doesn’t mean a three-year wait
for that highly anticipated first spear
harvest. Modern hybrid plants will
produce the first few edible spears
within 10 to 12 months if well grown,
“A warm indoor
hydroponic garden is
a perfect environment
for small-scale
asparagus production,
as the plants can be
easily grown in bags,
buckets or beds of
hydroponic substrates
such as coconut fiber,
perlite or rockwool.”
and will be in full production within
18 months. Plants should then
continue to crop for many
years provided they are
not overharvested
and are able to
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