Millenium is an all-male variety (almost), but you can occasionally get female plants, which I remove, because they are not as productive as male plants. I haven’t figured out how to differentiate the male blossoms from the female ones; but, if you wait a while, the male blossoms will drop off, while the female blossoms will turn into small green fruits.
I don’t remember if my plants had flowers the first year, but they definitely did the second year.
My wife informed me the other day that some of our martha washingtion patch is already in seed. We are in zone 7A. I dont know anything useful about the newer varieties of asparagus and if they are sterile or not or will reproduce true to seed. Our martha washington asparagus is a old heirloom variety. I let it do its thing, it drops seeds and sprouts new asparagus plants. It seems like the right way to establish a bed to me.
Ferns grow to be about 5 to 6 feet tall. If you cut them down or mow it before it dies back in the fall, you have sucessfuly killed your asparagus patch. Leave the ferns be and it will come back the following spring. Mow only after the ferns have died back in fall, by their own accord.
That’s a good point about hybrids. I am now also wondering what kind of offspring they’d produce. Probably not true to type, but still asparagus, and perhaps worth growing.
Thank you! I was just musing about this, it’s like you read my mind. I was initially thinking it would be cut back in the fall, glad to have this info.
The only reason I know this, is by experience. My my late father in law had alzheimer’s. He asked me if he could weed the asparagus bed. I showed him how and showed him how to not pull the ferns. A couple hours later he was done and the entire asparagus bed was leveled, ferns and all. It was a 5 year old productive established bed, it never came back.
No way I could have got upset him, it wasn’t something he did intentionally, it was alzheimer’s. I still miss my father in law, he was a fantastic man.
Thanks for bringing back fond memories of my father in law.