I have a smallish asparagus bed that ended up being inside the pasture fence-it was there when we moved in and didn't realize it. Can I transplant it? The plants are all "ferned" out now. I didn't realize it but the tops of asparagus is toxic to animals. The horses won't touch it but I'm afraid the goats will.

Thanks for the help.

Stacy in NY

-- Stacy (KincoraFarm@aol.com), October 26, 2001

Answers

sure,, treat it just like a new bought crown

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), October 26, 2001.

Be sure to wait until the tops are dead before digging up.

-- bruce (rural@inebraska.com), October 26, 2001.

my friend just told me she was trying to move her bed last week and she now knows why they say not to move an established bed....she says it is almost impossible to get out of the ground, the root system is so wild!

-- marcee (thathope@mwt.net), October 26, 2001.

Although there are certainly optimum times for moving plants, my feeling is that if you have to move it now, move it and give it the best care possible. Try to dig as much root as you can, including attached soil. Dig a good hole where it's going, and put some water in the hole before transplanting. That way you're sure the roots will get water. Continue to water after transplanting. I've moved asparagus with green fronds on it, and it did just fine. The problem with an established bed is, as noted above, the incredible roots. Dig as many as you can, and do it again next year if more sprout where you don't want them.

-- Katherine (KyKatherine@Yahoo.com), October 27, 2001.

GOats are pretty smart- they probably won't eat the leaves- just wait until the asparagus come up and eat those!!

-- kelly (kellytree@hotmail.com), October 27, 2001.

I found a asparagus bed here out back when we first found the farm. We dug it up and found a basketball sized root ball. I separated them into crowns and planted in the garden in a raised row. I got poisen ivy so bad diggin those up, I'll never forget it. About half of them lived, and there are still many comming up in the back yard, and in the pasture too on the other side of the fence. Plant them in trenches, so they get lots of water. You should have allot of them make it. I did it in the spring as soon as I could see the tops come up to know where they were.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), October 28, 2001.