Why isn\'t my asparagus coming out of dormancy?

My asparagus isn't growing and I'm wondering if being in a 20"high by 18"wide raised bed allowed the roots to freeze, even though they survived their first two winters beautifully, and this winter was mild. Having gardened for half a century, I'm not new to the requirements of asparagus. The only thing I did differently this time was plant them in this tall, narrow raised bed instead of in the ground. I mulch with 8" of clean straw to withstand our Michigan winters, and the plants were healthy and vigorous last fall. It's strange that all 20 plants seem to be dead. If freezing is indeed the culprit, are the roots truly deceased or could at least some of them slowly recover?

This message was edited Apr 18, 2022 10:37 AM

If I understand correctly you have relocated the crowns to a raised bed in the past year? If so, asparagus does not like to get out of bed (be disturbed)! It may make a late appearance because any disturbance of asparagus crowns forces the plant to lengthen dormancy while roots re-establish. I am way south of you and am just beginning to see spears.

Hi. No, I should've explained better; I planted these as 3 year old Jersey Knight crowns from one of the major seed catalogs and planted them the day they arrived in May of 2019, so they're in their original digs. They've flourished from the git go, and I didn't harvest any spears until last summer, so they haven't been unduly stressed. I haven't seen any signs of pests or diseases, and I feed and weed regularly. They eagerly sprouted after their first two winters, barely waiting for me to remove the mulch, but this year, they're apparently on strike.

I'm baffled. Between three year old crowns and three year old plants they should be in top condition. I might be tempted to carefully dig a ring around a crown and investigate. I'm not knowledgeable about the recommended harvest dates in your much colder zone but hopefully you stopped harvesting last year in time to allow a good amount of foliage to mature. If over-harvested the crowns might not survive. The only other question is were the fronds allowed to completely die down naturally or did you cut them while they were still green? The later can either retard new growth or kill the plant. Maybe it's just a slow year.

I'm baffled, too because I'm not new at this. I only harvested the largest spears and left plenty to mature, I didn't cut back and mulch until all the foliage was dead, I didn't remove the mulch until our nights were above freezing, and I re-mulch for the occasional nights that dip below freezing. I hope you're right that maybe it's simply a slow year for some reason. Thanks for your input. I think I will investigate some roots and will update with any new developments. Meanwhile, I've ordered new crowns from Gurney's.

This message was edited Apr 18, 2022 10:41 AM