Home - Garden
Avoid These Common Mistakes When Pruning Your Asparagus Tops
By SAKSHI KHAITAN
Both delicious and beautiful, asparagus should be pruned back during its dormancy period after the first frost kills its foliage to prevent diminishing the next year’s harvest.
Pruning directly after frost in fall will tidy up your garden and take care of overwintering pests like beetles and aphids that harm the plant and make it susceptible to disease.
In areas where asparagus produces food past the first frost, you can prune in late winter/early spring. Allowing snow to accumulate provides protection and moisture to the plant.
If your plants have a pest infestation, you do not need to wait for the first frost to remove them, and if you have female plants, remove the seeds to prevent self-propagation.
Use sharp pruners or hedge clippers to leave up to 1-inch-tall stubs to help avoid crown rot, and add 4 inches of mulch for some winter padding if you don’t have snow cover.