Hunting wild asparagus

[Kernopelli]

While driving home from work this morning I noticed a couple mile stretch of road that is loaded with what appears at least 100 wild asparagus plants. I'd love to mark their locations and go back next spring/summer but am a little stymied by one thing. Asparagus is pretty unique in appearance and I don't know of any other wild plants in S. Illinois that look quite like it. These plants are still green and have every indication of being asparagus, with the exception of one thing...some of the plants have berries, which are green. I have never noticed berries at all on the Martha Washington asparagus plants we have planted here at the house but reading up on the net about wild asparagus reveals that the plants commonly have red berries by fall. All the references to the berries that I can find are described as being red. The seeds in the green berries look like asparagus seeds and all of them that I cut open even had the proper 3-6 seeds per berry. So, my question is, does anyone know if asparagus berries start out green and turn red as the plant yellows later in fall or do I have something else here? I sure don't mind spending an afternoon mapping/marking the plants but would hate to waste my time on it only to learn it's not asparagus at all.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

How do they taste?

 

[Kernopelli]

The wild asparagus I've had before was very good....haven't tried these. They are currently way past being "shoots" and about 3-4' tall on average. I'm certain they would be tough as wood, plus I'm still waiting to make 100% sure they are indeed asparagus. The green berry thing has left me with a small degree of doubt.

Hoping to hear from the asparagus gurus out there to confirm or deny my honey hole.

 

[grnspot110]

Nothing wrong with "wild" asparagus, usually just "bird planted" tame plants. The green berries will turn red when ripe. I'd mark them so I could find them next spring, good eating! :thumbsup: ~~ grnspot110

 

[clemsonfor]

Yep i try and pick all the ones i see but am beat to it by most. Yes there the same as what you can grow. You should let them get big and seed now.

 

[forgeblast]

I wonder if they are the "female" plants of the asparagus. The ferns are def asparagus, we have a row of them but they just flower no berries (this is the 2nd year we have them in the ground) I thought we bought from a company that sold the males only.

 

[Chuck52]

I've got one bed that is a mix of Martha Washington and what was supposed to be one of the all male Jersey varieties. I have another bed entirely planted with what was supposed to be all male. Both beds make red berries. I really like asparagus, but my two beds make as much as I can use, so I'm not looking for wild patches. They don't seem as common here in mid-Missouri as they were in East Tennessee anyway.

Chuck

 

[jinman]

I have one plant with berries from the crowns I planted this spring. My berries are green too, for now. I think most crown producers try to harvest and sell only male plants because they have the best spears in the spring. I've read that you can plant the seeds and they will grow, but you have to add one year to the time-to-harvest equation. What I read said that most crowns purchased are from 1-year old plants that were planted from seeds. If I knew where 100 wild asparagus plants are located, I'd be one happy fellow. As a kid, I used to harvest wild asparagus along fencelines, and it was delicious.:licking:

 

[dooleysm]

I planted my asparagus from red berries my grandpa harvested from his 50+ year old patch. The berries indeed start out green and turn red. I planted the seeds almost 4 years ago (late fall). We harvested a measurable amount this year, but not as much as we would like. The plants grew well this year and I think we'll have a good crop next spring.

I've been thinking about picking a bunch of the berries and spreading them around our property. Maybe some day I'll get my own patch of 'wild' asparagus. Maybe 50 years form now somebody will find it and have similar questions about what it is and where it came from.

 

[Kernopelli]

WOOHOO! I thought I'd post a follow up to this. Some of our asparagus at home has started to come up so last weekend I stopped at the spot where I had seen the wild plants last fall and some of them are starting to shoot. While I was excited to have found such a honey hole, I really didn't have high expectations for its quality....the little I had had was good but just figured that was luck. I picked about 2 lbs and and have to say that it was unequivocally the best we have ever had.... whether that be what we have grown ourselves or purchased. Even the very large, long thick stems that we would normally discard snapped easily so we steamed them and even those were very tender and they all had an excellent flavor. I'm stoked! I just hope anyone that sees me picking it doesn't realize what I'm doing and just think I'm a good Samaritan picking up trash or that I'm gathering aluminum cans :laughing: I will definitely let some of these go to seed and sow them around our property for future benefit!