1st asparagus bed salted

[Deleted]

Two more to go. I know this still "scares" some folks to put down salt, but I can't stress enough it does not hurt the asparagus.
It's nice not having a single weed all year in doing this.

[histopicker]

I have never heard of doing this!

[Jack of all Trapping]

Seems like it was yesterday when you posted salting your beds last year. Where has the time gone? Wow. Looks good CJ

[hoseromon]

I had never heard of that either. You have me thinking now. I normally mulch mine to reduce the weeds

[TrapnJoe]

Looks good, but kind of scary. Do you feel besides keeping the weeds down, that it helps the asparagus do better? Have you noticed any difference in the growth of your crop if you do not salt? I do put some epsom salt around mine, but not nearly that heavy.

[John Gusmano]

That's pretty friggin' cool!

[Deleted]

Mar 20, 2015 0:44:01 GMT -5 TrapnJoe said:

Looks good, but kind of scary. Do you feel besides keeping the weeds down, that it helps the asparagus do better? Have you noticed any difference in the growth of your crop if you do not salt? I do put some epsom salt around mine, but not nearly that heavy.

It does not impede nor help. It grows the same. I was skeptical 5 years ago when I started doing this, but after talking to a half dozen local farmers that having been doing this for 30+ years, I figured what the hell. And I ain't looked back.

Feel free to google it

[SkFarm25]

Very scary! What kind of salt?

[shawn]

Holy chit, that actually works? That gives me another way to dispose of used salt from my taxidermy business. When I finish my house remodel and get my asparagus beds going, I'll give it a try.

[Deleted]

Mar 20, 2015 10:31:18 GMT -5 SkFarm25 said:

Very scary! What kind of salt?

The cheap $4.99 a bag water softener salt. 99.9% salt

If anyone is worried about the dirt after years of this, add some fertilizer or nitrogen to the dirt in late fall

[farmertrappe]

Not that I don't trust CJ, but I did a little online research and found out this is a standard practice. There is a difference in salt types, and you can have soil issues, but nothing that is a big deal. I just need to be careful due to my asparagus patch being so close to my strawberries.