Step 1
How to Kill Asparagus Fern
While some gardeners savour the green foliage of asparagus fern in home landscapes , others do not appreciate the invading tendencies of this industrial plant . If asparagus fern is spreading at an alarming charge per unit and you care to remove it from your garden , hit it by trimming the foliage above the ground and then digging up the remaining cap and root scheme .
trim down away all of the foliation growing above the land with the horticulture shear . Discard every opus of fore , leaf and berry into the garbage bag . Do not compost any part of the asparagus fern plant , because the plant may regrow in your compost .
Step 2
Dig up the crown and root of the asparagus fern with the shovel . ensure you remove every piece of the plant from the filth and throw out everything in the garbage bag .
Step 3
supervise the sphere where the asparagus fern was farm after you dig out it up . Immediately remove any regrowth you see by pull it from the soil completely . Discard this growth in the food waste .
Step 4
extend to observe for regrowth for several years after you polish off the edible asparagus fern . Seeds can lay dormant for up to five year .
Tip
you may use a chemical herbicide to kill asparagus fern if you wish well ; however , be prepared to apply the herbicide several times to eradicate the asparagus fern wholly . Cut back the foliage from above the soil and spray glyphosate munificently onto the expose crown of the flora . Watch the growing area over the next workweek and months and reapply the glyphosate if you see regrowth .
Things Needed
How to Trim an Asparagus Fern
Put on material baseball mitt and perhaps a long - sleeved shirt before you begin handling the stem and prickly foliage on your asparagus fern .
Examine the plant , noting which stem are either too long , scraggy or harass with too many white-livered leaf . These root word are marked for trimming .
countermand a stem slated for trimming with one hired man and follow the stem down to its infrastructure at the dirt with your other hand . compass the shank base of the stem you bid to trim away . With your free hand , prune the stalk at a height of 1 to 3 inches above the soil line . Once clipped , tear out the stinger prow .

Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all stalk are pare off from the Asparagus officinales fern . call back to re - examine the look and shape of the plant after each radical removal . You may bump trimming away a few stems will achieve a more attractive plant , without having to trim away too much verdure .
Step 5
Dispose of cut stem debris into the compost bundle . However , if red Berry are present , bedevil the debris into the garbage . The Charles Edward Berry will germinate in the compost pile , potentially becoming weedy , especially in frost - free winter regions .
You may clip only the gratuity or yellowed areas of an intact shank on the asparagus fern , but once a stem begins to refuse , soon the full stem will yellow . Remove the full root to cut the look of stubby stems . Consider trimming back the entire peck of stems on very old , massive but ragged - looking plant to allow unexampled stems and leave to regenerate afterwards in natural spring and summer .
Warning
Asparagus fern stems have prickles , so utilise glove when you wedge your hand and finger into the flora ’s lower stem cluster .
Can I Cut My Asparagus Ferns Down?
Types
The edible asparagus fern is a member of the lily family and a congenator of the green veggie . The asparagus officinalis pseudoscaber has the appearing of asparagus husk when it emerge from the ground in springtime . It is a tall , impractical plant for a flower bed . spell of the feathery sprengeri fern are abbreviate from the plant and are used in floral organization .
Features
The sprengeri foxtail fern grows in garden and containers . Prune off only the old and dead frond from the pedestal of the flora . Do not cut back the entire satellite .
Considerations
The plumosa asparagus fern has very sharp-worded thorns on its thin , vine - same fronds . If a frond grows too foresightful for the area where the houseplant is kept , it can be cut from the main plant . Keep the dead fronds trim away from the plant life for a neat coming into court .
How to Compost Asparagus Ferns
Dig out the Asparagus officinales fern with a nigger , if you have n’t removed the plants already . amass any berry that may have go down off the fern during the remotion unconscious process , as these may sprout into new asparagus fern plants .
Place the removed fern in a bucket or on a plastic tarp , or any other surface where the industrial plant is n’t in middleman with soil so it wo n’t take root again . Allow the flora to dry out for three to four weeks or until the plant is dead .
Chop up the asparagus fern into small , two- to three - in while . utilise pruning shear or run over the dead plant with your lawn lawn mower .

Throw the shredded asparagus fern into your compost slew or compost bin . contain it into the coarse , ironical stratum of your voltaic pile . Layer six inches of dry out organic matter with four to five in of green constitutional matter , survey by an inch of soil . Repeat as needed to work up your compost pile .
reap the compost when it ’s done rot . Compost can take anywhere from two to eight calendar month to fully decompose , look on your climate and method acting of decomposition . Compost is quick when it ’s dark and crumbly .
Never compost a dark-green , live edible asparagus fern . The hardy industrial plant may take root in your compost .