To study the growth of four asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) cultivars during the first year after seeding, a pot experiment was established in Ñuble province (36°34' S lat, 72°06' W long, Chile). The cultivars evaluated were Atlas, UC157F1, JWC1 and UC157F2. A high positive correlation between accumulation of biomass and time (days after seeding) and also with temperature was found. The lineal model biomass vs. time had a high correlation (r = 0.96), because of which it might not be necessary to include climatological data to estimate growth at this crop stage. Including the photosynthetic active radiation did not improve the thermal lineal model. For foliage and crowns, lineal growth models (relative growth rates) were found, that corresponded to the slope of the line, that only differed between cv. Atlas and UC157F2. Nevertheless, this did not translate into differences for the majority of vegetative parameters evaluated. The cv. UC157F1 only differed in dry weight from the foliage of JWC1 and in the number of shoots from Atlas.At the root level, there were no differences between cultivars, except in soluble solids (UC1571 less than JWC1). The new cultivars, Atlas and JWC1, showed a similar final crown quality to the traditional UC157 hybrids, expressed as fresh weight, bud number and root number.