Loo rolls and parsnips

[Tracey]

Thanks for the reasurance.

Vicki that parsnip was hugh!

[starwatcher]

Thanks for the advice everyone I will defintely be trying this espescially for parsnips I luv em

[Flummery]

I also pre-germinated and put one germinated seed per loo-roll. The upshot is that every station in the rown had a parsnip - and the last one I lifted weighed 2lb. Never had one this big before. I now laugh (ha-ha!) at the paltry supermarket efforts!

[Cutecumber]

Having grown roots in various containers before transplanting, I would advise erring on the side of caution and planting them sooner rather than later. Despite the extra depth of a toilet roll tube, once the main root reaches the bottom it can cause the downward growth to stop and you might get malformed roots.

Not only that, but the tubes can get very unpleasant - soft, slimey & with fungal growths - after a few weeks.

It is a useful way of sowing and has several benefits, but just be aware of the potential hazards. Try and get the seedlings to their final position without undue delay once you can see they are growing well.

[vicki]

I agree Cutecumber - I pre-germinate, then pop them in loo rolls -then as soon as I see the first shoots appear above the surface its straight into the ground....no time for the roots to reach the bottom!
No problems so far!!

[Birdie Wife]

I had about 95% germination with this method that I tried a couple of years ago and has worked really well every time I tried it and it's virtually bomb-proof:

1.dib holes about half an inch deep in the garden soil at 9" spacing where you want your parsnips. Get your seeds ready.
2. Boil a full kettle. Take it out to the garden immediately, pour about a cupful down each hole and let it drain.
3. As soon as it has drained, put two or three parsnip seeds into the hole and cover. No need to water again.
4. Give them a couple of weeks, you should have a lovely row of parsnips coming up. You can thin them out then - I found this necessary in almost every instance, because almost every seed germinated. In fact, this year, I'm going to put only one or two seeds into each hole and grow more parsnips!

[Tracey]

Hello Birdie Wife

Thanks for the tip.

Is it the warmth of the soil from the boiled water that is the recipe for success? Have you tried this method for sowing any other veg? Do you think it would work for warm water and not boiling?

Kind regards
Tracey

[Birdie Wife]

I think that bit of bottom heat is what they love. I haven't tried it for any other veg (haven't really had to), it's just parsnips are notoriously tricky. Depends on how warm your soil is already maybe - althoughan inch down it's shaded fro mthe heat of the sun and is never as warm as the surface. Warm water might do, but I'd try and get it as hot as possible. I usually go through a couple of kettle-fuls for about 15-20 stations.

[pete10]

Hi can you chit the seeds and plant them straight into the ground.

[Flummery]

I've hear that the boiling water method in a shallow groove will germinate parsley which is supposed to be hard to grow. Never found it a problem myself. (However, 'tis said that parsley grows well where the woman wears the trousers! However however, only S Raven gardens in a frock!)

[Winged one]

I have been a bit lax about keeping my loo rolls so far this spring (last year, when I never managed to get any seeds, I had a whole bag full of them - typical). But I actually went through 2 rolls of kitchen towels at the weekend (smashed 2 bottles of wine by accident and didn't want to use j-cloths on the glass). Could I use those longer rolls for the same job? (I also intend starting my loo rolls collection this week in any event). Or should the kitchen towels ones be cut in half?

[Bren In Pots]

I ran out of loo rolls last year so made some using newspaper with the ends tucked in so they didn't unroll.

[wormlady]

Hiya
In my allotment book it says you can pre germinate parsnip seeds in a little bit of wallpaper paste and then you put it in a plastic bag with the corner cut off and squeeze them out like icing along your row. Havnt tried it as I just bunged loads of seeds in a row and enough came up. Ive used loorolls for peas tho and they work well.
I learnt on another grapes thread that if you have small people in your house you should microwave your looroll middles for a bit to kill yucky threadworms.

[HeyWayne]

I think that bit of bottom heat is what they love.

Anyone tried planting them in a shallow bed of vindaloo?

I'll be using the loo roll method this year. Not one single parsnip germinated last year, carrots were rubbish too. Tried a second batch of carrots later in the year using the loo rolls and had plenty.

Every day's a school day!

[moggssue]

Last year - following advice I read on the vine - I pre-germinated my parsnip seeds on the kitchen windowsill wrapped in damp kitchen towel. As soon as the roots appeared (roughly ten days), the seeds went straight into the garden and grew away fine. I reckon I had about 90% germination rate in the towel, and the same once the seeds went into the ground. We're still pulling and eating them now, lovely long parsnips, yummmmmy!!