a germination question

[queen of the cobs]

I have my parsnip seeds on damp kitchen roll in a tub in the airing cupboard. Some of them are germinating and I wondered which way up to plant the seed in the compost? Is the white shoot that comes out of the seed the taproot or the leaves? A very foolish question, I am sure, but as I've never managed to get them to germinate before, it's all new to me.

[T-lady]

Good question!

I germinated in the same way and simply popped the seeds onto soil in a tray. I reckoned that if the root was sticking out sideways or upwards they'd sort themselves out once planted. Seems to have worked fine as I've got a full tray of nicely growing parsnips.

In short, chill out and just pop them in

[Cutecumber]

The root comes out first. It doesn't matter which way up you put them in when they've just "hatched" but do it quickly.

[allotmentlady]

Yes be careful when planting, I got a tip off the UKTV The Big Dig from Terry, use a pair of tweezers to pop them in the ground, then there is less chance of squishing them!

I love parsnips.........

[queen of the cobs]

great! thanks for all this advice...i've just got to wait months now to see if they come out ok.

[nerobot]

Hot long does it take to germinate parsnips this way? I've got one row already outside (been outside for about 2 weeks and no sign of life yet), but would be interested to try this method on another row for comparison.

Steven

[T-lady]

It only took mine about 6 days - way quicker than I'd expected. It was this year's seed though, I don;t konw if it'd be so good with older seed.

[yorkshire sam]

I did my parsnips this way and all I did was make a small hole and plant the parsnip into toilet rolls and covered them (very shallow) in a couple of days they soon start shooting and the root starts heading downwards

[Vegetarian Fox]

I planted a row outside under a fleece tunnel about 3 weeks ago and now have about 1/2 inch little plants

Pleasantly surprised as I thought they were slow germinators

[Alice]

When I'm germinating on damp paper I put the seeds on little squares of paper then when they've germinated it's easy to lift the little squares and plant the whole thing.

[veg4681]

I germinated in the same way and simply popped the seeds onto soil in a tray. I reckoned that if the root was sticking out sideways or upwards they'd sort themselves out once planted. Seems to have worked fine as I've got a full tray of nicely growing parsnips.

I'm confused myself about which way round to sow, think I'll go for root bit placed sideways. Unfortunately I haven't got enough loo rolls (only 2 rolls so far) or have bought peat pot and the final bed's not ready so I'm sowing them in the 40 cell trays with the view to transplanting before the roots reach the bottom of the inserts. These insert tray are only 2" deep, how fast would the seedlings grow?

[T-lady]

I potted my germinated seeds up on 16th Feb into 2" cells and they've already got little roots sticking out the bottom (they're in a cold greenhouse). I think this isn't good because, as a root crop, they're not going to like the disturbance when I plant them out.

Still, that'll teach me to get too keen and I'll have to try and get them into the garden this weekend (I've got a cloche, they'll simply have to harden off under that!)

[veg4681]

I potted my germinated seeds up on 16th Feb into 2" cells and they've already got little roots sticking out the bottom (they're in a cold greenhouse). I think this isn't good because, as a root crop, they're not going to like the disturbance when I plant them out.

Still, that'll teach me to get too keen and I'll have to try and get them into the garden this weekend (I've got a cloche, they'll simply have to harden off under that!)

I'm sure your parsnips will still grow but may be forked that could result in lots of wastage. There's a very good explanation from Cutecumber from the thread 'About Root Disturbance' that I've taken out for referral.

It's not root disturbance you have to avoid per se, but restriction of the growth of the tap root.

If you start carrots and parsnips off in any kind of small container - cell, pot, loo roll, rootrainer... whatever, they will not develop properly if the first root gets to the bottom. If this occurs, the plant starts sending out new roots and you end up with fanged, short roots.

If you want to start over again, it's not too late. You have until mid April but allowing for about 10 days for pre-germination.

In practice, I don't know if I'll be able to plant out the tiny parsnips seedlings in the bed as it's still early in the year so will have to think about ways of protecting the vulnerable seedlings from frost and slug. I put 3-4 seeds including ungerminated seeds in each cell to give me more options/back-up later.

[Cutecumber]

How many parsnip threads can one forum have???????

Aaaaaagh!