Parsnip Puzzle

[pottingshed]

Hi We are relative new comers to gardening.We have two raised beds in our small new garden. We planted some parsnip seeds in on of the planters. these have germinated and look to be doing well. At the same time we also planted parsnip seeds in little peat pots under cover, these are twice as big.Has any one else tried this, will they grow through the bottom of the peat pot when hardened of and planted out?.

[selfraising]

Not that experienced myself. But I would think it would be best to open up the bottom of the peat pots otherwise the roots might become deformed. I will be interested to see what others say.

[pottingshed]

Parsnip Puzle ???????????

Thanks for your reply "selfraising",as to your comment, re intrested in what others have to say.doesent seem anyone else has any thing to say,they dont seem a very frendly bunch, or perhaps Im not in the club.We will keep our thoughts to ourselfs in futre.By.

[davefromthechipie]

Thanks for your reply "selfraising",as to your comment, re intrested in what others have to say.doesent seem anyone else has any thing to say,they dont seem a very frendly bunch, or perhaps Im not in the club.We will keep our thoughts to ourselfs in futre.By.

Hi potting
The lack of replys it probably to do with people not knowing 100% the anwser and not that there is some members club going around ..... I dont use peat pots myself but what selfraising said would be what i would do .
patient is a vertue pottingshed

goodluck on the Parsnips but again cutting the bottom off like selfraising said would take the risk out of roots getting deformed.

[GardeningMike]

Before I respond to your parsnip business I wondered if someone can HELP me. I cannot find the button to start a new thread. Where is it & what is it called?

For root crops never sow into peat pots and transplant, or sow into the ground and transplant. Reason: you will end up with stunted, forked or malformed roots. Root crops like carrots & parsnips need an unrestricted vertical soil run early on in their life to get their tap root straight down into the ground. Otherwise they wont develop properly.

[Harry T]

That is why many people use the cardboard from the middle of loo rolls.
a) these are longer giving the root better development.
b) they decompose when planted in the soil.
c) they are free.
Harry

[Eyren]

Thanks for your reply "selfraising",as to your comment, re intrested in what others have to say.doesent seem anyone else has any thing to say,they dont seem a very frendly bunch, or perhaps Im not in the club.We will keep our thoughts to ourselfs in futre.By.

Erm - I don't think we are unfriendly. Maybe no-one who has an answer happened to be online yesterday evening? I'm a beginner to parsnip-growing myself, so I wouldn't want to venture an opinion.

As we often say around here: patience, grasshopper

Before I respond to your parsnip business I wondered if someone can HELP me. I cannot find the button to start a new thread. Where is it & what is it called?

"New Thread". Go to the page listing all the threads for that section, then look just above the top of the table, under the row of little adverts. I agree that it's not easy to see amongst all the visual clutter!

[selfraising]

Hi PottingShed, Sometimes it takes a while for threads to get answered. In my experience everyone has been really friendly and helful. You've just gotta wait for the right person to come along who knows about parsnips. The reason I asked you to see what others said is that I'm not that experienced myself but there are loads of people on here with good advice, so I didn't want you to do anything solely on my advice in case I was wrong. I'm sure you'll get more replies to your question as the days go on. Not everyone is online at the same time as us. So keep posting and be patient

[zazen999]

Potting shed.

I can't vouch for anyone else, but I was at college last night and am out for most of today and tomorrow.....alot of us are out gardening at the moment!!!

Anyway - I would take the bottom out of the peat pot, or have a search for 'parsnip' on here - there's loads of different ways of starting them off.

[Pumpkin Becki]

I've only ever direct sewn my parsnips into my raised beds at the lottie, as I understood parsnips really didn't like being moved, mind you I was also told that parsnips were really hard to germinate/grow and so far I've had no problems at all. I've been growing 'Gladiator' and they can get up to 18 inches long which is far deeper than my raised bed, but once they are growing strong nothing will stand in their way. As others have said, I'd be inclined to take the bottom off the peat pot so that the young root doesn't meet any resistance.

Best of luck

[lynda66]

i've used peat pots, the roots grow through the bottom and all my parsnips last year were long and straight, i find you get a much better germination rate and there is no disturbance to the roots, just plant out when they look big and healthy the roots will come through

[toastie]

Think its the luck of the draw with regard to responses - perhaps everyone was 'out and about' and didn't have time to log on. Last year sowed seeds straight into the plot which is what I plan to do this year. I believe parsnips can be very difficult to germinate and certainly don't like being moved although most of ours germinated last year and didn't get any 'special' treatment.

[emilymup]

hiya potting shed! I have never grown parsnips before so this year I have germinated them on kitchen roll and then planted them straight into loo roll inners! Once they are up I will plant them directly into the onions and roots beds at the lottie - if the purple sprouting brassicas ever decide to get going and make way for them that is!!!!

[King Carrot]

I germinated mine on kitchen roll in a plastic tub (around 5 days), when they sprouted (yesterday) I put them in the ground under a mesh tunnel, As I've got really stoney soil I prepared a straight hole about 14" deep with a metal bar, and filled it with bagged compost mixed with a small amount of fertilizer. I placed the sprouted seed in a dimple in the top and covered with a bit more of the compost.

[gojiberry]

Will be following the same method as king carrot this year. Tried the loo rolls last year and about 70% of the parsnips were a good size but stumpy.

Ian