Parsnips in loo rolls

[Lotsaveg]

Last year, I heard on a radio gardening programme that the best way to grow parsnips was to sow seed in to compost-filled cardboard tubes in a greenhouse, then plant them out when the leaves are 3 to 4 inches high. I did this and had the worst crop of fanged, deformed parsnips that I'd ever seen!!

Has anyone else had success with this method?

[Two_Sheds]

You need to plant them out before the root hits the bottom of the pot/tube

[oldie]

I only do them this way and have great results but you should follow the advice from TS.

[Flummery]

Chit them first (sprinkle on damp kitchen paper and put inside a poly pag) and carefully put each sprouted seed on top of a loo roll middle nearly full of compost. Top up and keep moist (them, not you!) I plant out as soon as I can see more than seed leaves. The point is to allow a long root run and if the root has come out of the bottom before you plant it out it will fork at that point. I did it very successfully but only once. I hate parsnips!

[Kristen]

Yes, as T.S. said, 2-to-4 inches high is far too late. You need to plant them out as soon as the 3rd leaf (first true leaf) appears - that will probably only be 3 weeks from sowing. (Did they perhaps say "3rd to 4th leaf, rather than 3" to 4" high?)

Personally I don't think loo-rolls are tall enough and thus I use pots made from rolling a sheet of newspaper around a spray can - so they are 6" to 7" deep.

Most people grow Parsnips just fine by sowing in the ground of course.

I resent the gaps that I get sowing direct, and want to maximise the space usage by having evenly spaced plants, hence I start them off in pots. Weeding can also be a problem when sown direct (because germination is slow). Slow germination also gives me concern because by the time you discover that you have a problem with germination it is very late to be starting some more off - which is not a problem with indoor germination as it happens much faster.

With my newspaper pots I make a deep hole, with a bulb planter - my Parsnips this year were about 45cm / 17" long, so it needs to be a deep hole! and then fill with fine soil (sifted, or whatever, but stone and lump free). You can either sow a pinch of seeds ("Station sowing") or plant out your loo-roll / newspaper-pots, and they have a chance of growing well. I still get some "gloves" instead of cone-shaped, but probably only 10 - 15%.

[Two_Sheds]

Personally I don't think loo-rolls are tall enough

They're not are they?
Last year someone gave me a sack full of wrapping paper tubes. Kitchen towel tubes are good too, but we don't get through that many

This year I intend to sow direct as usual, but with some in tubes to fill the inevitable gaps

[JamesM]

Chit them first (sprinkle on damp kitchen paper and put inside a poly pag) and carefully put each sprouted seed on top of a loo roll middle nearly full of compost. Top up and keep moist (them, not you!) I plant out as soon as I can see more than seed leaves. The point is to allow a long root run and if the root has come out of the bottom before you plant it out it will fork at that point. I did it very successfully but only once. I hate parsnips!

I'm really keen to succeed with parsnips this year- i'll be growing them in a big tub with carrots. I'm actually planning to do as you've said but when i practicsed chitting with some excess sunflower seeds nothing happened for a while then they went mouldy.

Is there a particular knack to getting it right that i may have overlooked? Would it be sufficient to soak them in warm water for 24hours before putting them in loo rolls?

[Two_Sheds]

Is there a particular knack ...Would it be sufficient to soak them in warm water for 24hours before putting them in loo rolls?

I use cold water, I don't want to accidentally cook the seeds.

If they went mouldy they were too wet. Sunflowers though have a shell which won't sprout, so needs to be removed first if chitting them, did you do that?

I've evolved this method for parsnip chitting - dampen a sheet of kitchen towel, put on a dinner plate, sprinkle seeds not too thickly on top. Cover with clingfilm, leave in a light place not too warm until they start sprouting

[JamesM]

Nope- didn't have a clue

I was going to line a plastic lunch box with damp paper spread the seeds thinly on top and then put a damp layer of kitchen paper on top. Lid on the box and on top of the fridge.

That's just from what i'd read up on the net- is it likely to work in the same way yours would? We've got a few extra of these and it means i won't be nagged for using all the plates up! Another point (trying to quantify the unquantifiable here!)- how damp is damp?!

All advice as greatfully received!

[Hazel at the Hill]

I've sown parsnips:

* in loo rolls (quite successful, but they did have a crook in where they reached the bottom)
* in kitchen roll (not too good - difficult to keep the compost all the way down, and difficult to make a long thin hole for planting out - I didn't want to bang the bottom of the k roll/parsnip root so ended up with longer holes & consequently an air pocket
* chitting on k roll (took three goes, as the first lot went mouldy, second too dry - but got there in the end!)

From last year I decided that this was all too much of a faff and I'd revert to sowing direct. In order to alleviate the problem of gappy rows, I sow my parsnip seed thickly & then thin out (I pinch the tops off rather than pull out the seedlings so that I don't disturb the row).

After all, I want - say - 50 parsnips in a year max, and the seed packet (which I will have to renew each year as the seed doesn't keep) has 275 seeds in. Provided 1 in 5 germinate, I'm laughing.

[Kristen]

The trick for chitting on kitchen paper is to give them air, as well as water. The bottom layer is in contact with the container, but the top layer needs to now be sandwiched onto the bottom, so that there is some air in between.

I like the sound of T.S.'s method - because it won't dry out given the cling film, and there is only kitchen paper under the seeds - so they won't get smothered by a layer on top.

[Florence Fennel]

Like Suky I decided last year that chitting was too much of a faff and sowed direct. Best harvest of parsnip I've ever had, so will do the same again this year.

[Kristen]

Like Suky I decided last year that chitting was too much of a faff and sowed direct. Best harvest of parsnip I've ever had, so will do the same again this year.

Can't disagree with that

My personal experience of sowing direct has been that I sometime got poor germination, and by the time I realised it it was getting very late to sow replacements (looking back on it I think the key was probably to sow a bit later, I got sucked into the info on the back of the packets, sowed in really cold & wet soil, and - guess what? - they seed didn't germinate - waiting a bit for warmer soil probably makes all the difference. My seed packet advice starts from February - that can only be right for Lands End!). I also had some "gaps" in my row, which wasted some space - the simple answer to that would be to grow just a few "substitute" replacements in loo-rolls / newspaper pots.

But I agree, its huge faff growing in "pots" - I comfort myself with it being only once a year, only 50 Parsnips, and sowing direct, and carefully weeding when the Parsnips are not yet very visible, is a time that I am exchanging for my own particular "faff"

[Hazel at the Hill]

Like Suky I decided last year that chitting was too much of a faff and sowed direct.

Um - or even Hazel!

Can't disagree with that

(looking back on it I think the key was probably to sow a bit later, I got sucked into the info on the back of the packets, sowed in really cold & wet soil, and - guess what? - they seed didn't germinate - waiting a bit for warmer soil probably makes all the difference. My seed packet advice starts from February - that can only be right for Lands End!).

That's a really good point - I always think of parsnips as being one of the first things to go in, but it's not really surprising that they don't germinate well when we stick them in at the end of feb in cold/v wet soil!

I held back till the second week in march last year, and had reasonable germination, but then sowed a second batch (a leftover half a pack from one of the old boys - see, they aren't daft!) mid April. I think every one came up!

[vegnut]

I always sow direct and a bit later than is stated on the pack. I get good germination and to be honest, i can't see much difference in size from those and earlier sowings.
Last year i did an even later sowing around the end of April and they were only a little smaller than the ones sown four weeks earlier.