Growing celeriac

[JET]

Hi there folks,

Has anyone got any advice on growing celeriac from seed. I've heard that it takes a while to germinate. Have sown mine a week ago and have them in a heated propogator but nothing is popping up yet!! I didn't cover them as they're so fine. Have I done the right thing?

Jill

[berksmike]

Not grown before as they need a lot of space and I'm pushed for space at mo.

Found this tho which might help:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/..._growing.shtml

Mike

[Alice]

I'm growing it for the first time too Jet - well I hope I am. Nothing has germinated yet - but only planted a week ago, so no panic yet. Interesting to see how we get on.

[Snadger]

My celariac germinated in about 10 days in electric propagator. I have grown it before purely because growing ordinary celery is too much bother. I don't think mine took up a lot of room though, no more than my Swedes for instance!
I love the taste of celery soup so celariac is ideal for my needs!

[Nicos]

They do need to be fed and watered well , once you plant them out , to produce a decent size.
We have just lifted our last 3 to allow us to prepare the bed for the next rotation.
Good winter crop!

[Headfry]

We grew it for the first time last year! fantastic.... took a while to germinate but grew well and stood the colder days too. A little slow to get going after we planted it out, but then....grew very well.
We are addicted to it!

funny thing is,
We had never grown it before so last year I bought some seed and very casually sowed it and thought...oh well see what happens if it grows it grows!
this year things are very different.
As I was sowing the seeds I was feeling just a little under pressure....
What if I do it wrong and they don't grow..NO CELERIAC!!!
PANIC!!!!! Funny how things change in a year. Thats the beauty of GYO!!

[Tigerella]

Hi

Quote "I have grown it before purely because growing ordinary celery is too much bother."
I am growing celery for the first time, not showing yet. Why is it so much bother? Is celeriac similar/easier?

Tiger

[muckdiva]

Once the bulbs start to swell, it's quite a good idea to remove any shoots growing from the sides/lower down (leaving the greenery at the top of course). Don't know why, but it did seem to help produce a rounder bigger bulb. We have a very fertile but heavy/clay soil here and the first year I grew celeriac, the plants looked very healthy and promising, but when I pulled them up, they were only saucer shaped with loads of roots! Removing the side shoots the next year really helped bulk them up to something resembling a proper celeriac but even then, not great. I gave a few plants to a friend at the top of the hill (much lighter soil) and his celeriac did much better, so it could be a soil thing.

[dexterdoglancashire]

I'm growing it for the first time too Jet - well I hope I am. Nothing has germinated yet - but only planted a week ago, so no panic yet. Interesting to see how we get on.

Same here Alice! Lets keep our fingers crossed. Bernie aka Dexterdog

[Snadger]

................. the plants looked very healthy and promising, but when I pulled them up, they were only saucer shaped with loads of roots! .

Just a thought, but because this is a root crop could this have beemn caused by fresh manure in the soil, much in the same way as carrots 'fork' for the same reason???????

[Snadger]

Hi

Quote "I have grown it before purely because growing ordinary celery is too much bother."
I am growing celery for the first time, not showing yet. Why is it so much bother? Is celeriac similar/easier?

Tiger

Well! I don't particularily like eating self blanching celery and the trench grown celery is quite labour intensive, i.e digging trenches, blanching with cardboard, earthing up!! But the main reason is I have always had problems with slugs spoiling the crop in the past.

This is purely a personal thing so please don't let me put you off growing Celery!! For me, I tried Celery (both self blanching and trench) and found Celariac was easier to grow and gave a more consistant yield!

[tricia]

Last year at Ford Abbey I saw the largest celeriac being grown that I have ever seen. The gardener told me they were planted on eight inches of well-rotted manure. Guess how my sturdy young plants will be planted out when frost danger is past? Mine grew to about large orange size last year so I'm hoping for bigger this year. Celeriac is one of my favourite winter veggies - and so versatile.

Tricia

[Paulottie]

I couldn't agree more Snadger. Sounds like a record of my mollusc munched mess. I had to work to cut enough out for a stew let alone a stick with cheese.

This is now my forth year as a celariac convert. I find they take a long time esp. to get through the seedling stage. I start them in Feb in polypaks and have been known to lavish 3" pots on them in April, then plant out shallowly in mid-May. (They may be hardy later on but they hate to be set back.) They like rich moisture retentive soil, onion bed style. very greedy feeders/drinkers.

DO NOT LET THEM DRY OUT.

If their growth is checked, the best you can hope for is tennis ball size. OK for flavour but a pain to peel especially if it resembles spag. junction on the bottom. Muckdiver is right, every time you pass them -when they start to swell- rip off the outside leaves to bulk up the root and cut any off suckers and exposed roots. do not cut fibrous feeding roots. It is a challange to get decent size but they will stand into the winter if earthed up in Nov. Plus they are such great food. I love them mashed with spuds especially on shepherds pie...shepherds are difficult to find round here though ..sorry.

[mikk100]

I've started off some celeriac for the 1st time aswell. I reckon it was 4 or 5 weeks ago when I started it off though...a bit early perhaps? Anyway it germinated really quickly (within a week, i was amazed) but hasn't done much since. Its still a mass of tiny weak looking seedlings, I've pricked out a few just to see what happens and those ones do look stronger and have more leaves but at the minute I just can't picture them producing huge edible roots....time will tell..

[Paulottie]

Yep mikk, quite a lot of time, but have faith. you seem to be doing everything right- not too early at all- although I find it easier to use 40 module trays and thinning to the strongest seedling in each to avoid root disturbance and fiddly work; obviously this requires you having the space tho.