Self seeded parsnips

[BertieFox]

Although I've been gardening for decades, I'm not too clear of the answer to this one.

Parsnips are a biennial so we usually sow them early in one year and harvest them the next winter or spring. I left some plants in for a couple of years which of course ended up with huge plants flowering and making lots of seed which I have collected. A lot fell on to the bed and now, in January, due to the mild weather, there are numerous parsnip seedlings filling the bed.

If I simply thin these out to give a reasonable space between each one, are they going to grow into new parsnips for 2014/15 or will they believe that they are already in their second year, carry on growing, go woody and make more seed. As they have been seedlings since around October I'm not sure where they are in the 'biennial' cycle.

Each seedling already has leaves with a spread of around one to two inches.

Would I do better to pull them out and sow new seed in March, or will I simply get a nice early and hopefully large crop from these?

Interested to hear what people think!

[lottie dolly]

I am no expert,they are new plants from the seed already fallen,if it were me,and they not in the way,then just do a bit of thinning,and sow new seeds,

[RedThorn]

As LD said, I'd be inclined to leave and let live, just thin out, but I'd not thin too much as to keep them from getting too large and woody by end of season

As they're from seed they should behave as normal

[Two_Sheds]

I get 100s of self-sown seedlings too, but they are never as good as 'proper' sowings (Gladiator in my case): they tend to be small, thin and cankerous

[Penellype]

If your original plants were grown from F1 hybrid seed the offspring are likely to be inferior in quality and probably susceptible to disease. As it is still early in the year I would be inclined to pull them out and grow some from fresh seed.