Leek haircut ?

[Bren In Pots]

I have heard of people cutting the leek right back to the basal plate at maturity for table use then getting extra growth out of leek crown at a later date but I haven't tried this myself.

I think 'Two sheds' treats here leeks like that so I've given it a go last year and it does work.

[Kirk]

I am probably havinig a senior moment. but if this works for leeks why not onions? my onions have leaves falling all over the place.

If you look onions leaves are sort of hollow tubes, leeks are sort of flat and long and pointy (more like most expect leaves to be.

I assume that the different nature means thay cannot be treated the same.

Lets not get into garlics.

[Snadger]

I have been giving my seeded leek heads a haircut this week to try and get them to produce grass/pips/pods rather than seed!

[planetologist]

Garden Organic did a members' experiment, either last year or the year before, where they asked people to cut down half the plants to soil level once. This was because some people say it gets rid of early stages of a problem, maybe allium leaf miner I don't remember for sure. There were not enough members who had the problem that year to conclude whether it helped, but there was definitely a consensus that the cut leeks were smaller at harvest time. You could argue that cutting them to the ground is not the same as the milder haircut, but my conclusion was to leave well enough alone.
I've tried cutting leeks to the basal plate and leaving the rest, but they died.
If leeks start making a flower head, then I eat them, in the early stages the whole leek with up to 6 inches of closed flowerhead is edible.