Parsnip failure:(

[bussinspain]

Last year (for the first time here) I grew a decent crop of tasty sweet parsnips. This year I only have 7!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sowed them at the same time, treated them the same - so what has gone wrong? Fresh seed was used and was the same variety.

[Scarlet]

Anything! Too hot, to dry? I find in my clay soil in Spring when the ground is pretty wet they shoot up. Parsnips are difficult to germinate, they like everything "just so".

[Bren In Pots]

Buss have you tried pre-chitting the seeds its the only way I can get parsnips to grow.

[Snoop Puss]

I feel for you, bussinspain. I was counting mine this morning... About the same. Of 58 stations sown, I have nine seedlings. Not sure whether to go back to my tried and tested method of paper pots and try again, but it is starting to get a bit late.

What method did you use?

[Nicos]

Still waiting for mine to come up...today is Day 12.....

[Scoot]

I have a few that are missing as well out of 100 that i sowed about 60 have shown so there are big gaps all over the place.

So i decided just now after reading this thread that i would start some more off, chitting them.

The way i see it is, yes it's a bit late but the seed i have left won't be usable next year so will just need chucking. So i might as well give them a go to fill the gaps. small parsnips are better than no parsnips in my view.

[chasingmytail]

I planted half a pack in April have 10 seedlings looking quite good however most of my seeds failed in carrots, beets, salads etc. It was my first growing and assume is was the weather. It was freezing here after I planted them.

I went to an event over the weekend and Charles Dowding was talking about seeds and said many seeds are rubbish. So even so you had a fresh pack they may have been poor quality. He said not to believe everything you read on packet -great

[Snoop Puss]

Crumbs, that's a bit of a harsh comment by Charles Dowding. In fact, I think seed germination rates are generally pretty good. If I get failures, I usually reckon on it being my fault, poor seed storage (by me or shop) or something to do with the weather.

When I've sown parsnips before in paper pots, I've had pretty well a hundred per cent germination. Which is why I thought they couldn't be that bad and have tried direct in the ground.

[KevinM67]

I went to an event over the weekend and Charles Dowding was talking about seeds and said many seeds are rubbish. So even so you had a fresh pack they may have been poor quality. He said not to believe everything you read on packet -great

That's quite interesting- although I'm not growing them this year due to leaving the plot, my experiences have been really mixed.

You do the same method as what previously worked, same weather conditions and nada !!

Is this next year's challenge instead of Carrots ??

[cptncrackoff]

I had really bad germination this year, but also chitting failed, emailed the company..they replaced the seeds!
Can't resow til next year though...

[TattyJJ]

I sowed some parsnips from seed tape strait into the border about a month ago, the ones that were being given away and just had to pay postage (i forget the brand).
Admittedly they took ages to come up and are only tiny, but they all seem to shown themselves.

Reading this thread, i seem to have got lucky!

[Penellype]

My parsnips have germinated fine. I wonder if those who have had problems have had the seedlings eaten by slugs as soon as they have germinated - seems quite likely in the wet conditions.

[Stan79]

My toilet rolls have worked well again. Not 100% of tubes have seedlings but some pots have two so i'd say probably a 60-70% germination success rate.

[Snoop Puss]

My parsnips have germinated fine. I wonder if those who have had problems have had the seedlings eaten by slugs as soon as they have germinated - seems quite likely in the wet conditions.

I did wonder whether snails might be the culprit.

[Scoot]

They have a lot to answer for these little slugs and snails!!!