New swede grower needs help!

[Guest]

Hi,

First time poster here, I was hoping someone could help me. I've planted swedes for the first time that I bought as seedlings from the garden centre. I have no idea what to expect from them but they look completely different to pictures of swede plants on Google! They're around 4-5 foot tall stalks with yellow flowers on top. Are they beyond help and should I dig them all up? Are they even swedes??

[Penellype]

Welcome to the vine astartemaneo.

If your swedes have yellow flowers on them then they have bolted. They won't form swollen roots after flowering, and any roots they have will be tough and stringy. Swedes are winter brassicas which flower in their 2nd year - you don't say when you planted them. If this is their first year they have probably got stressed by the hot weather which can cause them to bolt. There is still time to sow or plant some more for this winter.

[Chestnut]

I have only ever grown one swede, but it only ever got to about 10 inches high.
I know that a lot of brassicas have small yellow flowers - and I know from this years calabrese that they can ‘bolt’ (=go to seed) in hot/dry weather. If that is the case, you might not get anything edible from them... Do you have a photo?

On the plus side, you can still sow swede(or turnips as a sooner harvesting substitute) if you sow the seed about now

[veggiechicken]

Hi and welcome
Root veg seedlings like swedes and carrots are not the best things to buy from a garden centre. They object to having their roots constrained by modules and seed trays by either bolting or having deformed roots.
As Penellype says, there's still time to sow some direct from a packet of seeds.

[Guest]

Here's a picture of the beggars:

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...86&oe=5BA4C80E

This is their first year, we planted them around April ish - we have watered them either daily or every other day depending on the weather.

[Earthgirl Jen]

Hello astartemaneo and welcome.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they have definitely bolted. They will not produce any swedes for you this year.

You still have time to sow some swede seeds if you are quick. Buy a packet of seed and sow directly into the same area, within a week this time of year you should see new seedlings coming up. (you'll know they are the ones you sowed as they should all come up together as a batch of seedlings) Sow thickly so you'll see them and remove the weakest ones so you are left with the number you want.

As they are a brassica they are prone to root fly damage (look it up) I lost my first batch of really healthy plants to to root fly. I'm now on batch number 3, as I'm determined to have at least one! for Xmas dinner...lol...

They may need to be covered with debris or enviromesh netting to stop the little beggars.

Good luck and let us know how you get on

[Guest]

Thanks for your prompt help everyone! I will get some seeds and sew them this weekend. Will bark chippings be enough to stop root fly do you think?

[Earthgirl Jen]

Root fly look just like ordinary flies sorry and are almost impossibly to spot... What you can do is use'cardboard collars' which you can make at home (again look it up it's easy) and they really won't be needed until your seedling has at least 4-6 pairs of leaves at which point you place your collar around the stem.

This in theory protects the stem from the root fly eggs. (minuscule 1mm oblong shaped whitish eggs, layed on the surface of the soil next to then stem) The theory is that by using the cardboard collar the fly can't tell the difference and lays it's egg on the cardboard. In dry weather the eggs dry up and won't hatch, in wet weather they start to burrow down towards the stem and can't because of the thick layer of cardboard... I hope this makes sense.

Best cardboard to use is plain brown, no coloured printing on it, like the banana boxes etc they give away in supermarkets...

Let me know how it goes and I hope this helps x

[Thelma Sanders]

Hi and welcome
Root veg seedlings like swedes and carrots are not the best things to buy from a garden centre. They object to having their roots constrained by modules and seed trays by either bolting or having deformed roots.
As Penellype says, there's still time to sow some direct from a packet of seeds.

Carrots strongly object, but my swedes never have. I've always sown/grown mine in modules (started anytime this month) and they grow on in the modules until some of my potatoes have been lifted, then there's room for them to go in.

[4Shoes]

The other thing that likes swedes are slugs.

however if you are able to grow a good one... Wait until after a good frost and they will sweeten right up.

[Jay-ell]

Hi astartemaneo and welcome to the vine.

As mentioned by those above seed can be sowed now. As a consolation I have to say that those are the finest turnip trees I've seen - and considering how bad I am at growing swede I've seen a few.

[nickdub]

Here's a picture of the beggars:

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...86&oe=5BA4C80E

This is their first year, we planted them around April ish - we have watered them either daily or every other day depending on the weather.

My feeling is the best bet is to rename your plants to "Swedish Sunflowers". The bees will enjoy them and you can collect some seed from them later on to sow next year.

Apart from that I agree with the others - live and learn (hopefully)

Happy Gardening :-)

[veggiechicken]

Carrots strongly object, but my swedes never have. I've always sown/grown mine in modules (started anytime this month) and they grow on in the modules until some of my potatoes have been lifted, then there's room for them to go in.

The big difference is growing them yourself in modules and buying them from GCs where they're not always cared for. I've seen some very sad seedlings for sale that, even I, would send to the compost bin.
These swedes were planted in April - that far too early to even sow swede, let alone sell them as seedlings.

[Penellype]

What I do with swedes and turnips as I don't want many at a time is sow them in loo roll innards that have been cut in half as whole ones are a bit deep. These were sown yesterday:



The "tray" and top are the plastic trays that you buy prawns in, but you could use anything like that. I flatten the cardboard roll in 2 places to make a square as they nest together better and probably lose less water that way. The top helps keep them moist and is removed when they germinate.

The plants are easier to remove if you use a shallow tray rather than something deeper like an ice cream tub. If the cardboard looks like it might disintegrate when you want to plant out, an old spoon is helpful to extract the plants with minimum disturbance. I tend to plant them when still small and protect with copper tape round plastic rings (slugs) and with insect mesh (root fly and butterflies, although flea beetle and whitefly will probably still get in).

[Thelma Sanders]

The big difference is growing them yourself in modules and buying them from GCs where they're not always cared for. I've seen some very sad seedlings for sale that, even I, would send to the compost bin.
These swedes were planted in April - that far too early to even sow swede, let alone sell them as seedlings.

Fair enough but that is swedes (like many things) objecting to the way the garden centre has treated them rather than swede objecting to pots isn't it? #justsaying