Kitchen Garden Forum

Been given some Celeriac plants.Last time I had a go at these (thirty years ago and not tried since) I could not get them any bigger than golf ball size.Any tips and advice on how to grow them to decent size would be much appreciated.

They can be tricky but I have kinda had more success by feeding & watering them regularly, they are much greedier than I anticipated & I give each one their own little hollow to grow in so easy to give them a good water direct. The only other thing is to remove the lower leaves as they swell, this I find is almost weekly.

I still find along the row that some will be a good size but some just sulk & remain small.

I agree with everything Westi says - celeriac is really greedy and thirsty and the moment the bottom leaves look at all 'tired, pull them off cleanly, snooky. I managed to get them to about cricket ball size on the allotment, but never to the sizeable whoppers you see in the supermarket!

Thank you for the advice,Westi and Monika.Planted them today;they have two chances......

I echo aminikaMonika & Westi,s comments. I always ended up with golf ball sized plants too and always wondered how the commercial ones grew so large. You probably have to grow them in pure compost as I suspect they need a lot of feeding, sol hollowing out spaces, filling with compost and regular watering might help them on their way.
To be honest, in the end aI found it less hassle and disappointment to opt for the supermarket ones!

Hi! I grown them every other year on my no-dig beds as I found them pretty easy going and lovely to have during the colder months. I agree that they really don't like to dry out and I start removing the lowest leaves as they grow on and expand (not sure if this helps them get bigger as I was told, but they are tidier to weed around!) I get ones a bit smaller than huge market ones but a really good size for two people - small bowling balls, if you like.

Good luck!

Westi wrote:They can be tricky but I have kinda had more success by feeding & watering them regularly, they are much greedier than I anticipated & I give each one their own little hollow to grow in so easy to give them a good water direct. The only other thing is to remove the lower leaves as they swell, this I find is almost weekly.

I still find along the row that some will be a good size but some just sulk & remain small.

totally agree, very tricky

I googled "How do commercial growers produce such large celeriac plants?"
I found no magic solutions but did come up with one or two YouTube short videos that might offer some additional insights



.