parsnips

[tracie]

my parsnips have been a disaster. I eventually got some to germinate, but as in past years Im not sure if they will amount to anything. In past years I have ended up with 2 inches of parsnip and lots of shoelace type roots. I have tried different types different situation on my allotment, manure and no manure, all to no avail.
Can anybody suggest what the problem might be and how to solve it.

Thanks

[Chantal]

I'm surprise you can tell how bad they're going to be already. Mine won't be worth pulling for at least a couple of months and will go through the winter. I should give them a bit more of a chance.

[sandersj89]

I get good results now that I have adopted the approach of sowing in drills filled with compost rather than simply in the soil. Germination rates are good, the row is easy to see and hoe around and thining the crop is easy. I am on heavy clay so normally not best suited to root crops.

I now get nice straight roots with little forking. I do the same with carrots as well.

I also swear by Tender and True and Gladiator as good varieties!

Jerry

[tracie]

thanks for your advise. My shoestring parsnip problem was last year and Im hoping things will be better this year

[Primrose]

Were you using fresh seed? My bitter past experience is that I either get poor germination or miserable plants if I don't use fresh seed every year. Also parsnips hate stoney soil. Don't know what mine are going to be like this year. I have lots of healthy green tops but I find the roots don't really start to develop at all until the autumn and it's normally about January before I start digging them up,so perhaps you're a little premature.
I suspect the suggestion of sowing in drills filled with compost is a good one. The one year I bothered to do this I got some really big roots, but again, didn't pull until after Christmas. Using this method might help them develop faster and enable you to dig them up earlier.

[Zena]

I'm determined to grow parsnips next year - nothing happened with the ones I planted this year!
I vaguely remember one of the gentlemen on "The Big Dig" putting his parsnip seed in the airing cupboard to help germination? Anyone got any similar suggestions?

[Johnboy]

Hi Zena,
Parsnips germinate at a very low temperature so a spell in the airing cupboard may help but I have my doubts. I germinate them at normal kitchen temperature. I use the last inch off the bottom of a plastic milk container and line it out with well dampened kitchen paper with a fold in it. Simply put the seed in the fold so that you have damp KP below and above and then simply put them on the worktop.
Germination takes generally less than a week. I then sow the seeds in bog role centres filled with MP compost. Give them a watering carefully and place them on the bench in one of the tunnels. I generally do not water again until the seed has broken through
the surface and then only a minuscule amount.
I do not start until the beginning of March and generally plant out about three/four weeks later.
I grow White Gem, Tender and True and Countess F1
Both White Gem and Tender and True can give enormous specimens but Countess gives smaller but more regular
sized specimens and even they can give some larger ones at times.
Tracie, Some time back I posted the way to grow Carrots on clay soil and you can do exactly the same with Parsnips even though you may not have clay soil just follow the methods used and you can sow the seeds direct. I have PM'd that to you.
JB.

[Primrose]

Gosh Johnboy, I'm really impressed at all the loving care your parsnips get from cradle to the grave, which probably explains why you get such healthy specimens.
I think we'd have to eat a lot more curry in our house to generate enough loo rolls for each individual seed but possibly you also grow your parsnips for show and therefore need to raise some of them in these special conditions?

[Zena]

Thanks Johnboy, I'll try out your suggestions. If they don't work, can I blame you?!

[Johnboy]

Hi Primrose,
I hasten to add that only my early Parsnips are sown in loo rolls and the rest are sown with seed that I pregerminate. With pg seed I sow into the row already spaced and although this may take some time I feel that this time is well spent. Even with pg seeds there are the odd failures and it is a case that the gaps can be easily filled with another pg seed.
Being spaced at the outset means I know exactly where they should be a damage by hoeing is eliminated and therefore hoeing is so much easier and can be done at an earlier stage which is a great advantage.

[arthur e]

I just didn't realise how lucky I am with Parsnips I just chuck them in the ground(white gem)in April, give them a little water while they are little seedlings if I think they need it , thin them, and now I am supplying my local Veg in a Box shop with good sized Parsnips.I did try pre germinating one year and had good results but they seem to do just as well all by themselves.I realise that we have'nt had the extreme dry weather that you have had down south but even we up here were getting worried, and as I'm on well water and had to be carefull of not running the well dry.

[Mike Vogel]

Primrose, I read some time ago a letter in the "Organic Way" magazine in which the writer triumphantly claimed to be getting excellent parsnips from 5-year-old seed. The secret is to keep it in the fridge in a jar with asilica gel sachet. I tried this and found to my surprise that it worked - and for salsify and scorzonera too. I now store all my seed in the fridge under similar conditions - but it has't worked too well with organic seeds of Aruba and some other lettuces, which have been good for 2 years max.