[cadalot]

I didn't manage to grow any last year and this year I tried some by direct sowing and others by loo roll and the photo below is what I achieved. Not many about one meals worth but lots of them went like the one on the right in the photo, anyone have any idea why?

[AnneB]

By any chance were the ones with the mass of tangled roots those you grew in loo rolls and then transplanted? Parsnips don't like being moved.  I have been successful with the loo roll method in the past, but have planted them out almost as soon as they have shown.
I now do direct sowing only, but wait until May when the soil has warmed up and have no germination problems or transplant problems.

If the tangled roots are not the loo roll ones I don't have an explanation.

[andysmum]

I started mine in a length of guttering in the greenhouse, it's easy to space them and don't take long to germinate then slide into where they will grow but I don't lift them till I want eat them

[Gardener and Rabbit]

I start all my parsnips in card tubes, and have never had any go like that.

In the photo, it looks like the leaves of the affected plants are deformed too?

Might be worth having a look at nematode damage, as they can cause small, tangled or knotty roots.

G&R

[Headgardener22]

I direct sowed my parsnips into furrow of compost. I'm on clay and so whilst my parsips are fat, they tend to only grow 5 or 6 inches long before they fork.

I grew them in toilet rolls last year and they all grew to fill the toilet roll and then stopped dead, both length and width.

What variety did you grow? Tender and True seem to give me the best results

[Comfreypatch]

I direct sow but not until April or May as they don't seem to germinate well until it has warmed up. I grow cobham marrow they have done well for me the last few years. Some allotment members germinate their seeds on damp kitchen roll and then sow as soon as they have germinated.

[Yorkshire Lass]

Some allotment members germinate their seeds on damp kitchen roll and then sow as soon as they have germinated.

I tried this for the first time...worked for me 

[beesrus]

Never tried the kitchen towel thing, but I would be worried of exactly that sort of cats cradle forking.  I sow in peat pots for earlier parsnips. It can't be emphasised enough how important it is to plant out in their final position immediately they germinate. The main root is already growing long by the time you see evidence of germination in a loo roll/pot. I use peat pots successfully every year. I tear off the bottom when planting, but it must be done within a couple of days.

I also sow another batch direct a bit later when it's a bit warmer, 3 or 4 seeds to a position. Whichever method, I ALWAYS waggle a big hole  a foot deep or more with a large spike and fill with compost for each parsnip position. Very, very few ever fork. It really takes no more time than not doing so and uses surprisingly little compost. 15 minutes, 50 parsnips. With a few stones always lurking around on some of my beds, I find it essential to avoid the forking.

[Kristen]

I use newspaper pots (a tabloid sheet folded in half and rolled around an aerosol can), and as such I can vary how tall they are. I guess they are getting on for 15cm / 6" tall, and I can delay planting out until first true leaf shows - at that stage the tap root is not showing out of the bottom of the pot, but it does show soon thereafter.  That gives me about 3 weeks from "sowing" seed pre-germinated on kitchen towel to having to plant out.

I tear off a ring of newspaper around the top of the pot, before planting, so that none is poking out of the ground after planting, otherwise it acts as a wick and dries out the newspaper underground.

[simonwatson]

I don't use the loo roll method. I chit them on kitchen paper and once they've started to grow, just plant out. I get nice long straight roots until they hit the clay pan about 2 feet down.

[Kristen]

Is there benefit to "long" roots?

Mine are short and stubby, they get down to about the depth of a spade / fork, but I'm not sure I want them longer than that, do I?  Harder to get out of the ground, and the long thin skinny end of the root won't provide much to eat will it?

[Comfr3y]

im wondering if they arent a bit crowded?

[Headgardener22]

Is there benefit to "long" roots?

Mine are short and stubby, they get down to about the depth of a spade / fork, but I'm not sure I want them longer than that, do I?  Harder to get out of the ground, and the long thin skinny end of the root won't provide much to eat will it?

To me that's a long parsnip  . Mine grow to a maximum of 6 inches. I find that longer ones seem to have less "core" in them. Half of the diameter of mine seem to be a soft, not very edible core which has to be cut out.

[Beetroot Queen]

We did ours in tubes for years and never got a decent parsnip. This year we sowed a heavy sowing direct a did really well. Sowing direct in future

[beesrus]

Given our various successes, I guess this thread illustrates perfectly it's not just what method of growing veg we use, but more how well we individually employ that particular method. "Disturbing roots" of the very fussy parsnip in it's naissance is a very subjective matter that we either do well, or not, once we understand the logic. I personally seem to be hopeless at chitting anything on towels, apart from easy peasy peas, hence my peat pot thing.

Direct is of course best if one can wait for the warmth and prepare the bed properly, and put in the plot time to make sure the seed bed doesn't dry out before germination. Parsnips and carrots are particularly vulnerable to drying out before germination, not that it particularly affects the forking thing.