[willnbirdie]

Hi

This will be our 3rd year of growing veg we have had reasonable success with growing parsnips but we have 2 issues. 

One we have had canker both years I have read that adding lime to the soil can help - please does anyone have any other ideas. 

Secondly nearly all of our parsnips have ended up with lots of roots when they get a few inches down.  The top part is lovely and fat but the rest is not the easiest to use.  I have been given conflicting advice.  One is that the soil needs to be nice and loose the other the exact opposite - the harder the better?!!  I am now really confused.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

willnbirdie

[DD.]

1 - keep the carrot fly off. The tunnels they make can let in canker. I use enviromesh and grow the parsnips alongside the carrots and do the two together.

2 - someone told you they wanted hard soil?

[willnbirdie]

Thanks DD - I did wonder about the hard soil, he said the harder they worked the straighter the parsnip - have had other advice from the same fella - might not take it now.

Cheers

willnbirdie

[DD.]

The other thing is not to be tempted to give them a lot of water.

If the root can find it near the surface, it won't go down looking for it.

[Salmo]

If the roots always branch at the same level you may have a pan. That is a compacted layer. This can be caused by rotovating at the same level over several years, especially when the soil is wet when the blades will smear the soil. It could go back many years to the time the field was ploughed.

Push a fork in gently. If it becomes more difficult at a certain depth there is a pan. Double digging will usually remove it, alternatively bas-tard digging where you loosen the bottom of the trench with a fork. Alternatively, when you start cultivations in the Spring, go over with a fork, pushing it in as deep as it will go and easing the soil without disturbing the top tilth.

[Tattie Bogle]

Not sure this is what you're after but for what it's worth, we had problems germinating or it may have been ants taking the seeds(). Then we decided to try some fast growing types which are supposedly good for dense growing (didn't bother to thin out the seedlings). We sowed these early June and have a decent crop with loads still in the ground. The seeds we used were Thompson and Morgan.

Avonresister and Panache F1 Hybride.

Taste wise I prefer the Avonresister, but then I'm not mad on Parsnips.

hope this helps

TBo

[DD.]

Thanks, TBo, but for once germination wasn't the issue here!

[Togalosh]

Hiya..I hope this doesn't bring up more questions than answers as I am too trying to work out what the hell happened to half of my crop of Parsnips. Exactly half the drill was exactly as you describe & half were great...but from above they all looked the same.

If you don't wish to read through my rambling  - I'd sum up with: go for loose soil but try 1/2 1/2 to see for yourself.

Last season was the first on my plot. I put in 1 drill across the whole plot for the Parsnips. The soil was even in condition when I got it & it was dug through & prepared the same. All the other conditions were even along the drill too but to the 1 side of them we planted 1/2 the plot with Climbing Beans & 1/2 with peas & Sweet Corn.

The peas were small crop & didn't do so well (as I recon they were neglected early on in their fruiting when we went on holiday) & so they were more or less left alone - this is the 1/2 corresponding to where the parsnips did well...there's still 2 left this week.

By the time the beans grew to a good size they were very close to the parsnips (a true beginners mistake). It ended up to be a rampant crop of beans & so we tended them daily (we watered them in the middle of the frame & so I cannot say whether the watering reall effected the parsnips or not). The parsnips got knocked about a bit but more importantly it meant that the soil was greatly trodden down all around them. This is the 1/2 that did badly.

..oh yea..& I've just remembered that the same issue was brought up on BBC radio 4's gardeners quetion time in the last month - you'll have to try BBC's I player to get their answers as I didn't get to listen to them !

I hope this helps some.

[rowlandwells]

growing  parsnips i wish!! Ive tried setting in rows making a hole filling with a mixture of sand and compost before sowing with pelleted FI seed in rows they still  tuned out dodo someone told me to set them on top of ridged ground? so ime going to give paper pots a go anyone out there tried this method?

[Christine]

I've been told that canker is carrot fly causing hassle so best to protect from the fly with mesh as suggested.

I've found by trial and experience on my plot that my parsnips do best in a sunny spot in the summer. I grow them in tubs (inherited a hard standing, got to do something with it). They go in decent compost and aren't overly well treated with fertiliser once they are growing. Because they are in a sunny space I do ensure that they have a damp soil all the way down the tub but don't water too often.

I've had a cracking crop the last couple of years. And will add the rider that waht works in Northumberland for me may not work somewhere else for you. 

[galen]

growing  parsnips i wish!! Ive tried setting in rows making a hole filling with a mixture of sand and compost before sowing with pelleted FI seed in rows they still  tuned out * someone told me to set them on top of ridged ground? so ime going to give paper pots a go anyone out there tried this method?

I tried planting my Panache parsnips in loo rolls last year with some success. Just ensure you plant them out as soon as the first true leaves come out, otherwise you get a huge (in diameter) snip but only loo roll size in length 

The ones I got in the ground on time did very well 

[DD.]

We've moved on from canker problems in parsnips to actually getting them to grow, which has been covered many times in previous threads, with many different solutions. Germination and growing them on was not the issue here.

If you protect your crop, you are less likely to get fly, which does not cause canker, but the damage done can let the canker spores in. Also a later sowing will avoid one flush of the carrot fly, so once again we find the moral is not the be in too much of a rush!

[ZoeElizabeth]

I have grown parsnips for 5 years straight with no trouble.

I am not gloating, as I am as bemused as the next person as to what comes up or not .

I think you just have to realise that nature and the conditions in your area has a big part to play. I just sprinkle the seed straight onto the ground, but at the last minute - early in the year attempts do not work, then wait and see.

Perhaps not very helpful. See what your neighbours are doing as it should apply to you?

[goodegg]

parsnip seed will rot if you get a lot of rain before they germinate what i do is make a drill 1iin deep sow seeds then cover with sand which does two things it gives seed time to germinate fairly dryly and it marks out where they are for weeding purposes it works out well.and like dd says keep them covered from carrot fly.

[Tattie Bogle]

Following on from DD's comment about sowing later, the parsnip types I mentioned above are the latest for sowing that I could find (from the packet info).

Is it worth trying things like marigolds and onions nearby to stop the carrot fly? I've also heard of using a verticle barrier (about a foot high?) as they can't fly very high.

TBo