Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: pwgun on April 23, 2007, 09:15

Title: parsnips
Post by: pwgun on April 23, 2007, 09:15
hi.
all over our allotment people are complaining of no germination with parsnips, beetroot and carrots.  thought it was just me at first being new to this but a guy who has been here 30 yrs has same problem,,is it too hot????
Title: parsnips
Post by: WG. on April 23, 2007, 09:17
Too dry is more likely.  Re-sow in pre-watered drills, then cover.
Title: parsnips
Post by: Zak the Rabbit on April 23, 2007, 09:17
most probably, make sure the plot is kept moist, water it but do so in the late evening, and dont waterlog it otherwise it will bake hard.

my beetroot and carrots are doing ok, but im not sure of the 'snips, i think they are coming up, but cant tell them apart from the weeds! can anyone post a pic of a new 'snip seedling? :D
Title: parsnips
Post by: pwgun on April 23, 2007, 09:21
watered daily , also have tried in compost drills, still no difference. Like the idea of soil being too hard though, as it would normally be soft with normal weather for the year.  I will try with the gutter sowing method to get them started.
Title: I always think baby parsnips ...
Post by: wellingtons on April 23, 2007, 09:28
... look like a slightly feathery stinging nettle.  What I do to stop me panicking is to plant radishes through my parsnip row, they come up pretty pronto and protect the parsnip seedlings from anyone too keen with a hoe.

I'm not having a problem with germination at the minute, carrots are through, parsnips and beets have only been in for 2 weeks and a week, so they shouldn't be up yet anyway.  I'm watering and waiting.

I did have major problem mid season last year with germination.  I tried and tried to get rocket and spinach to go, but no luck so I gave up, but when the season changed in late July to cooler and wetter, up popped my seeds!!
Title: parsnips
Post by: crowndale on April 23, 2007, 10:34
I'm dead chuffed, everything has come up this year, no guarantee it will succeed through to eating but everyting has gerinated so it's a start.  Thinned lots of stuff yesterday, gutted, thought I'd sown thinner than that!  I hate thinning stuff, seems such a waste.
Title: parsnips
Post by: mercury on April 23, 2007, 21:22
My parsnips are just peeping through, after 17 days :)  :)
Title: parsnips
Post by: yummy on April 23, 2007, 21:40
I did my parnips 9 days ago. We have clay soil so I made big holes with a dibber and filled them with a mix of seed compost and sand. I think it is a bit soon for them to be showing yet so I'm not worried just yet.

Other people on our plot have theirs just showing but it took 3-4 weeks.
Title: parsnips
Post by: Ian_P on April 23, 2007, 21:47
My first carrots are up.

The beetroot and parsnips I grew in coffee cups from work (yeh alright I drink too much!) and they are all up to. I did parsnips like this last year and you know exactly how many you have, no thinning and if they fail you can do it all again. Mine worked fine last year. This year the beetroot are out, and the parsnips will follow this weekend

I
Title: parsnips
Post by: ruffmesiter_69 on April 24, 2007, 08:10
too hot for them, we have had a few parsnip but beets and carrott have been unaffected
Title: parsnips
Post by: milkman on April 24, 2007, 09:01
Yup my parsnip germination rate has been cr*p so far, but carrots are fine.  Am thinking of doing another sowing in the very large gaps between the 7 parsnips that have bothered to germinate...
Title: parsnips
Post by: Beanzie on April 24, 2007, 21:55
They are notoriously slow to germinate . I sow in small clumps about 6" apart and thin to 1 strong seedling. It takes a few weeks to appear and they are generally overtaken by annual weeds, but at least with the clump method I know where they should be and by crawling along the row weeding and thinning as I go I end up with a row of parsnips.
Title: parsnips
Post by: splodger on April 25, 2007, 16:37
my parsnips have been fine - but my first sowing of early carrots are very slow.

i'm going to put another row in this week, but i will chill the seeds in the fridge first - that normally works.
Title: parsnips
Post by: celtbhoy on April 25, 2007, 16:47
mine are up,well i think they are as it's hard to work out which is weed and which is pars,i don't want to thin yet in case i pull the wrong one!!
it will all become clear when they are up a bit. :?
Title: parsnips
Post by: Axe Victim on April 25, 2007, 19:36
Mine are all up, took about three weeks though. Beets and carrots fine too.

I water lots.
 :)