[Sleepingpopman]

Good Morning Everyone 
I set some parsnip seed direct into the garden in late Feb' & had no shows up so in April I set 9 in a big deep plastic tub & put it in the unheated g/h, when they were about 3" tall I stood them outside (all 9) 
They grew lovely tall healthy tops but in the last week the tops have started to go brown & die off  they can't be ready for lifting already can they or has something gone wrong. I've kept them well watered but not flooded as the gardening book I have say's the soil needs to be kept damp & they've been stood in good sunlight but with a bit of shade between 12 noon & 3pm (hottest time)
Any ideas would be gratefully accepted.
Keith 

[Goosegirl]

Mine did that in the past, then they grew new tops. See what others say.

[JayG]

Even February-sown parsnips shouldn't be dying back yet I would have thought.

There have been several threads this year on this board concerning caterpillar attacks on parsnip leaves - my parsnips have several leaves dying back in patches, the tiny caterpillars are underneath, chomping away, but should be easy to spot.

Carrot fly are another pest of parsnips, although in my experience they don't actually kill the plant or completely ruin the roots, although that's not to say they never do.

I think you need to pull one out and have a close look for more evidence - if it's not pest damage it must be a cultural problem, despite the care you have taken.

[jerrynl]

I'd go with the caterpillar theory too. Exactly the same thing happened to mine, within the space of a few days. I'd never even realised that parsnips were vulnerable to the wee blighters, and hadn't immediately spotted any, but the suggestions on here sent me back for a closer look and there they were. I removed the foliage that was under attack and now I have to wait for a couple of days before I can get back to the plot and see if there's been any more damage.
What else can be done (organically) besides remove the leaves?

[JayG]

I had literally 2 leaves on 2 plants attacked a couple of years ago, didn't notice any last year, but this year loads (and we still don't really have a definite ID, not that it would make that much difference if we had.)

Squishing by hand is about the only non-chemical way I can think of, but without examining every leaf every day for signs of eggs or caterpillars donning their napkins ready for dinner the damage they do is about the first visible warning you get, so you might as well just take the affected leaves off.

Covering very securely with fine netting would presumably do the trick too, and some people do that anyway to keep carrot fly away, but I'm hoping not to have to do that (it would presumably be too late to do it once the blighters are already there anyway.)

Luckily the overall damage isn't great if the parsnips are growing strongly (at least, not so far............... )

[caro810]

we had quite a lot of brown leaves and when you look under the leaves 3/4 tiny caterpillars on each leaf, i cut off the bad ones and new leaves have grown looking healthy again now.

[jerrynl]

we had quite a lot of brown leaves and when you look under the leaves 3/4 tiny caterpillars on each leaf, i cut off the bad ones and new leaves have grown looking healthy again now.

Yep, mine look to have recovered fine too. Still don't know what those little caterpillars were from though. Haven't seen anything referred to in my books either.

[Sleepingpopman]

Morning 
Thank's for all the replies to my parsnip Q'. I went out & had a good look & sure enough they were been eaten away by little white caterpillars so I cut all the tops off & killed all the little B's.  The good news is that all the tops are growing back & looking brill' & I keep checking them now.
Keith