parsnip germinated hurrah!!

Mine too! .... First time for everything this year and mine were sowed a fortnight ago under cloches ..... just beginning to poke through now

Sal

Hi parsnip lovers, I read that parsnips don't like root disturbance and so I sowed direct..have a made a big gaff?

Hi parsnip lovers, I read that parsnips don't like root disturbance and so I sowed direct..have a made a big gaff?

No, that's spot on. The plant-in-pots folk will most probably be using pots made from newspaper or loo rolls so that they can be planted entire with no root disturbance.

Parsnip seed is slow to germinate, and erratic, outside so this helps improve the strike rate. And maybe get earlier / bigger 'Snips.

Edit: Paper Pots instructions are here:
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=11390.0

Glad to hear it... I'll say this quietly but sometimes we get so hung up on doing things the 'right'way that we forget that the basic job of a seed is to grow, and it will if it possibly can  Hope you get a good crop this year too.

The seed leaves are spear shaped about half inch long. the proper leaves have a jagged outline. I go by colour-they are yellow green and paler than the weeds.
I have grown mine in toilet rolls and just planted them out. Even without the proper leaves the roots are about three inches long. I had trouble with germination but they have now all taken so I have left them in the tubes and will keep the strongest after they are fully established .

What do they look like?

Got a lot of weed seedlings in amongst them & I can not tell them apart.

Last year I had the neatest, most well-tended healthy looking row of weeds on our site! Such a shame that only two of them turned out to be parsnips!!

Knowing what the seed leaves look like is soooo useful.