[Kristen]

For me this illustrates the problem with sowing Parsnips direct. They take probably 3 weeks to germinate, at minimum, and if they don't show for any reason and you re-sow its another 3 weeks before you know if its worked, or not. The 3 weeks gives the weeds a head-start too ...

I known many frown on it, and consider it a lot of faff / unnecessary, but I am much more comfortable starting them off chitting on damp kitchen paper and then pricking out the seedlings into newspaper pots, and planting out about about 3 weeks later - into freshly hoed soils so the weeds don't have a head start! and no gaps between the plants either.

Chitting seed on damp kitchen paper takes 7 days, or less, so may be particularly suitable for "resowing" to be sure that the replacement plants are viable before it is starting to get rather late for sowing any more.  And, Murphy's law, starting some more off in the kitchen will mean that the originals then spring up and the spares aren't needed

[Gandan57]

All my parsnips were grown in cardboard tubes then planted out and the growth on the first batch is maybe six inches high.

I didn`t pre chit them and I have half a packet of seeds left that I was going to bin, but just for a bit of fun I`ll put these in the chitter then put a few in paper pots as a possible alternative method for next year.

[cooperman]

the seed is quite cheap so I sow a packet per row and just thin as necessary.
Ive tried the chitting process and potting on etc.... much too time consuming for me.
The biggest problem sowing direct is that most people sow too early, if the ground is cold the seed will not germinate as parsnip seed needs the ground to warm up a bit, so the watchword is WAIT....  I never plant my parsnip seed before the end of March or later (like this year as the underlying sub soil was far too cold, I use a soil thermometer by the way)

[Grubbypaws]

Next year if I grow them I will do as Cooperman suggests. This year I have a lot of gaps to fill.

I apologise for my ignorance but how exactly do you do this chitting? It sounds as if you are just germinating them on damp paper but at what stage and how do you get them into pots and is it important what type of pot?

[Composto]

I always sow them direct in the ground spacing seeds about an inch apart, a packet should easily do 2x 15ft rows. If there are any spaces I fill them from the thinnings from where there are too many. 

The transplanted ones are not as good as the others but they grow to an edible size.

As they take a long time to "declare" themselves, you can thinly sow radish in the row, these will show in a short time so you know where you can weed prior to the parsnips showing.

[Aunt Sally]

the seed is quite cheap so I sow a packet per row and just thin as necessary.
Ive tried the chitting process and potting on etc.... much too time consuming for me.

I even sow parsnips in modules which is totally against the rules but they always turn out fine, getting the "transfer" right is the big thing...

You have me confused now dear 

[LilacSandy]

Hi Clareblues,

You will see a little white shoot coming from the seed and at that point you need to use tweesers to pick them up and gently plant in either a paper pot or you can plant straight into the ground just covering with a very light sprinkling of compost.