[DD.]

I only cover with enviromesh once they are through. They're kept well watered until germinated.

[stompy]

How do you combat the weeds?

I used to sow direct but couldn't cope with the quantity of weeds that used to come through before the seedlings did!

[compostqueen]

Yes I have been giving them a genle watering through the mesh.  The weeds are growing well    I had a weeding session and then watered, replaced the mesh but still nothing     I think it might be too late to resow now 

[JayG]

Yes I have been giving them a genle watering through the mesh.  The weeds are growing well    I had a weeding session and then watered, replaced the mesh but still nothing     I think it might be too late to resow now 

As most people are probably fed up with hearing by now I can't be bothered to chit seeds unless circumstances force me into it (and I rarely regret it.)

I would feel forced into it in your circumstances; how about trying to chit some PDQ and then grow on in paper pots or similar (at least you would then know whether the seeds were viable or not.)

[Salmo]

Stompy - put just a few radish seeds along the row when you sow the parsnips. They come up quickly and are easily distinguished. You can hoe close up to the radishes knowing that you have not hoed up parsnips. When the parsnips emerge you just have a few weeds to hand pull. The radish crop is a bonus.

[stompy]

Tried that before,

I used to get poor germination even with fresh bought seed and found that it wasn't worth the effort to do all that hand weeding around them whilst they were so small.
Iused to get masses of weeds because of the watering.

I now start them off in loo rolls and have never looked back.

[rhysdad]

As i mentioned in another parsnip thread, i sowed three 10' rows, watered well and sowed the seed into those. I backfilled with MP compost and fleeced. Bingo!!  About 90% germination i'd say with a couple of 18" long sections with no seedlings so i'm well happy with that. I hand weed between the rows and just keep at it to try to keep the chickweed at bay. I sowed 3/4 seeds per 6" and the packet (T&M White Gem) says i have no need to thin. As i'm not after monster snips, i'll leave be and see what happens....

[JayG]

As i mentioned in another parsnip thread, i sowed three 10' rows, watered well and sowed the seed into those. I backfilled with MP compost and fleeced. Bingo!!  About 90% germination i'd say with a couple of 18" long sections with no seedlings so i'm well happy with that. I hand weed between the rows and just keep at it to try to keep the chickweed at bay. I sowed 3/4 seeds per 6" and the packet (T&M White Gem) says i have no need to thin. As i'm not after monster snips, i'll leave be and see what happens....

Don't really want to disagree with what the great T&M say on their seed packets, but I can't help being a bit concerned that having up to 4 parsnips growing in the same place at each station will not allow any of them to develop properly (don't think you can rely on them to make room for each other in the same way that, say, beetroot can to some extent.)

What do others think?

[stompy]

I agree Jay,

Beets are not a deep crop so they can push eachother to a side whereas snips go down 2ft sometimes (and you know how hard they are to get out) so they wont move to accomodate each other.

I think you would end up with misshapen twisted and probably unusable roots if you didn't thin to 1 per station!

[Grubbypaws]

There seem to be some real parsnip enthusiasts on this thread so can I ask you all a question; which variety are the sweetest?

[mumofstig]

. I sowed 3/4 seeds per 6" and the packet (T&M White Gem) says i have no need to thin. As i'm not after monster snips, i'll leave be and see what happens....

Don't really want to disagree with what the great T&M say on their seed packets, but I can't help being a bit concerned that having up to 4 parsnips growing in the same place at each station will not allow any of them to develop properly

funnily enough on their own site they tell you to thin 

Sow clusters of 4 seeds every 20cm (8 inches) and thin out to the strongest seedlings after germination.

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/vegetable-seeds/carrot-and-parsnip-seeds/parsnip-white-gem/985TM

[tangojulie]

I had broadcast some wild flower seed on the patio (stone chippings) so the last few weeks have been 'oh goodie, some wild flowers coming through'.... ' 'I wonder what those wild flowers are' .... 'those look quite like parsnips, I wonder what they are' ... 'OMG they ARE parsnips!'

I used every method know to man to get them going in the veg bed and had pretty much 70% success rate with everything I tried  .... but I conclude that sow thickly and leave them to get on with it, thinning later, is probably as good a method as any!

Still don't know how the seed got there in the first place.

[JayG]

. I sowed 3/4 seeds per 6" and the packet (T&M White Gem) says i have no need to thin. As i'm not after monster snips, i'll leave be and see what happens....

Don't really want to disagree with what the great T&M say on their seed packets, but I can't help being a bit concerned that having up to 4 parsnips growing in the same place at each station will not allow any of them to develop properly

funnily enough on their own site they tell you to thin 

Sow clusters of 4 seeds every 20cm (8 inches) and thin out to the strongest seedlings after germination.

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/vegetable-seeds/carrot-and-parsnip-seeds/parsnip-white-gem/985TM

Bit of a "Groundhog Day" moment in that link (how very careless of them!) 

[Growster...]

The mention of there still being time to plant a few in paper pots, made me peer at a few gaps in my row, which germinated 90%.

So just for the hell of it, I'm doing just that to try and get a few more to fill the gaps.

I made the paper pots as you do, filled them with compost, and just left four of this year's seeds on the surface of each pot, and watered them lightly last evening.

This morning, I sprinkled them with a little more compost, and they're in the greenhouse, on the top shelf.

I made the pots over 4" deep to let the tap root out for a run, and we'll see what happens...

[mumofstig]

get them in the ground as soon as the 2nd leaf starts to grow, the root will be at the bottom by then