Effin Parsnips!!!

[Grovsey]

excuse my French but they drive me mad!

This year out of a 6 foot row 2 have germinated!!! Yes TWO!!!!

Every year I have this battle with germination.......

Any tips??

[shirlthegirl43]

I have been trying to germinate on damp paper first but no luck here either and they are fresh seed.

[HeyWayne]

Loo rolls and an electric propagator for me, worked a treat.

[Grovsey]

loo rolls?

[HeyWayne]

loo rolls?

Worked with carrots too. Stand a load of loo roll centres (or kitchen paper rolls cut in half) in a seed tray, fill them with compost and sow the seeds on top. I then placed the whole thing in an electric propagator (although the carrots seemed to work fine just in the greenhouse).

When it comes to planting out, you plant the whole loo roll tube in the ground (no root disturbance - which parnsips and carrots hate) and it will rot down in the ground so by the time you come to lift them it will have gone. Magic.

[Paulottie]

AH...a parsnip germination thread...steady CuteC!

Maybe the moment to endeavour to use the excellent search facility afforded by the site. In the green task bar at the top you'll find it and there are many tips on this tricky subject.

I quite like the chitting on kitchen paper method (with or without the piping bag of wall paper paste...tweezers fine)

Otherwise there is sowing radishes along the row or the simple but effective hoops with plastic cloche idea. To be fair it has been pretty wet this year so far and there is pleanty of time yet...they take a few weeks but will just rot if the conditions are wrong, try again next week eh!

[peanut]

I haven't sown any yet this year but last year I just chucked them in and they grew! Probably beginners luck!

[scarey55]

I started mine off on wet kitchen roll (warm water) then covered the dish with cling film. A good proportion of them germinated, and I still have some left despite my best efforts to cook them in full sun in the mini greenhouse
The other thing I did - don't know if it helped, was to put the dish very close to my wood burner whilst it was on - do you have a boiler or somewhere warm where you could put them? I think they need sunlight too though.

[Cutecumber]

Muhahahahahaha!

I can't stand parsnips, nor parsnip threads, as you know... but...

Guess what?

I have beautiful parsnip seedlings growing steadily in a large deep pot. Little monkeys. I put some seeds to chit on wet kitchen roll in a plastic box in a warm place and they all did their thing between about 10 days to 2 weeks. So I planted them.

Typical, isn't it.

Waste of compost if you ask me.

[nerobot]

About half of mine have only just come through. They do take a long time, so I would just say be patient.

Steven

P.S. has anyone tried planting turnips between rows of parsnips to help mark out the lines? I've tried it this year for the first time and it seems to be working well. I only hope that my parsnips grow really slowley so that the turnips don't interfer with them (first time growing parsnips to).

[scarey55]

... has anyone tried planting turnips between rows of parsnips to help mark out the lines? I've tried it this year for the first time and it seems to be working well. I only hope that my parsnips grow really slowley so that the turnips don't interfer with them (first time growing parsnips to).

I heard somewhere (probably here) that radishes are a good row marker because they grow very quickly, not tried it myself yet though.

[Flummery]

... and at least if the (P-word!) things don't come, you've still got a row of radishes!

[Mikey]

I've never had a problem with parsnips in the past but then I always had good soil, only time will tell how this year goes.

[moggssue]

[QUOTE=nerobot;218597]

P.S. has anyone tried planting turnips between rows of parsnips to help mark out the lines? QUOTE]

I read somewhere, I think it was a thread on here, that a few turnips sown every now and then in a row of carrots help confuse carrot fly, maybe its the same for parsnips?

[JennieAtkinson]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I've not had a problem with germination, just growing the bloomin things. They are in the ground for so long (8 months) and yet still seem to be extremely tiny and spindly. Have I got the wrong soil?