Grow Your Own Magazine

see page 12 of saturdays telegraph.
According to a Which report Marshalls and DT Browns emerge poorly from a seed trial which found in one case more than 80% of
parsnip seeds had no hope of germination. Guess it's buyer beware.

Hi
Haven't used Marshall's but grew quite a lot from D T Brown - chard, swede, squash, beans and cucumbers.
No problem with germination, my only quibble was the cucumber got mildew early on and I lost a lot of potential cucumbers.
Sue

I think that parsnips are one of those seeds which have a notoriously short shelf life of viability - so perhaps that is not surprising.

Had there been an 80% of failure on something which grows on like a weed then that would perhaps be seriously worrying.

Some people will find outcomes from seed starts OK while others will be cursing. Possibly a case of whether you have a knack or just the sheer good luck with certain things. 100%, or near 100%, failures should most definitely be reported back to the supplier with a refund/replacement requested.

I personally tend to use T&M for most things - but this year I've branched out and use Jungle Seeds for my exotics. I'll be starting some of these exotics over the winter months and only time will tell. They are quite clear that they do need TLC and that some need immediate planting. For instance - in my order they sent a Wampee Fruit (still trying to get proper info on this one) seed which was already partly germinated and green - what they call 'fresh' seed. This was unordered and a complete surprise! I actually thought there was something 'alive' of an unpleasant nature in the pack before I took a closer look! I've planted it up and so far it remains in land of living......but for how long in my tender care?

These were amongst my luxury purchases for the year. My treat and diversion and I'm fully prepared for total failure. I don't think it would be fair to demand a refund unless seeds already rotten for instance. Their Caveat Emptor is loud and clear.

Its always worth being aware of stats in advance of an informed purchase - but they may be skewed to accommodate a particular survey.

Can't remember which parsnip seed I used this year, but the germination rate was awful. I don't seem to have a problem with anything else, just parsnips. I've got just 3 parsnips growing where I was hoping for 12 (planted 3 seeds at each station). They were bad last year too, but I did manage 6 and they were huge and very tasty! It's the one thing where I buy fresh seed every year (which is why I don't still have the packet), but it's really not worth it if the germination rate is so poor.

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Well i am not one for plugging things willy nilly but i can assure you all that i had 100 % germination from my 'Sutton's F1 Gladiator' parsnip seeds. The germination result was so good that i am keeping the remainder of the packet o seed to use for next years crop too. I grew the seeds in buckets and have harvested some huge parsnips this month an will be keeping the rest for the yule tide feast.

I Will;l let you know how the germination result fares in 2009 for this same pack o seeds.

Wren

Thank Wren. I've made a note on my seed list. Do you do anything in particular to germinate the parsnip seeds or just plant em and let em grow? I know that parsnip seed can be difficult to germinate and I've read that others have different ways of getting them started.

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I've heard that parsnip is difficult to germinate too, but I just chucked a load of seed on a raised bed in my garden at home (rubbish soil!!) and it looks as though I've got a bumper crop. Tried a couple about 3 weeks ago and they really were deeeeeeelish

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thats so not fair i have tried to grow parsnips for 2 years now and i think i have had about 4 seeds germinate in that time ...maybe i am trying to hard and should do what you do chuck seeds on bed wait get good crop sounds really easy when you say it like that well congrats to you i will try again but as comfreyfan said if anyone has any tricks would be glad to hear of them

I grew mine in some florist buckets so i had the depth of soil.
Like carrots you need to plant the seeds in the situ that they will be grown on in as they grow distorted if you try and transplant them. I filled the buckets with ordinary B&Q peat free multi purpose compost and sowed the seeds about 1cm deep. I kept the buckets in a corner o my kitchen on the floor and checked to make sure the compost remained moist and about ten days later the seedlings started to come through. I didn't bother with toilet rolls or such as i were not transplanting them . Hope that helps a bit

Wren

Yay! I'm glad you were pleased with Gladiator (It's the first hybrid parsnip that my company bred - not Suttons BTW, they buy it from us!). Its an exceptional variety and usually performs well. We only send out seed with high levels of germination so you shouldn't have a problem unless your supplier has held on to seed stock for ages.

follow the links from here to find a list of F1 hybrids that should always have high germ rates: Tozer Seeds, Vegetable Seed Breeders, Cobham, UK

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i had a pack of parsnips, i planted some in the back garden in compost and soil......nothing, planted in peat type pots in just compost, about 3 germinated out of about 20, dug up the front lawn, sowed the rest in a square metre of soil that has had no food and grass growing for donkeys years, and the bed is full ..... i say chuck em in the soil and forget about them or maybe i just have perfect parsnip soil in my front garden?

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sounds like germinating parsnips require NO tender loving care, bit like herbs, not everything loves rich well fed soil.

at least i hope so, cos i want to grow them next year, and its going to be buckets and compost for me

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Just to be clear about the original issue...

Which? tested the viability of various packets of seeds by sowing the whole pack (not in the soil, but so you could see the individual seeds). They found that in some cases, a high proportion of seeds did not germinate - these were tested and found to actually be "dead".

They rated each company out of 5, with a separate score for flowers and vegetables - for some reason!

I would say that it was a useful exercise to show consumers that they should not necessarily accept that poor germination is their own fault, and it's always worth querying very poor results with the supplier.

I have bought an awful lot of seeds, and I have to say there have been maybe only one or two occasions when I considered returning a pack... and the suppliers were not those which Which? found to be poor in their trial.

I would personally be more interested in seeing a test on things like garlic bulbs, shallots, seed potatoes and other "fleshy" stuff - I have had some pretty poor batches from apparently reputable companies. These are obviously even harder to store and transport than seeds, but then they cost a lot more.

Cutecumber,did they give any good results,or was it just these two were poor?
Personnaly I've always done well with Suttons Parsnips,you have to have new seed every year,I wonder if some old stock got into the test supply?

I thought that there was an EU rule about at least 80% germination or they have to warn you....? I may have imagined this. Ayone else heard this?

I've mainly used T&M in my brief 2 years 'on the job'.

The supplier which scored 5 out of 5 for both flowers and veg was "Plants of Distinction". Which? found that, on average, 85% of seeds germinated. They said that the downside was that there was very little sowing and growing information provided.

Tuckers, Kings, Nicky's, Seed by Size, Simpson's, Suffolk Herbs and Unwins all scored 5 out of 5 for their vegetable seeds.

No companies scored less than 3 out of 5 for vegetable seed.

The vegetable seed was parsnip, parsley and sweet pepper.