Leek seed germination.

[Valleyman]

Mine are approaching pencil thickness at the moment. Pic attached.



Just awaiting another crop of of little gem before they get planted out into their final positions.

[kathyd]

I've never had leeks reach pencil thickness before planting out! I put my still skinny ones in the ground a week or so ago and they seem to have perked up no end. Just as an aside, can anyone please explain to me why we don't backfill the planting holes? Does it hurt if you do so?

[Penellype]

I have some that were sown in February that are nearly pencil thickness but only about 6 of those have survived. The later sowings seem to have taken forever, probalby because of the continuing cold nights, and some of them are only just germinating having been sown at the end of March and again at the beginning of May.

[Scoot]

Mine aren't pencil thickness yet but I shall let them grow in the tub where they are for another month and see what happens before planting out.

[KevinM67]

I've tried growing my leeks a bit differently this year.

I've used 3 round plastic chocolate tins (celebrations, heroes, etc.) with holes drilled in the bottom and the lids used as trays. The hope is that the extra depth might get them to pencil thickness before planting out.

Mainly filled them with last year's mpc, mixed with some growmore - and with a couple of centimetres of seed compost on top. I keep them on a cold south facing window sill.

After a couple of weeks, they have come up a treat.

A quick update on this post from a couple of months ago.

I managed to finally get my leeks to pencil thickness and planted out the first tub in the ground yesterday.

The difference was definitely down to the incresed depth of the tray/tub.

A big thank you to Kristen (wherever you are ) for such a simple but effective tip.

[Kristen]

Also how deep is your "fishmonger's tray" ?

I reckon any container that allows about 3" - 4" of potting compost would be good

These are the roots on mine, when tipped out ready for separating and planting:

[.commander]

Right, I am definitely making bigger holes this year!

[Sharpy]

Thanks for getting back and answering my question. Must have been another veg i was thinking of.

Also how deep is your "fishmonger's tray" ?

[Kristen]

Can't imagine doing them like that I'm afraid. Loo roll tubes (or newspaper pots) normally used for things that need to be planted out without root disturbance ... Leeks don't mine that. Raised in a pot would be hard to plant out deep, so that the step blanches, whereas grown in a "Nursery bed" (as was, in olden times, now a Cat Litter Tray or Fishmonger's polystyrene box ) makes it easy to lift and separate the plants for planting out in dibber'd holes.

[Sharpy]

Hi Kristen.

I read somewhere that toilet roll tubes were good for starting off Leeks. Have you tried this method before ?

[Kristen]

All you can see initially is the tip of a leaf at the top of the hole
It doesn't take them very long to grow up out of the hole.

That's good to know, thanks Its only since I've been growing Leeks in deep trays that I have got the magical pencil thickness, prior to that I could only manage biro-refill thickness! so I suppose back then mine were probably only just-poking-out of dibber holes. Memory not reliable enough to remember that far back though, sorry!

[Martin H]

I've never managed to get my leeks as big as Kristen's before planting them out, but I still drop them right to the bottom of a hole that is the size of my dibber (about 8 inches). All you can see initially is the tip of a leaf at the top of the hole, which of course has only been filled with water to settle in the seedling, not filled with soil.

It doesn't take them very long to grow up out of the hole.

[Kristen]

Here are my leeks just after planting. A fair bit is still above-ground



Joy Larkcom says 6"-8"

[Kristen]

As deep as you can. If the leaves are only poking out a bit they will be fine. In practice I would think my dibber holes are about 9", although maybe I am being a bit optimistic and perhaps it is nearer 6"

[Scoot]

Mine are in something of similar size to the above picture!

How deep have you got to "dib" when the leaks are big enough (same thickness as pencil?)

Is it up to where the leaves start?