Above is a pic of my winning parsnips at the weekend's show. My set is on the left and some discussion was taking place in the marquee as to why my set had won. The other 2 sets were undoubtedly bigger but perhaps not as uniform. Also, they could have done with a little bit more careful cleaning to get all the soil out of the tiny crevises where the root hairs grow from. It doesn't take long and can make a difference between a first or a second place card.
Parsnips can suffer from a rot called canker and any sign of it will also downpoint your exhibit. My set was clear of it but I think the other 2 sets may have had the odd blemish where canker had started to take hold.
Having said all that I'm not happy with the size of my roots this year. The cold, late Spring meant the 1st sowings failed and they all had to be scrapped and started again at the end of April. The quality is very good however and there is no sign of carrot root fly or canker. Perhaps the cold Spring had something to do with this also?
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