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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Poor parsnip germination?


Parsnip seed is notoriously slow to germinate when sown outside, and can take several weeks to show through leaving you wondering whether it has failed altogether.

When growing for show those extra few weeks can be vital for the end result (i.e. what you display on the show bench) so I germinate my seed on kitchen towelling indoors.

I put some paper towel at the bottom of a tupperware container, sprinkle some compost over that and water lightly so that it isn't saturated. The seeds are placed on the surface of the compost so that they are just moistened by the wet compost. After a week or so the white root radicle will pop through the bottom end of the seed casing and at this point I put them (very carefully using tweezers) into the prepared stations in my raised beds, covering them over with 1/4" of sieved compost.

2 seeds are placed in each 'station'....the weakest one will be cut away if both come through. The seed leaves should be through the surface of the compost within 2 weeks, and I then place an upturned plastic bottle with the bottom cut out over each seedling to act as a mini-cloche. They soon romp away at that point and growth can be phenomenal if the weather is decent.

1 comment:

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