The plants are knocked out of the tray they were in, trying not to disturb the root ball too much. I transplanted into 9cm square pots into multi-purpose compost with a smidgeon of added Q4.
A thin cane is pushed into the root ball, about 1/2" from the plant, and a 2" section of 3/4" bore pipe lagging is pushed over the plant and secured to the cane. I position the lagging so that the growing point is halfway down inside it. This is to encourage the growing point upwards.
With other leek varieties the leek is pushed upwards in relation to the girth, but Pendle Improved needs stretching as quickly as possible, and can mean they look drastically out of proportion but they seem to fill out. Because I only use short sections of lagging the lower part of the barrel will turn green but will soon blanch after planting in May when I cover it with DPC. I never seem to experience a problem doing it this way. Perhaps the extra chlorophyl helps as you are covering quite a bit of the upper leaf area in an effort to lengthen the plants.
Finally a green clip near the top of the cane keeps the foliage upright and also helps to keep the plant growing upwards.
3 comments:
Apparently tin foil is pretty rubbish in grow chambers,I've been advised by someone that matt white painted hardboard or similar reflects more light and more of the full light spectrum than foil.
I've just changed mine from foil to white so we'll see.
Have them leeks got ricketts or did you use a special lense to take the pictures.
As current BBC Champion I'd have thought there's only one out of the three of us who knows what he's on about when it comes to growing leeks.
Case rested!
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