leeks

[JJ]

Hi i sown some leeks in trays early Feb,they are about 11/2''now do i have to re pot them in bigger pots before they go into the ground
                  thanks for any advice

                                                       jj                                                                     

[star]

I would only do that if you're showing them. Otherwise just leave them where they are till they get to the thickness of a pencil.....so they say. But I have planted out when they were thinner and they've been fine.

[Robert_Brenchley]

They may need something deeper than a tray; mine never get to any decent size unless I move them on. I plant them out, about an inch apart, somewhere they won't be in the way. Then I plant them properly when they get to around the classic pencil size.

[PurpleHeather]

If you have the time, you could put them in toilet roll tubes. Or similar

The roots can get a bit tangled together in trays.

[allaboutliverpool]

Leeks are the most incredibly tough plants.

You can grow 30-40  in a 7mm pot and end up with a tangled mass of roots and lose half the roots as you untangle them.

Just pop them into holes, water, and you get 100% success!



http://www.allaboutallotments.com/index.html

[Ninnyscrops.]

Always start mine off by sowing liberally in a 8 inch pot, let them grow to about 6-8 inches tall, soak the pot in a bucket, take the bunch out of the pot and dump back in the bucket of water to tease the plants/roots apart.

Almost indestructible when you consider lots of folk trim the roots anyway before planting in their final growing position.

Ninny

[chriscross1966]

It's slightly less faff I find to run a 40 or 60 drop module with 1-2 seeds per module through a propagator..... it's a time when I don't have anything else in them and it only takes a couple of weeks ... then they can sit in a gravel tray of damp sand till I've got time to deal with them, generally they'll then go into the ground in a nursery bed, but equally they could go into their final positions.... spares go in at half spacing and get pulled young....

chrisc

[electric landlady]

My unscientific method is so sow seeds fairly thickly all over the surface of a seed tray of compost, and wait till the seedlings are a couple of inches tall and look a bit like grass. Then I separate them into clumps and pot them all on into an 8" pot so that they are quite packed in but have a bit more depth to grow longer roots. They then grow happily away till they are about 6 - 8" tall at which point I empty them all out and plant in their final position outside. 

They do seem to be pretty much indestructible. Some of the roots come off when I am moving them around but if you are careful and soak them first most will remain. I have had really good crops for the last two years doing this. I did start off sowing seeds in individual modules but this took ages and was too fiddly for impatient old me, and resulted in far less leeks (and we do like a lot of leeks ).

[pigeonseed]

I'm growing leeks for the first time this year, so I'm heartened to hear they're tough!

I was planning to grow them in a seed bed though - I've made the bed, and it's got an old shower screen over it atm to warm it up a bit.

It sounds like everyone here sows them indoors though. I suppose you'll all get much earlier leeks.
I'm trying to limit the amount sown indoors to the strictly neccessary, because I haven't got much window-sill space.

[saddad]

They'll do fine outside... just watch it doesn't get too dry under cover until they are about 2" tall... after that they will find the water... 

[JJ]

thanks for all your advice,only one more thing do i give them a weak liquid feed why they are in trays
                                           jj

[chriscross1966]

I'm growing leeks for the first time this year, so I'm heartened to hear they're tough!

I was planning to grow them in a seed bed though - I've made the bed, and it's got an old shower screen over it atm to warm it up a bit.

It sounds like everyone here sows them indoors though. I suppose you'll all get much earlier leeks.
I'm trying to limit the amount sown indoors to the strictly neccessary, because I haven't got much window-sill space.

I just find it a bit more reliable, they'll be going outside soon, probably in pots as I'll be moving house and want them to be either in the garden at the new place or in an allotment near the new place, the allotment near work will be for bulk-harvesting crops (spuds, winter squashes, onions, garlic and shelling beans) to minimise the day-to-day input neede on a site that'll be 30 miles from where I'll be living.... I'll be able to get down there weekday evenings but carrying much more than a handful of beans away will need me to drive rather than my folding-bicycle plus long bus commute.....

chrisc

[Tulipa]

JJ, I grow mine in a seedbed outside, like you I only have windowsills so anything that doesn't need to be inside really helps.  I don't find I need to feed them at all and they always do really well with very little care.

[cornykev]

I have sown mine in an ice cream tub and they will stay there for a while, the roots get trimmed back to I don't worry about tangling. 

[vegmandan]

If you grow them from seed into a big deep polystyrene veg box you don't need to pot on.
You'll get good foot tall plants ready to transplant dead easily due to the depth of the compost.

[GlentoranMark]

If you grow them from seed into a big deep polystyrene veg box you don't need to pot on.
You'll get good foot tall plants ready to transplant dead easily due to the depth of the compost.

I only planted my seeds in a 9 inch pot yesterday. I'm assuming I still have plenty of time for these to grow?

[Tulipa]

Yes Mark, plenty of time to grow, I haven't even thought about it yet!  That photo could well have been taken in June.  I always reckon to have my leeks planted in their final spot before I go on holiday and the last of them often go in where my early potatoes come out of, so no panic yet

[Tulipa]

It does depend on which variety you are growing though, mine are always Musselburgh which over-winter well.

[Digeroo]

I grew leeks for the first time last year and with advice  from here did a very good job.  They seem to be a very easy crop.  Started them off outside but they took a very long time to get going.   Seems to be in the grass category for ages.  Did better when I fed them.  Were still very spindly when I planted them out.

Various other people on site started them off in pots, it was not so much that they were earlier, but they were much much bigger, and so survived the winter better because some of my thinner ones were blown over.  So I have now started mine off this year in pots.  I hate the smell of leeks so I just hope they do not smell too much on the windowsill.  I had been hoping to put them where the PSB was but since it has not get started into action there is going to be some pressure on space during May.

For many crops smaller is better but I do not think that this holds true for leeks.

[GlentoranMark]

Thanks for the reassurance, I thought I'd be OK.

I got some plants given to me last year in June and they turned out fine (similar to Vegmandan's picture) but I've never tried them from seed.

So many things to do!