Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: JJ on March 12, 2010, 18:55:18
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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://allaboutallotments.com/Leeksbunchforweb.jpg)
http://www.allaboutallotments.com/index.html
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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
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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
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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 ;D).
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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.
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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... :)
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thanks for all your advice,only one more thing do i give them a weak liquid feed why they are in trays
jj
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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
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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. :)
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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. ;D ;D ;D
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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. ;)
(http://www.allotment-diary.co.uk/DSC03401.JPG-for-web-normal.jpg)
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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. ;)
(http://www.allotment-diary.co.uk/DSC03401.JPG-for-web-normal.jpg)
I only planted my seeds in a 9 inch pot yesterday. I'm assuming I still have plenty of time for these to grow?
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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 ;)
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It does depend on which variety you are growing though, mine are always Musselburgh which over-winter well.
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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.
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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!
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I planted Musslebugh and white lisbon 2 weeks ago under cold frame outside and not a dicky bird. My middle name is not patience so I'm guessing I'll have a trawl through some garden centres and see if they have a few to plant out later.
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I would not give up on them yet. Watched pots and all that.
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tee-hee! I just went on ebay and found that 5 leek plugs
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-x-Leek-Zermatt-vegetable-plug-plants_W0QQitemZ310206024431QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_HomeGarden_Garden_PlantsSeedsBulbs_JN?hash=item4839b84aef
cost £2 without p&p.
think the garden will teach me some patience yet!!!
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....and a short week later, Digeroo, the French onions seeds, Hatif de Paris have started to sprout!
(the impatient gardener!)
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I was wondering if I could put my leeks (it pots) that are now a few inches high outside yet? I can't remember what I did last year ::) . I'm presuming their tough little things?
Thanks
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Leeks are quite hardy but i don,t think i would be putting them outside just yet, but then i am in the North East so not the warmest of places.
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Thanks Davy - its just with April and the squash / bean planting I'll be juggling for space. I'll keep them in for a week or so more then put them in the placcy greenhouse for a few days. What I do need to remember is to pot them on again!
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I haven't even picked half of my leeks from last year yet!! but hopefully I will when I get down the lottie at the weekend.
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Did you use any heat in your cold-frame, I have two cracking trays of leeks coming on beautiful little things, :)
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Thanks Davy - its just with April and the squash / bean planting I'll be juggling for space. I'll keep them in for a week or so more then put them in the placcy greenhouse for a few days. What I do need to remember is to pot them on again!
I have been growing for a few year now and never had to pot on one pot leek i don,t understand why people make a rod for their own backs. I set my leeks away in plant pots the top is covered with clear polythene or glass then something to keep the light out.
[attachment=1]
After germination they are left to grow on in the same pot till they get planted out.
[attachment=2]
does not take much space up either
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Mine are doing well, germinated well in the pots. When do peeps put them outside. Do they need hardening off first?
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Digeroo. I think they say you should plant them out when they're the thickness of a pencil. I think the jury is out on whether to trim or not ;).
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I think you have to be lucky to get them the size of a pencil it more like the size of the wire come out the back of your mouse.
I always top and tail mjy leeks apart from making it easier to get into the dibble hole it promotes new root growth. When you trim the tops its usually only two flags and you loose them anyway.
Planting out usually depends on where you live and of course the weather.
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i started mine last week in the greenhouse and they are already breaking the compost
last time i grew leeks i trimmed the roots,had tasty leeks but far from show winners
this time im not trimming the roots just to see, also have some spare drainpipe around the plot so will try blanching them for the first time
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i started mine last week in the greenhouse and they are already breaking the compost
last time i grew leeks i trimmed the roots,had tasty leeks but far from show winners
this time im not trimming the roots just to see, also have some spare drainpipe around the plot so will try blanching them for the first time
Fine if you are growing Blanch leeks, but for pot leeks it does not really work as the leek will reach for light and not fatten up and you end up with a tall thin spindly leek So you have to fatten the leek then collar it but by then the days are to short so there is not enough light for the leek to reach for.
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I have been growing for a few year now and never had to pot on one pot leek i don,t understand why people make a rod for their own backs. I set my leeks away in plant pots the top is covered with clear polythene or glass then something to keep the light out.
After germination they are left to grow on in the same pot till they get planted out.
does not take much space up either
Basically I saw your thread / pics after I had sown mine in much smaller pots ::) Lesson learnt - hope to remember it for next year :) Thanks again!
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Usually plant the leeks out as I lift the tatties, by then they are of good size..
so 10-12 weeks time onwards, keep lifting (spuds ) follow with leeks.
Oh! I grow/sow my leeks in as deeper tray, pot as possible, once they are well on their way, crash hats have dissapeared :), leave them outside to harden off.
Happy plotting one and all ;)
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Leeks are quite hardy but i don,t think i would be putting them outside just yet, but then i am in the North East so not the warmest of places.
...but one of the easiest places on the planet to get advice about leeks if memory serves :D
chrisc