Topic: Parsnips

[boydzfish]

Haven't been on the forum for a while but have had a reasonably good 2013 season despite Armageddon by cabbage whites - my curly kale and caballo cabbages have leaves on them now so have fresh greens. Anyway, turning to next year (Once the lotty emerges from the water!!) I did get a fairly good crop of parsnips but a lot of them were stumpy - tasted OK and I used them for Spicy parsnip soup. I read an article in our local paper where this gardener used to make a conical hole with a dibber, fill it with compost and then plant his parsnip seeds. I though it was not advisable to plant root veg in compost as it encouraged them to split or create more roots. So Happy New Year and here's to a great growing season.

[Pescador]

Shouldn't be a problem planting in compost. It's fresh manure that people say causes forking

[sticks]

That's the way I do my parsnips and I've had great success with it - give it a go.

I tried the same method with carrots last year with mixed results - some great, perfectly formed carrot and some with considerable forking - but generally better than my previous attempts.

[marcofez]

I have a mix bag when growing parsnips.
Seems a lot of faffing around to plant the seeds but I'm gonna give it a go and try a 8ft row. Also gonna try this with some carrots.

[boydzfish]

Thanks for your replies, will give it a try this year and see what happens.

[laurieuk]

I think the confusion comes in that we use the word compost for two different things. Compost can be what we get when we rot down all our waste veg etc. which should not be used where you are growing parsnips but we also use the word compost to describe the mixture we but or make for pot plants etc. When I first started we always made big holes with a pitcher which was filled with soil compost and 3 seeds sown at each station. these were thinned to one and the parsnips grew about 2 2 1/2 to 3 ft long. If you sow parsnip seed in a row it is a good idea to put a very small amount of radish seed with it so that you can see where the row is while waiting  for the parsnip to germinate.

[antipodes]

Compost can be what we get when we rot down all our waste veg etc. which should not be used where you are growing parsnips

laurie, why would you not put compost down where you wanted to grow root veg?  What do you use instead, as manure cannot be used there either?

[laurieuk]

Compost   (rotted veg.etc.)  will cause root vegetables like carrot or parsnips to grow forked rather than a good single root. You could use compost such as JI 3 , peat based or peat free as this is well mixed and generally will not cause forked roots.  It really is confusing that we use the same word for such different things.

[ed dibbles]

I never make individual holes for parsnips. The thing that works for me is firstly a well loosened soil free of large clods. (not always easy so early in the year but we often have a week or two of mild weather for it).

The seeds are sown in rows about a foot apart and covered with planks to protect the soil structure from rainfall and to keep in moisture if it turns dry.

After a couple of weeks the planks are removed upon the first signs of germination.

The majority of parsnips this year are unforked (you will always get the odd one or two) and they were sown last spring while there was still frost in the ground!

[Vinlander]

I never make individual holes for parsnips. The thing that works for me is firstly a well loosened soil free of large clods. (not always easy so early in the year but we often have a week or two of mild weather for it).

The seeds are sown in rows about a foot apart and covered with planks to protect the soil structure from rainfall and to keep in moisture if it turns dry.

After a couple of weeks the planks are removed upon the first signs of germination.

This method is even more useful for carrots because (unlike parsnips) they don't have the strength to break through any kind of crust on the soil - and the plank keeps the soil soft until they emerge - you just have to be extra vigilant make sure you catch the green shoots before the tiny seeds run out of energy. - you also need truly rigorous application of slug pellets under the plank - not quite so important with parsnips.

I encountered it first in an article about growing in Africa where even light-ish soils can develop a crust in no time.

My favourite method for carrots or parsnips etc. is a sand-filled slit trench (just waggle the spade in the soil and pour dried sharp-sand into the slot) - exactly the same as is recommended for rooting blackcurrant cuttings. This is quicker than holes for a row and discourages forking - especially forking out of the plane of the slit.

Cheers.

[saddad]

I agree the plank idea, to stop the soil capping, works really well on my heavy clay soil. I also use spent multi purpose compost from last years toms, aubergines, peppers etc., to grow my carrots and parsnips in... 

[antipodes]

Yes last year I got carrots for the first time, and I think they were successful because I sowed then placed a plank right next to the sown area; I think it kept them moist.
I will do this again, and for parsnips and turnips too. Think this time I will try to add plenty of sand to the soil and a few pellets of fertilizer but not too much.

[Jayb]

We get a lot of trouble with carrot root fly here so I've been growing my carrots and parsnips in slightly raised beds and covering the beds with hoops and debris netting as soon as the seed is sown. Apart from keeping root fly out they make great little mirco climates which the plants seem to love and it also keep the soil moist by the partial shading of the netting. 

[Robert_Brenchley]

Planks work well as long as you remove them as soon as you see green shoots. I wonder whether clear plastic which would let the light through might be better.

[Vinlander]

Planks work well as long as you remove them as soon as you see green shoots. I wonder whether clear plastic which would let the light through might be better.

I've tried using clear flexible plastic for the same reasons - and it puts you at the mercy of the weather - because more than an hour of sunshine can boil the green shoots to mush.

I also tried glass - actually all the broken slivers 5-20cm wide that are useless for anything else... a bit better but still too dangerous after half a day of sun. Clear rigid plastic would be the same. BTW this is a brilliant method - for protecting onion sets from birds - especially if you are going away for a fortnight.

An ideal compromise would be to add reliable shade to the clear cover - that way you would still see the shoots as soon as they appear - but it's a lot of work when the sand filled slit works better and also doesn't attract slugs.

Obviously improving the soil works too but it's a hell of a lot of work for a root crop - it only makes sense at the start of your rotation.

The whole point of these techniques is when you want to plant root crops without preparation... perhaps squeeze some in when you've run out of space elsewhere.

Incidentally, I've tried using spent compost in my deep slits (and ordinary V drills) instead of sand ... to cut a long story short:

Neat John Innes works OK because it still just about works when the 25% or so of peat has washed away, but peat and/or composted waste composts disappear entirely if there's anything more than a light shower - and they WILL disappear in a light shower if they have had a chance to dry out beforehand - dry organic matter just floats away...

Cheers.

[daitheplant]

Why cover the seeded area with planks? that is ridiculous. It is easier for seedlings to poke through panned soil than PLANKS for goodness sake.

[daitheplant]

Compost   (rotted veg.etc.)  will cause root vegetables like carrot or parsnips to grow forked rather than a good single root. You could use compost such as JI 3 , peat based or peat free as this is well mixed and generally will not cause forked roots.  It really is confusing that we use the same word for such different things.
[/quote
Laurie, ALL compost is decomposed vegetation. Manure, as has been said, is what causes forking. As does stony ground.

[ed dibbles]

Parsnip seeds, being light and papery, can be prone to sunny weather drying them out in certain soils. Likewise the soil surface can become caked in wet weather after which it then sets hard after a subsequent dry spell making it harder for the parsnip seeds to push through.

The planks avoid both problems but they must be removed at the first signs of germination.

This is what works for me after loosing parsnip crops to both climatic situations before. Others have their own methods that work for them and whatever works for growers is great if we can secure our crops.

Another tip for all direct sown seed is to water the drill before sowing so the seeds are in contact with moisture during germination if the weather is dry or turns dry.

[petefj]

I've used the following method for parsnips for years now, and it works well.

All winter I retain the cardboard rollers at the center of a toilet roll.  Or you can make your own out of newspaper rolled and stapled together.
Come spring, I pack the rollers with a good seed compost and plant two seeds in the top of each roller and pinch out one if two appear.  You need to keep an eye on the bottom of the roller to see when that long taproot appears.  The moment it does, then plant them out.  If you leave the tap root to coil up and get crowded in the bottom of the tube your resulting crop will be poor.

I've done this for years and it works a treat.  I get no gaps in the rows, and very good crops of parsnips.  I'm still pulling them and as far as I can see every plant grew to fruition and ended up in the kitchen.

Peter

[Vinlander]

Hi Peter,

I know other people swear by the cardboard roll method - but it is a lot of work and the only time I used it a rainstorm washed soil away from half of them exposing 10mm or so of cardboard.

Murphy's law ensured that the sun came out afterward and dried the exposed cardboard - which very efficiently dried out the seed compost to a depth of 30mm or so. The seedlings thus affected did not recover.

Keep it simple... when it comes down to it parsnips really aren't that delicate - if you can't find an easier way then just plant double and thin.

These days I only use intensive methods if there's no other way - eg. for mild/seasoning chillies.

Cheers.