Leeks - indoors or out?

[chappy]

Hi all,

Just planning for my leek crop.

Seems my timing right now is just between that suggested for an indoor start and going stright into a seedbed.

When articles suggest sowing in a seedbed and the doing the "puddle in" trick when transplanting.

Is that a better strategy than just sowing a drill and then thinning?

Or is it really best to sow a drill somewhere else and then transplant puddling in?

Or should I still start them off in trays and transplant puddle in later?

I guess all will work, but would love to know what would be the best strategy.

Cheers,

Chappy.

[chappy]

[Tee Gee]

I would go the sow in trays/pots and transplant route.

At least this way you have a bit of control over what the weather might throw at you.

[Robert_Brenchley]

If you want a nice white bit on your leek, you have to transplant it anyway, and drop it down a hole. The easiest way to do that is to start them in seed trays now, and plant out later.

[bupster]

You do have to transplant, but you don't have to sow indoors if you're short of space etc (not that leeks take up that much) - I've tried both ways now and prefer sowing outdoors in short seed drills.

[kt.]

I have just sown mine in a seed tray that is now in an unheated greenhouse.

[Lacelotte]

Last year I got a big pot, three quarter filled it with compost, sprinkled in plenty of leek seeds into it then topped it ip. They all came through in abundance and once they got a few inches tall I simply took the pot to the allotment carefully broke it up and planted out. Maybe a different to how most would plant them but it worked a treat last year and seems to be doing the trick again this year!

[5rod]

5rod here
I sow mine indoors as said above,in a
kichen washing up bowl,then plant out
in june.had great leeks last year

[chappy]

Thanks all.

I'll try the indoor and transplant way.

[saddad]

I've just thinned out into individual pots over 300 leeks (several varieties) and have them in the cold greenhouse to grow on... but as soon as anything else wants the space they are out into the frames!
;D

[manicscousers]

what pots do you use, saddad, I always find it difficult to get them deep enough,

[Vortex]

I sowed mine in the propagator at the beginning of February and transplanted to recycled vending machine cups about 2 weeks ago now. When they're big enough to survive dropping into a 6" deep hole then they'll go out on the plot. I knock them out of their existing pots when doing this but don't generally trim the roots.
Up until this year I've always bought my leek seedlings in, then potted them on in the same fashion, before planting out.
So far I've potted on 160 Musselburgh, got another 100 sitting in a margarine tub, got about 80 Atlanta in another tub, and two weeks sowed a tub of Pandora - these are a late leek and don't go out till after the first earlies come out. I'm about to start pulling these now, although I did have to remove the ones from my father-in-laws plot so he could dig it.

[Sparkly]

I sowed seed in a pot about a foot in diameter and a foot tall. These have been in the coldframe since Feb and are looking up. Last year I tried sowing them in trays, but they did not grow very well. My lottie neighbour suggested the deep pot and they do look much better. He just untangles them when pencil size and transplants into the plot.

[PurpleHeather]

what pots do you use, saddad, I always find it difficult to get them deep enough,

[PurpleHeather]

what pots do you use, saddad, I always find it difficult to get them deep enough,

First grow in a tray then to transplant them individually:-

I collect the inner cardboard rolls from toilet rolls. One leek per tube.

Use these as 'pots' and stand in a plastic tray (ex-supermarket packaging)

The whole tube can be planted out later with the leek inside. The cardboard will rot away and  the leek will grow.

[caseylee]

I have used newspaper pots with mine to start them in the greenhouse, my only concern is that you have to water them in when planting outside, should I take the newspaper off first, or plant in the newspaper pots a bit deeper and water in.

[Robert_Brenchley]

The deep pot idea sounds promising. I start mine in seed trays, then plant them out about an inch apart to grow on for a bit before final planting. maybe with a pot instead of a tray I could eliminate one stage.

[manicscousers]

right, I've been saving the toilet roll tubes and I have rootrainers, there's a toss up between the leeks and sunflowers, think I'll do half of each in each  :)

[Barnowl]

A loo roll / root-trainer  per leek sounds a bit too much like hard work to me to me. I've had decent results from sowing in a seedbed, then thinning, then transplanting (dropping into holes), but I'm not trying to grow super size leeks and am not looking to crop particularly early.

[antipodes]

yeees I am a bit like barnowl - first year sowing leeks, I am doing a winter variety (De Carentan) and I started them off in tubs (bottoms cut off 7 litre water bottles). Now they are about 8-10 cm tall, look like grass but seem healthy, I guess I have about 60 on the go!! i am going to thin them out into wider seed beds, leaving some space between each one till they get to be bigger blades of grass. I don't have space to use pots (these are on the cool pantry windowsill). In a couple of weeks I will stick them out on the protected balcony to grow bigger then into the ground - I think I did them in June last year but they were shop bought tiddlers ;)