I did a forum-based search on celeriac and have read the old threads I could spot but one aspect still bothers me:
All the books I'm reading states that celeriac is notoriously difficult to grow from seed. Could anyone enlighten me (us) on whether this is true and if there are any ways around it (bit like the hot water on parsley seeds trick).
I am planning to sow them indoors and bring them on before planting out. Having never grown them before - and loving them so much - I'd hate to lose all my seeds to truculence on the seed's part and ignorance on mine.
Thanks
Sowing them indoors is the trick, they need warmth to germinate. I will be sowing mine soon, so they get a decent head start, then plant them out about April time. I have never had a germination problem, just getting the blighters to a decent size.
Not only have I never grown them, but I've never eaten them! Bought one once and then forgot I had it so it ended up in the compost. :-[
Waht are they like?
I don't have lots of experience with celeriac as last year was my first one growing it. But I didn't have any problems growing from seed. I also started in modules indoors, I don't think I covered the seeds with soil, or if I did only a very thin sprinkling as I believe they need light to germinate. I sowed them on 18th Feb, they germinated on 2nd March and I potted them up on 8th April, I didn't record a date for planting out so can't remember now but think it was around May. I remember they grew very slowly at first but once planted out they grew away steadily.
Gorgeous veg grawc, celery with no strings attached and lovely mealy texture, crudites or grated or julienne for celeri-remoulade with creamy dressing, roast in the oven or celeriac chips, mmm :P Like curry, I have trub getting them to more than tennis ball size but hope to do better this year ;D
I've read that the ones tennis ball size are tastier than the larger ones :)
It was celeri remoulade that I had in mind at the time. Well I'll have another go. Might even plant some if I get plot 2 cleared!
I've grown them for the past 2 years, but have real trouble getting them bigger than a golf ball :-\
I think they need a lot of water or water retaining material in the soil
Celeriac is nice boiled and mashed with butter, pepper and a grating of nutmeg. After peeling put a little lemon juice in the water, this help stop it going brown.
Like most of the other people who've replied so far I have never had any trouble getting them to germinate. However, even with a long growing time and relatively early planting out mine have never grown to any size.
Fantastic veg though, good raw, great in a variety of veggie mixed, good keeper, very nice in soups. Great all round.
Tennis ball size? Mine are more Table tennis ball size !
They are delightful grawrc, either cut up and put into stews etc, or roast (my favourite).
Hi bennetsleg,
If you have read the previous postings you will have a good idea about celariac growing. My own experience (first year) was that they took quite a lot of looking after, as they do not tolerate the cold but do need to be sown early, germination was not a problem, just a little slow. As I do not have a greenhouse I was putting the seedlings out, bringing the seedlings in putting the seedlings out...... ::) get my drift.
To avoid this this year I have ordered from Dobies 20 pre grown plants that will be delivered sometime at the end of May ready for planting out. They are £3.95 p for 20,
which i think is not too expensive. Too give you some inspiration here is a picture of one of mine that i grew from seed, they have all reached a good size about 800grms
Adrian.
I've grown celeriac a few years but never had any problem with germination. It's a very slow growing plant. I always start my plants off on a heated seed tray, in mid to late January. I usually grow Suttons Monarch. Pot them on at the end of March and plant out beginning of May.
The earlier you get them started the bigger they get. I dig in horse muck where I'm going to plant them, remember they are marsh plants.
heavens to betsy adrianh, you sure it's not a giant pineapple? cor! :o ;D didn't know they were marsh plants, that could make all the difference this year ::)
Does the "bulbous" bit grow above the soil like kohl rabi or is it a root?
A root. The plant is also known as celery root.
Adrian that photo looks so good I'm really tempted to give it a go. And Curry thanks for the info.
Next question: do you peel it before cooking? And if so, as it looks rather rough and bumpy, do you not lose a lot of it by peeling? Or can you just scrub it?
You do appear to lose a lot, the size of the peeled root looks tiny compared with the original vegetable as lifted. However, most of the outside is almost hairlike, very fine roots, so you are not really losing that much is actual weight. Just allow for this when planting out, I generally would plant out about 50 roots, this seems enough for my demand, since we only use it as a supplement to roast potatoes etc, or as a vegetable in stews and soups.
In my experience a sharp knife is essential. Peel off all the rough bits and cook like spuds, you do lose some, but its worth it!! As has been said before its GORGEOUS mashed, I do 50/50 spuds and celeriac with butter etc and its delish!!
Quote from: grawrc on February 03, 2006, 16:43:28
Does the "bulbous" bit grow above the soil like kohl rabi or is it a root?
Bit of both, really.
One of my gardening bibles (1948 Penguin "The Vegetable Grower's Handbook" by Arthur J Simons - fantastic stuff!) states:
"Do not plant deeply. Relentlessly remove side shoots, keeping the plants to a single stem and continually drawing soil away and removing lateral shoots, suckers & fibrous roots from the basal thingy as it forms so that this thingy stands out of the ground as bald as a coot.
Towards the end of the season, when growth is complete (ping-pong size, then?
Ed) any plants that remain in the ground may be earthed up tho' this should not be done before November.
When lidting for storage remove all the leaves
except the little tuft in the centre. If you cut that then the root will waste all its energy in producing another set of leaves. Trim fibrous roots & store in sand."
How did anyone else find their practice contradicted/agreed with the above.
The marsh plant knowledge is extremely helpful, thanks, as is all the other pointers. The ping-pong sized celeriac photographed under a microscope was also intriguing and proof of what is possible. ;D ;D Fingers crossed, eh?
I didn't remove leaves, earth up or anything like that, simply planted them, watered and weeded. They were about tennis ball size, maybe a little bigger and were very tasty. I prefer them smaller as a large one (like the shop bought ones) are too big for our size family. Didn't grow enough either, finished them by Novemberish time. Something did have a go at a couple of them, a round hole was gnawed into the root, might have been that pesky mouse that ate all my pea seeds.
Thanks for all the helpful advice and information. :)I'm constantly amazed at the level of erudition of the folk on this forum. :o
they didnt make trouble germinating, but then took a long time to grow at all.i carefully potted them into small cells when i could handle them, then they took seemingly ages to grow to bedding plant size. actually, it was exactly two months from sowing to planting out - it just seemed like ages.
sowed mid march, planted out mid may.
still have some in the soil now - they have been nibbled a bit but are good to eat :)
i grew (tried to) celeriac last year, but shall take heed of all advice given:
Shall sow early in heated greenhouse
Ensure the planting area has had plenty of muck added
Shall remove outer leaves, water copiously...
...and hope for the best ;D
Mine were leaves and a stump last year :-[
Debs
I've found some seeds of celeriac called "Prinz". Anyone tried them or know anything about them?
I've grown Celeriac for the last two years. Both times I sowed seeds into small modules in about mid march and had no problems with germination - 100% if I recall, both times.
I planted out in May and found that both time I planted them too close! (so much for learning from your mistakes) I think they probably need to be about 10" apart to grow to a decent size. Mine grew to about tennis ball size both years, which to be fair is not too bad, but you do get a lot of waste, so bigger than this is probably better.
Definitely strip the lower shoots off as they start to turn brown and dry, exposing the base of the bulb - which is mainly above ground, not quite like a Kol Rabi, but close.
The other key thing is water - they definitely need a lot of water - this year I will be planting mine closest to the water butt, alongside the celery.
I still have some in the ground now, and they're fine - had one just last week.
Tony
Thanks for all the advice people, I shall be trying to grow celeriac for the first time this year. It will be good to have so much info to measure up too.
Quote from: grawrc on February 04, 2006, 17:49:57
I've found some seeds of celeriac called "Prinz". Anyone tried them or know anything about them?
That's what I grew last year, they were fine :)
Thanks Jesse . I'll try some of those then.
QuoteA root. The plant is also known as celery root.
In fact it's the swollen stem.
You don't need to remove lower leaves on modern varieties.
They're easy to germinate with heat and on my clay they grow very large, I don't give them special treatment or anything but they do need quite a long season.
Try using them to make fishcakes instead of potatoes, taste wonderful
I think I shall try the variety that Adrianhumph grew (Brilliant) which he has
shown on the previous page.
If anyone has not tasted celeriac they MUST! It was born to be mashed with
potatoes, salt, pepper and lashings of butter. :P
The supermarket prices are astronomical - about £1.70 ish for a decent size
such as the one Adrianhumph grew.
I shall make it my challenge to grow a decent sized specimen...
... perhaps another challenging competition idea
Debs
I grew Alabaster last year as recommended by EJ (thank you ;D) and my father-in-law says they are the best he's seen off our patch. They are still on the small side, but very tasty in with some mashed potato.
I am going to start them off in the next few weeks and try sowing them in modules instead of seed trays to see if they get ahead.
Where does it go in the crop rotation?
it's part of the umbilifer (??) carrot like faction - roots, i guess. or free for all.
it can get affected by carrot-like diseases - as can parsley, parsnip, lovage, and celery
Mine go in with the salad crops on the rotation plan
Quote from: Svea on February 06, 2006, 23:23:47
it's part of the umbilifer (??) carrot like faction - roots, i guess. or free for all.
it can get affected by carrot-like diseases - as can parsley, parsnip, lovage, and celery
Just for info, the name for what used to be the umbellifer family is Apiaceae, they don't half change names around a lot it seems to me!
I think the ICBN has made the Umbelliferae a special exception, so that the name Umbelliferae is equally accepted instead of Apiaceae. Sea holly, cumin, coriander, fennel, dill, caraway, agnelica & chervil are the same family, too. Don't know if any of them get the same pests.
Confusing when taxonomists move things about, but they are making so many discoveries about what is related to what with the advent of gene sequencing, so plenty more changes to come, I suppose.
For example, the Scrophulariaceae family which includes a lot of British wildflowers has been shown to consist of a number of genera which are more closely related to other families than to each other, so they will probably end up being put into other families or new families will be created.
Have bought celeriac seeds to try this year after hearing Gordon Ramsey going on and on about how wonderful it is. I bought one to try and had it roasted last night. Lovely I thought...OH spat his out !! Looks like I'll be growing it only for myself then.
Thanks for the tips because I really didn't have a clue what to do with it.
One thing. Will celeriac tolerate shade?
Organic gardening catalogue ...
"Celeriac will tolerate light shade if soil is kept moist in dry weather and it needs a long, unchecked growing season. "
http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2109 (http://www.organiccatalog.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2109)
Does this answer your question. I cannot believe your OH spat the celeriac out ! It is superb when roasted.
Heldi,
Try it mashed into potatoes, salt & pepper and butter.
Thanks Curry. Having spent most of last year clearing rubbish and not doing any cultivating, I atleast got the chance to see the effect of the sun on the plot. I have a light shadey place in mind for the celeriac,next to the tap, which is a bonus.
Mmmm Debs,that certainly sounds delish!
Ah thank you indeed Curry. I know exactly where it's going now (if I can clear the ground in time).
Grawrc, by sowing your seed in a deep seedtray, you will not need to plant out until the end of April or early May (at a guess), so you should have plenty of time to prepare your beds. Accept no excuses !
..right! First get the seeds .. ;)
...just got mine today at Wilkinsons.
Buy 1 get 1 free, so I got Celeriac Alabaster 3 (£1.29)
& Mangetout ( £2.09) celeriac was free - being cheapest.
Debs
I'm playing catch up with the threads and nearly missed this. Glad I found it though as I'm growing Celeriac for the first time and now I know exactly what to do. I've bought Prinz and shall be sowing them in the propagator today.
Just one question: When I prick them out (assuming they germinate OK) do they need to go into the heated greenhouse or the unheated one?
Thanks all for the info. :) I love this place!
I thought it worth reactivating this thread because it contains so much good advice that deserves to be rediscovered
I grew my first crop of celeriac from seed in 2007 and my comments would be:
1. It is slow to germinate (I'd almost given up on the seed trays before anything happened - I had them protected from frost but next year will start them earlier);
2. It grows slowly too (again - start early)
3. It loves water (dunno about muck cos I didn't have any)
4. Cutting off the lowest leaves and side-shoots in AUgust seemed to give it a bit of a boost.
5. Didn't feed it cos I hadn't read this thread - but will next year
6. Started cropping as needed in late October - most so far have been tennis-ball plus size
7. Yes, there's a lot of waste (and it's a d**n UGLY vegetable)
8. But the taste is to die for - cubed and roasted with other veg, mashed with pots. and even cut finely and eaten raw in salad. I look forward to trying the soup recipe posted here on another thread.
Give this veg a try - the taste is cracking and I seldom see it in the shops.
cheers.
Although we still have some in the lottie I couldn't resist buying one at Sainsbo's on Friday!
;D
I bought a packet of celeriac seeds this morning. ;D ;D ;D