Last week I planted out a full quota of parsnip seedlings (40 seedlings in 40 toilet-roll tubes), and they are all growing. None have disappeared yet, fingers crossed! Starting them off like this, indoors, is the best way I've found here (SW France) to get successful germination. i've managed one year in the open ground, but it is so hit and miss. I've done the germination on kitchen towel OK, but then lost some when I planted them out, which was really fiddly. The last two years I've sown three seeds per tube, with virtually 100% germination, so I've had to thin them out rapidly. What amazes me is the speed with which the tap root reaches the bottom of the tube and beyond, well before any true leaf starts to form. I do get a slight mould problem on the surface, but I find that if I tickle it off with a fork, it all goes away.
Have you tried it with carrots, Peanuts, or anyone else? My snips germinate fine, but carrots tend to be very patchy, and I can't possibly do the kitchen towel thing with seeds that size!
I do carrots adn parsnips in toilet roll tubes in modules and it works well for me. gives you control of the delicate bit of the operation and when you stick them in they just boom away... you will get some that fang like crazy at the bottom of the tube but to my mind a carrot the size of a toilet-roll tube is all I need for a meal i fthere's a load of other veg to go with ....
Thanks, Chris, I've just bought some organic carrot seed and I'll stick them in rolls instead of the open ground I was planning.
Hadn't thought of trying carrots that way - I don't have much success with them, just depends on the soil/weather at the moment of sowing and I rarely get it right. But I"m not sure I can go to the extra effort of preparing more tubes, and that means saving them as well, which we haven't done since I stopped saving them for parsnips . . . . . . . must go to the loo more! Perhaps next year!
From my experience a years worth of toilet-roll tubes collects in the small bathroom cabinet I have no use for (I'm a bloke, I live on my own, previous owner was a lady and there are four bathroom cabinets... so a spare bleach, a spare deodorant, a spare toothpaste, spare soap and some shower-cleaner, that's one of them not very full, one of them will take about 20 odd toiletrolls so I buy in 18's... the bathroom is the only room in the house with too much storage....,
I am all for doing it once, i have put this on before try it, it does work.
Make you drill and put compost in then water it, place your seeds, carrot or parsnip allong the top of the compost then cover it lightly with more compost, dont water it and place boards over the top.
The boards keep the compost moist to germinate the seeds.
Carrots check after 7 days
Parsnips at about 20 days
(http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r111/stumpinsci/Picture443.jpg) (http://s142.photobucket.com/user/stumpinsci/media/Picture443.jpg.html)
I sowed a row of carrot last week, Davy, as you describe, following your advice, was it last year? I find this method works well for me here, where the sun, when it finally arrives, can be instantly hot, and the soil dries out very quickly. But parsnips are easier in tubes, as I get the exact amount, and the ideal spacing.
Quote from: Peanuts on May 07, 2013, 07:10:29
I sowed a row of carrot last week, Davy, as you describe, following your advice, was it last year? I find this method works well for me here, where the sun, when it finally arrives, can be instantly hot, and the soil dries out very quickly. But parsnips are easier in tubes, as I get the exact amount, and the ideal spacing.
Then that is the way to go, grow in a way that suits you, You may not get perfect parsnips but as long you get what you want , thats the bit that counts
David
Sowing seeds direct, even roots on my soil is pretty hopeless, so virtually everything has to be sown in containers and then planted out. I used to use modules but found the root crops didn't grow that well. I decided last year to try loo roll tubes for my parsnips and they did well, forming decent roots, although I omitted to thin them so were a it small and congested. This year I decided to try carrots in them too. So far so good, they have just germinated (parsnips not yet, too soon ). Only problem I have with the tubes is they can dry out before germination. Keeping them moist is the key, but not easy in recent weather.
Quote from: Garden Manager on May 07, 2013, 19:17:11
Sowing seeds direct, even roots on my soil is pretty hopeless, so virtually everything has to be sown in containers and then planted out. I used to use modules but found the root crops didn't grow that well. I decided last year to try loo roll tubes for my parsnips and they did well, forming decent roots, although I omitted to thin them so were a it small and congested. This year I decided to try carrots in them too. So far so good, they have just germinated (parsnips not yet, too soon ). Only problem I have with the tubes is they can dry out before germination. Keeping them moist is the key, but not easy in recent weather.
Is that because your seeds dont germinate in the soil or the type of soil you are growing in.
I've been planting my parsnips this way for years now. I modified the process this year however by making up pots out of newspaper, stapled once to hold them together and then filled with compost. As long as you fold the newspaper to give you three thicknesses the "pot" will last long enough for germination to take place and for you to thin them out and then plant it out in the allotment. You do need to keep an eye on the bottom of the paper tube, as once the tap root gets down there it needs planting out at once.
I don't buy fibre pots any more, just make up what I need out of newspaper. I've done my runner and french beans this way, along with the sweet corn, and those expensive F1 winter cabbage, sprouts and broccoli.
It saves a fortune on the cost of fibre pots, and ensures that you get much better germination and you can utilise your seed better this way.
Well, it suits me anyway.
Peter