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I've never had a great deal of luck growing leeks. This year I decided to sow the seeds in a tray of compost. The experts say you should plant them out when they're 8 inches high. Should I re-pot these or leave them?

I always start mine in 5 litre pots of compost, indeed sowed 4 pots worth at the weekend. These stay in the pot until they are planted out to their final spot, often at about 6 to 8 inches tall.

I have never needed to pot them on.

Planting in a tray will not give them so much room/depth for roots. Even in 5 litre pots their roots do reach the bottom of the pot.

Having said that I don't think it would be a huge issue.

Jerry

Your main problem, Pete, will be disentangling the roots if you leave them.

8" - yes - if 'pencil' thickness'. I seldom wait that long, but yours are a bit wispy. And they don't normally go out until June.

Yours would probably grow away - mine were like that last year - but I would be tempted to space them out in a nursery bed until they are a bit stronger. Or do half & half?

Quote from: sandersj89 on April 27, 2005, 13:51:21
I always start mine in 5 litre pots of compost, indeed sowed 4 pots worth at the weekend. These stay in the pot until they are planted out to their final spot, often at about 6 to 8 inches tall.

I have never needed to pot them on.

Planting in a tray will not give them so much room/depth for roots. Even in 5 litre pots their roots do reach the bottom of the pot.

Having said that I don't think it would be a huge issue.

Jerry

How deep is a 5 litre pot?  I think I need to be potting on. ******!

Ummm, without having one in front of me, about 6 to 6 inches??

When it comes to plant them out I soak the pots on a bucket of water for 30 mins and then gently ease the leeks apart, doing this in water makes it very easy. Hold a clump of leeks and swish them around in the water, the compost washes away and you can easily seperate the individual leeks.

Jerry

Hi Pete,
your seedlings look ok to me. I have just planted mine on allotment and they looked very similar to yours. I made a holes 6" deep with a dibber and dropped 1 in each, don't fill just water in. They all seem to be growing away. I know I am a little early would normally plant out mid May but needed the space, mind in saying that my pot leeks were planted last september and are some 2.5 inches around. (Grown from pips). they have also been on lottie 3 weeks and seem ok

I can remember reading that you should trim the roots prior to planting out is this true and does anyone do it as this is my first year growing them.
Regards
Chris

Nope, I don't, and I plant them as and when I have the room.  Me, organised, not in this life time!  :-\

The books still recommend it, but it has been pooh-poohed here in the past - on very scientific grounds.

All I would add is that, if you do not trim the roots, be very careful that they don't get hung up on the sides of the hole when planting. And if you don't trim the tops, don't blame the birds for whipping them out!!

i've just planted a biggish square of them-to settle the roots down the hole i wiggled them a little-seemed to do the trick

-tim-when you say trim the tops-cut them with scissors?and leave how much green top please?
kitty :)

Job done! Repotted from modules into largish (deepish) pots - hopefully that'll give them enough room to grow a bit bigger (and thicker).

Quote from: kitty on April 27, 2005, 19:28:57
-tim-when you say trim the tops-cut them with scissors?and leave how much green top please?
kitty :)

I echo that.

Ok so I've cut the roots off and trimmed them down. Should I really just have 1 inch long bits of green left?  ;D

Wish I could find the earlier chat on the subject - was it Hugh who contributed? How we miss him. But this may help. The RHS view.

"Place one leek in each hole and water in carefully. This will cause some soil to accumulate around the roots. Dipping the leeks' roots in a bucket of water before planting will make the roots dangle, easing the job of getting them into the planting hole.

Although shortening of roots or trimming foliage is sometimes recommended to make the plants easier to handle or in a misguided attempt to reduce stress on the plants, in fact this reduces the plants capacity to recover. Avoid trimming as far as possible. Shading is also detrimental and should only be necessary in the hottest weather. Watering and the application of high phosphorus liquid fertilisers, on the other hand, will aid establishment."

I always used to trim &, in ignorance, noticed no disadvantage. I still do it if the plants are difficult to handle. But please don't quote me!!

The trench method (à la Ina) is also much recommended. Was going to try it this year but for the rot.

Quote from: tim on April 27, 2005, 18:40:00
...All I would add is that, if you do not trim the roots, be very careful that they don't get hung up on the sides of the hole when planting. ..

A way to ensure that the roots do go down and don't stick to the sides of the hole is to:

Make a hole with a dibber approx 6" deep
Hold leek by the top of leaf or drape it over the hole so that the junction of plant and root is 1 -2" below the soil level
Water the plant in, this washes soil into the hole, washes the roots down and you finish with the soil in the hole 1" below the surrounding soil

Sounds fiddly by when you get the hang of it it's just as quick as any other method and the plant is very well watered in and there's a nice area to take more water which leeks love.

It's known as puddling in, for fairly obvious reasons

Phil

Our seedlings look very similar to Pete's.

One of the jobs for this weekend is to transfer them individually into toilet rolls. They will then probably go into the ground in a month or so, depending upon the weather.

Quote from: philandjan on April 29, 2005, 14:43:39
Our seedlings look very similar to Pete's.

One of the jobs for this weekend is to transfer them individually into toilet rolls. They will then probably go into the ground in a month or so, depending upon the weather.

Loads of good advice - thanks. I tried the toilet roll method last year but killed them all off by buying one of those plastic greenhouses from A**a and not venting it properly.

This is the year I am attempting to grow 300 leeks, so I need to have an organised method!
I germinated in an icecream carton 2L in size. My autumn leeks yielded 129 seedlings, which I lifted when they were about 3 inches tall (3 weeks ago).

They went into a hoed trench, about 2 inches deep, just laid side by side,inclined against the side of the trench, about an inch apart. The soil was then drawn back over and watered well. Within two days they were all vertical again, and look very happy now. The winter and late varieties are not yet planted out.

They will all stay in their nursery beds until I lift my winter onions, at the end of June/beginning July, thus creating space.

Can someone explain please why leeks are just plopped into a hole and not covered up?

Oh, dear - here's where I have to slightly disagree with Phil. But then that's what makes the world go round?

Too lazy to do a trench, which is often recommended, I do a 10" hole, drop the leek in & add only enough water to 'puddle' the roots in.
The remaining hole is the bit that the leek grows into.

I'm not one of those champ people, but we do get quite a nice result.

Or did - before the rot!!