Can anyone tell me what parsnip seedlings look like please! I've just got a vege patch/allotment going & have never grown parsnips so don't know what the seedlings look like. At the moment it looks like an attack of the weeds so i desperately need to know what to pull up & what not! Please help

callie said:

Can anyone tell me what parsnip seedlings look like please! I've just
got a vege patch/allotment going & have never grown parsnips so don't
know what the seedlings look like. At the moment it looks like an
attack of the weeds so i desperately need to know what to pull up &
what not! Please help

The seedlings look more like large parsley seedlings rather than oversized
carrot seedlings. The seed leaves are long ovals. The first true leaf will
resemble a tiny flat-leaved parsley leaf. They are a pale green, not dark and
no reddish or purplish cast on them.

If you've ever seen coriander (cilantro) seedlings they are similar to parsnip.

Parsnips are rather slow to sprout and easily overwhelmed by weed seedlings.

When I grew parsnips, I used to lay the seeds on the soil surface or in slight
depressions and cover them with (weed-free) potting soil, and either covered
everything with a cloth or misted the bed twice a day to keep it moist. Anything
that sprouted away from line of potting soil was definitely a weed -- and anything
that sprouted through the potting soil and looked like something growing in the
bare soil was also a weed.

Keep in mind, unless the parsnip seeds are very fresh they won't sprout at all.
And parsnip seeds are just big enough to attract seed maggots. 8^(

When you are working with a new (to you) seed, plant a small pot of them
in weed-free potting soil to use as a guide to what the seedlings will look like
in the garden.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

Thanks for your help! I've now got an awful lot of weeding to do!

The seeds only last 1 or two seasons, and supposedly are hard to
save/germinate, though I have never had the problem myself. (they are coming
up everwhere this year from when I pulled them up and trapsed them back to
the house and I have way too many seeds to plant this season) They look more
like celery seedlings to me when they first shoot, rather than parsley, but
yep all very similar. There are very few strains of parsnip left in the
world, which is sad. They are definately an under-rated vegetable. Grow
easily and unlike the ones you see in the shop, taste fantastic.

Once they get started though, you dont have to worry about weeds, they crowd
them out.



"callie" wrote in message
s.com...
callie wrote:
* *

Thanks for your help! I've now got an awful lot of weeding to do!
--
callie
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callie writes:
Thanks for your help! I've now got an awful lot of weeding to do!

Yes, your question has reminded me that parsnips are slow to appear, and
I remember having the exact same problem! Rather than trying to get out
all the weeds, just concentrate on pulling out those that you recognize
as weeds, i.e., the ones that have also cropped up in other garden beds.
Once you have them out, things don't look so bad. After some months you
will be able to make out a pattern of similar-looking seedlings has
appeared at regular intervals, and these will be the parsnips. Then you
can attack the few seedlings that you were unsure of, they being weeds.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)