The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: suziequeue on April 20, 2013, 08:33:09 am
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Ok - I confess - I have planted a load of leek seeds and I have no idea what to do next.
The problem is that I think I must have spilt the packet of seeds so I've got loads of little leeklets all sprouting out of one area.
Should I separate them and pot them on or what??
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just gently tease all the leeks apart and plant out.
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Do you mean plant out into separate pots Mike or plant outdoors??
Clueless ::) ::) ???
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If they are a few inches high just plant outside.
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I planted out my one leek (i've named him Mike) last week and he is doing ok, I put a homemade cloche over him (a juice bottle cut in half) but it blew off but he doesnt seem any worse for wear.
Mike was a bit bigger than your little guys though, if spring has really sprung where you are I would be tempted to plant them outdoors. But I'm sure someone more experienced will have a better clue! :garden:
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Ok here's an idea - Suziequeue has LOADS of baby leeks; Clarabelle has ONE - maybe S could post some to C? I posted a few of my Bilbergia's to DarkBrownEggs last week and they arrived in prefect health. :thumbsup: Just wrap the roots in wet kitchen towel, then in cling film or a placcy bag, then another one or even two, then in brown paper. Post early in the week though or they might lie around.
This could work for all of TAS
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yup, what sabrina said. Leeks are tough old things, the only time I've ever had em fail is when the cat decided to roll around on them >:(
I take it you know how to plant them out?
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;D ;D
Broom handle, hole, water in, don't earth up?
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that's it. You said you were clueless, but you're leeks are much further advanced than me, you don't look that clueless to me.
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:hug: thanks Mike ;D
We've got heavy clay soil here so I am concerned that making a hole with the broom handle will compact the soil too much and and prevent the roots from spreading out.
I'm half inclined to drill the holes with an electric drill and a half inch hole boring auger...... or is that being TOOOOOO ridiculous??? ::)
yes - I think that's a bit extreme actually[size=78%] [/size] :roflanim: :roflanim: [size=78%] [/size]
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I'm not much of a grower, so this might be a daft suggestion (or not, considering the alternative drilling method ;) :D) you could take out a small trench (maybe only 3 inches wide and 4 or 5 inches deep) and fill it with softer soil/compost - plant the leeks in it and by the time their roots get to the clay soil they might be better established and stronger to penetrate it ? Maybe ? :-\
Karen :wave:
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I wouldn't plant them out yet in their final positions. You want them to be tall enough to just poke out of the holes you make - the deeper these are the longer the white bit of leek will be - and they need to be sturdy. Usually that means June for the broomhandle, or HH's idea, which is a good one :thumbsup: . You could meanwhile pot them into the extra long rootrainers, or you could prick them out into a nursery bed until they are bigger.
I see I'm the only dissenting voice :eyelashes:
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I wouldn't plant them out yet in their final positions. You want them to be tall enough to just poke out of the holes you make - the deeper these are the longer the white bit of leek will be - and they need to be sturdy. Usually that means June for the broomhandle, or HH's idea, which is a good one :thumbsup: . You could meanwhile pot them into the extra long rootrainers, or you could prick them out into a nursery bed until they are bigger.
I see I'm the only dissenting voice :eyelashes:
No, I'm with you :excited: I'd put them in something that can be planted straight in the ground so they aren't disturbed a second time
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You can buy pots for long rooted plants where you put the whole thing int he ground and the pot rots away. Personally, I save toilet roll tubes all winter and plant in those.
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I planted out my one leek (i've named him Mike) last week and he is doing ok, I put a homemade cloche over him (a juice bottle cut in half) but it blew off but he doesnt seem any worse for wear.
Mike was a bit bigger than your little guys though, if spring has really sprung where you are I would be tempted to plant them outdoors. But I'm sure someone more experienced will have a better clue! :garden:
Poor Mike turned out to be grass! There must have been a stray grass seed in my old bag of compost. Now I have no leeks but at least I wont have to go through the trauma of eating Mike, my rabbits can eat him instead! :roflanim: :garden:
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I planted out my one leek (i've named him Mike) last week and he is doing ok, I put a homemade cloche over him (a juice bottle cut in half) but it blew off but he doesnt seem any worse for wear.
Mike was a bit bigger than your little guys though, if spring has really sprung where you are I would be tempted to plant them outdoors. But I'm sure someone more experienced will have a better clue! :garden:
Poor Mike turned out to be grass! There must have been a stray grass seed in my old bag of compost. Now I have no leeks but at least I wont have to go through the trauma of eating Mike, my rabbits can eat him instead! :roflanim: :garden:
:roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: Mike must be the only grass plant ever to be named and covered with a cloche :roflanim: :bunny:
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I'm not sure whether to be relieved or concerned...
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:roflanim: :roflanim:
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:hug: thanks Mike ;D
We've got heavy clay soil here so I am concerned that making a hole with the broom handle will compact the soil too much and and prevent the roots from spreading out.
I'm half inclined to drill the holes with an electric drill and a half inch hole boring auger...... or is that being TOOOOOO ridiculous??? ::)
yes - I think that's a bit extreme actually :roflanim: :roflanim:
Ram a steel bar 8 or so inches 200 mm in the ground and do it in a straight row ussing a garden line every 5 inches .
Rive the bar round a couple of times so the hole is cone shaped and about 2 inches 50 mm in diameter , fill the hole with decent sieved quality enriched soil and then water it . The next day slip the same bar down the in the middle of the cone , rive it around a bit and plant the leek in the hole . Muvver nature will do the rest , give them the occasional watering during dry periods ..
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Well after all that I've given up with my leek seedlings and have got some plug plants to be going on with.
I think I planted my seeds too densely and in the wrong sort of container. When I tried to thin them, the others came out too.
Next year I'll mix the tiny seeds with sand to ty and sew more thinly and sow them in a single propagator box rather than cells.
I have potted all my plug leeks into separate pots to grow them on a bit before planting out. We have decided to dig six inch holes with the auger, fill them with leek compost and then do the broom handle thing with whatever comes to hand.
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Don't throw the seedling outs , they can be easily rescued , soak the tray in rain water for an hour or so till the growth medium goes sloppy and then transplant them into a bigger pot , say a 9 inch pot .
Use the back of a teaspoon handle to tease the seedlings apart and re pot in the bigger pot say 12 plants per bigger pot and grow them on till they are about six inches or slightly more tall .
Then like before soak the pots well and ease the bigger plants out with the spoon handle or gently pour on jugs of water over the plants when the whole pot content has been tipped gently onto a table top etc & gently wash the growth mediun away from the leeks , now put them in the holes you previously made in garden ( as above )
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SQ I find leeks very resilient. The seeds get scattered in a small plastic tray filled with compost. They are within mm of each other. Water well for an hour or so before planting out and tease out with a teaspoon handle ( or plant label). An old neighbour told me to dig a hole and plant them at 45 degrees with a third to half of the plant sticking out. I think this helps a good root development for our windy area.they grow tot he correct angle and are strong through our weather. They don't get much TLC and are already planted out by 3-4 inches tall. Our leeks are one of the plants that always do well here.
Don't give up, your seedlings should be fine.
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Oh - OK. :D
I'll have a go with the seedlings I've got left and grow them on too. If we end up having a glut of leeks.... then we having a glut of leeks :thumbsup: :thumbsup: .
I have just sold a bag of spinach at work for £1.50!!! and the buyer's comment was "I'll take what ever you've got!" so there will be a market for my leeks in the winter I'm sure.
Thanks
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I sorted out the leek plants on Saturday afternoon ,, used an end tapered stick to make 8 inch deep holes and gently swirled a 10 inch long leek including roots down the holes and left them for nature to carry on with things. don't bqack fill the hole nature will do it for you
There was barely an inch of greeenery showing , today there is almost two inches showing .
One of the old Italian ( EX UK POW's ) boys on the allotments used to use an old square tined standard adult garden fork that had only three tines on it , having had the middle two cut off and replaced by one of them in the center of the other two to make a trident of sorts
He used to dig his spade width trenches about 2 feet deep in winter , put a foot of well rotted cow muck & straw in it and back fill level to the top .
By spring it had sunk down some six inches and it was here that he used his trident to make the leek planting holes then planted the " leeklings " when they were seven inches tall .
He grew the bigggest and best leeks on the whole 120 allotment pitches .
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Next year I'll mix the tiny seeds with sand to try and sew more thinly and sow them in a single propagator box rather than cells.
Well - I have tried that and a few of the seeds have germinated. They are last year's seeds though……. should I use this year's?? And am I trying to do this too early?
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How long ago were they sown? Leeks seeds tend to be a bit sporadic at germination but they don't need it hot.
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um - I put them in on 16th February. They are not so clumped together this time.
I wonder if it would be better to take them out from under the light.
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Patience patience 8) Give them another couple of weeks to germinate. The light's fine unless it's drying out the soil, and if some have come up then they need light, but as I said not heat.