Veg4Show

I was asked the other day via email on what methods i use for growing exhibition leeks so heres some more detail on what exactly i do

* Firstly don't bother growing exhibition leeks from seed if you want to compete with the best. A leek grown from seed could produce 1 decent, dead straight, good size, virus free leek from 100 planted and this is initially how leeks get reselected.

* Grow your leeks from bulbils also know as pips, grass. These are basically a leek taken from the seed head of the mother plant that will produce the exact same characteristics of that leek. Leeks are reselected for size, quality and the amount of virus they have in them to produce the best possible leek year after year.

How its done:

At the end of the season/after the show, you put your best leek back to seed for re selection if it meets the standard of being a perfect leek. This is done by cutting the roots of the leek and cutting about 6 inches up from the root plate to form a 6inch leek cutting. This is then planted back up in a pot and after a few weeks it would have rooted and the center of the leek would have started to push up. At this point all the extra foliage/skins is removed until you reach the main core that has pushed up, this is done because by Christmas it would have rotted off anyway.

Continue to grow the leek on and pot up as needed, some people actually cut the flags off to save energy for the plant seed head, I don't as I havent seen this in action and I'm not 100% sure when you cut the flags. Eventually you will end up with what looks like an ordinary leek and by March/April time will produce a seed head. Once the seed head shoots up you need to support it to avoid it breaking as they get pretty top heavy.

Eventually the seed head will open, but its not the seed we are after and this part can be tricky in judging to avoid the bulbils coming to soon. The idea is to let the seed head form until you reach the stage when you have a full seed head and maybe the odd grass on the head. Its called grass because it looks like grass but in actual fact that is a leek. Once at this stage you cut all the seed and grass off the head and throw it away as it isnt fully formed it wont be any good. You need to be quite serve and cut it right back as it you were giving it a hair cut. The plant will now go into overdrive and will use all its energy to produce grass/bulbils as it has lost all its seed. You will end up with a head full of bulbils that i call baby leeks that you can grow on to produce the exact same leek as the mother.

Once you cut the head off with plenty of stalk still attached you need to soak it in domesos
for 24 hours, (the thick concentrate is best that you mix with water). This is done to keep the bulbils clean and pest free to get you off to a good start. After 24 hours the bulbils will part off the head quite easy and you can then plant these up in a peat based compost id suggest to start, on a warming mat/cable to get the roots started.

After 2-3 weeks they should have rooted nicely and can then be placed under lights for 14-16 hours a day until about the end of Feb. Along the way you need to support them to keep them straight, keep them moist and spray for any pests. I always pot my leeks up in john innes no.2 and always ensure they never get pot bound to avoid low nutrients and stunted growth. You are looking to grow the leeks on in pots until the end of April/May or until the weather has started to improve ready for planting.

Collars:

Depending on growth depends on the collar but i never use to collar my leeks until i planted them in the bed.This year as i was told the Pendle leeks need pulling a lot sooner upwards to get the length, so i collared them while still in the pots but you can read that on my other blog posts.

One little tip to mention is the actual length of the barrel that is blanched and the leaf itself, it takes approximately 8 weeks for a blanched (white) leaf to turn green and you really want a minimum of 15 inches of pure blanch barrel. The problem you have is blanching the flags to high up resulting in 3 inches of flags being blanched aswell. Depending on how fast your leeks are growing compared to girth is when you need to decide if you use an 18inch collar or stay with a 15 inch. A little trick can be applied but only if you have time in the season as you need to leave at least 8 weeks for the flags to green up again. The idea is you apply an 18 inch collar which forces the leek even further upwards but 8 weeks before the show you reduce the collar back down to 15 inches which results in length and green flags at the start of the blanch.

I never feed my leeks while in there pots and will only feed if i feel they really need it or are struggling while in the beds.

So thats the hard way of producing your own reselected leeks, but for all those who can't be bothered with that or want to start with a good strain you should order yours in from a well know respected expert grower such as medwyns. This year i ordered mine from medwyns (as i lost all my leeks last year) and they came 3rd December, from which point they are grown on as stated above under lights.