Veg4Show

Celery is probably the hardest of the veg to grow to perfection for showing (dont mention cauliflowers). They are notorious for pest damage and cultural problems such as heart rot. As you can see from my last update once your celery is planted out it really does grow fast in good well manured ground, especially with collars applied. The secret with celery is generally look after it really well and remember originally it was a bog plant so water well. I soak the bed every day and ensure it never ever even becomes slightly dry. Always spray with insecticide, insects can cause massive damage to the stems and apply slug pellets and slug clear every two weeks for show celery. I also spray for leaf minor and use fungicide to keep away any blight or other nasties. Every week i also water the heart of the celery with calcium nitrate to help prevent the young shoots from the centre burning off know as heart rot. I feed every week with Chempak No. 2 and switch to no.8 during july, also if needed i may foliar feed with liquid nutrimate. Collars are increased in length as and when needed to help pull the celery upwards and also blanch the celery. Any suckers, weak, cracked flags are removed regularly which helps conserve energy and promotes new growth from the center. Near the end of the season i will also check to ensure that the sticks are tightly bunched and string the top for a week to bring them together, any longer than a week could encourage heart rot. Covering your celery and giving them extra shade is also a great help on really hot days, hench why these are near a hedge and my carrot pipes also help, but extra netting is also applied.


Clean heart (at the moment)