Showing posts with label collaring exhibition leeks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label collaring exhibition leeks. Show all posts
Sunday, 2 March 2008
Collaring leeks
Many years ago i use to collar my leeks with pipe lagging from day one to force them up. This caused several problems.
1. The leek would blanch from an early stage leaving it very vulnerable.
2. Collar to soon and girth is sacrificed for length leaving you with a bent weak leek.
I have found that leaving them alone gives you the best results. My leeks arrive sometime in December (this year Dec 3rd.) and i don't touch them until late February early march and at this stage i apply a small piece of lagging at the growing point to give them some length before plating out later in the season. I find that some leeks do need pulling up early to get the length and this is a great way to pull them up without blanching them. My first actual collar will not be applied until i actually plant the leeks out in the bed.
1. The leek would blanch from an early stage leaving it very vulnerable.
2. Collar to soon and girth is sacrificed for length leaving you with a bent weak leek.
I have found that leaving them alone gives you the best results. My leeks arrive sometime in December (this year Dec 3rd.) and i don't touch them until late February early march and at this stage i apply a small piece of lagging at the growing point to give them some length before plating out later in the season. I find that some leeks do need pulling up early to get the length and this is a great way to pull them up without blanching them. My first actual collar will not be applied until i actually plant the leeks out in the bed.
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My Leeks so far.
This year I'm growing two strains of leek "The Welsh seedling" and the current world record holder "Pendle". I bought both as young bulbils from medywns (11 of each) and they have come on really well from day one. The Pendle leeks especially have flown away and within the past week the welsh seedlings have caught up so it will be interesting to see which i will select for the shows.
I grow all my leeks in John Innes number 2 which does slow them down but gives you a much finer leek come show time. I normally start the bulbils off in some levington multi purpose compost to get them off to a good start but from there on John Innes number 2 is used until i plant out. Not everything has gone to plan and i lost 3 Pendle leeks to virus/fungus? which is a lot of leeks to lose considering i am only growing 22 for showing this year. The ones i lost all looked slightly weak but still reached the size of my pinky in girth, but then started to go orange at the bottom and once one leaf came off the barel just disapeared until i was left with this mess.
I grow my leeks and onions under a 600 watt powerplant pro mantis metal halide grow light which i have on a timer for 16 hours a day. This is reduced as the season progresses until i eventually put them on normal daylight. I also have a few solar powered fans to help keep the air circulating. Under this i have a soil warming cable covered in sand and my leeks are sat in large watering trays to avoid any direct heat.
I grow all my leeks in John Innes number 2 which does slow them down but gives you a much finer leek come show time. I normally start the bulbils off in some levington multi purpose compost to get them off to a good start but from there on John Innes number 2 is used until i plant out. Not everything has gone to plan and i lost 3 Pendle leeks to virus/fungus? which is a lot of leeks to lose considering i am only growing 22 for showing this year. The ones i lost all looked slightly weak but still reached the size of my pinky in girth, but then started to go orange at the bottom and once one leaf came off the barel just disapeared until i was left with this mess.
I grow my leeks and onions under a 600 watt powerplant pro mantis metal halide grow light which i have on a timer for 16 hours a day. This is reduced as the season progresses until i eventually put them on normal daylight. I also have a few solar powered fans to help keep the air circulating. Under this i have a soil warming cable covered in sand and my leeks are sat in large watering trays to avoid any direct heat.
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