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leeks from seed

• Message 1. 

  Posted by Lorea (U14415784) on Monday, 19th March 2012

  I'm growing leeks from seed in a seed tray for the first time, and I'm a bit confused about potting on. When is the right time to pot on, and how do you hold the leek seedling exactly to do this, as it doesn't have any leaves as such and I'm afraid of damaging them? They are in quite a deep seed tray, so I was thinking of leaving them there as long as possible, but how as to how long that is I'm a bit clueless. Can anyone help please?

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Calendula (U2331338) on Monday, 19th March 2012

  Don't bother to pot them on - just put into their final location when ready. You are supposed to plant them out when they are the thickness of a pencil but I always do it long before then - a thick grass stem best describes it.
  
  Tease out the roots and hold by the top of the stem. Be careful not to damage the roots - drill a hole with a dibber or finger, lay in, and then water round the hold so the soil falls in and holds the plant uprtight.
  
  Once in, trim the tops of the leaves to encourage it to grow strongly.

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• Message 3

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  Posted by Lorea (U14415784) on Monday, 19th March 2012

  Thanks Calendula!

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• Message 4

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  Posted by Oldends (U13875463) on Monday, 19th March 2012

  But don't trim the tops; there's no need.

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  Posted by Kleftiwallah (U13700999) on Monday, 19th March 2012

  Now, I've always thought the way was to trim the green bits back by a third and the white bits by half ! ! Cheers, Tony.

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• Message 6

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  Posted by BensGrandad (U7827628) on Monday, 19th March 2012

  I am in a similar boat in that I planted the seeds in seed tray and they are all very close together and very thin and about 3 -4 ins high. I then read about mixing the seeds with sand to sow them thinner so am wondering about scrapping what I have and starting some more off, I would think that I have plenty of time to grow some more. It is either that or thin them out into individual pots. Still deciding what to do

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• Message 7

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  Posted by Small Plot Big Ideas (U15195052) on Wednesday, 21st March 2012

  There is some interesting information in these replies and I'm really keen to see how my leek seeds have been doing as I've been away on business lately.
  
  I wasn't planning on potting on my leeks but that was more because I'm trying out the use of cardboard toilet roll tubes instead of a seed tray. This method should mean I don't need to handle the plants at all when planting out
  
  This seems to be working well at the moment as shown in this blog post but I'll be checking more closely this weekend.

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• Message 8

  , in reply to message 7.

  Posted by linda (U1797657) on Saturday, 24th March 2012

  I grew mine in toilet roll tubes and planted them straight from there using the conventional method of making holes, filling them with water and dropping one in each hole. I had a very successful - and tasty - crop. In fact I picked the last 4 two weeks ago

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