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growing parsley from seed
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Posted by dion_77 WA Aust (My Page) on Mon, Nov 3, 03 at 3:38
| This is driving me nuts! None of my parsley seeds have germinated. I know they can take up to four weeks, but this just isn't happening. Can anyone share some tips on growing parsley from seed? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: growing parsley from seed
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The only time I've had any luck was by soaking them overnight first and even then not many came up. Also, just lay them on the surface and cover with a little sand or equivalent.
Sow lots and you're bound to get something. I'm sure Daisyduckworth will have some good advice. She's a wizz with all things herbal. |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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| Although parsley will often self-seed once established, it can be very slow to germinate. The old saying goes that it has to go to the devil and back 9 times before it germinates. You can hasten things along by scarifying the seeds. Simply pour some boiling water over them, leave overnight, then sow where you want them to grow. Bury the seeds very shallow, or simply just press them gently to the soil with the back of your hand, and give them plenty of light. Parsley doesn't like being transplanted, because of its long taproot, and shows its disapproval by bolting to seed. I prefer to keep my parsley in partial shade, because I'm in a hot climate. I never allow it to dry out, but I make sure it has excellent drainage, with soil between neutral and acid pH. |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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| Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a go :) I've got one parsley plant I bought as a seedling, but I love the stuff and really like the idea of having several plants between my tomatoes for a constant supply. |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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| There's also the old adage that if parsley thrives you'll get pregnant! I believe it is one of those herbs which requires seed to be fresh, so maybe the answer is to buy plants and let some go to seed. I never have much success with seed either, so I'll let some of mine do just that. |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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| This is so strange - one of the few seeds I have never had trouble germinating is Parsley - this is only my second year but so far it's one of my tried and true germinators. Now that I know it's hard to germinate - I bet I have trouble with it! |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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| Self seeds for me (both curly leaf and the flat leaf Italian types). Grows like a weed and can be a real nuisance. |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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| I'd go for the hot water approach Daisy suggested, although I would cover the seed to prevent them drying out. The general rule is about the length of the seed under the surface. We don't plant it, it comes up every year on it's own. |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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| lol annabel, are you sure it wasn't - you'll be pregnant by the time it germinates? |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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| hnmmm, my parsley seeds germinated yesterday. it's only been two weeks and i didnt do anything to them.. maybe it's cos they've been in the packet for so long.. weird |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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The seed package I purchased recommended soaking the seeds over night in luke warm water, and to gently push them into the soil. It also said that germination is aided by darkness, so I placed my seed flat in a closet. I watered it when the soil was dry to the touch, about every other day.
Seedlings started pushing up after only 3 or 4 days, and now 2 weeks in they are 4-5 inches tall. I've now moved them into a sunny window where they should hopefully thrive, and be ready to transplant in a week or so.
Give it a shot, so far so good! |
RE: growing parsley from seed
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Dion etal: Use Jiffy pots for all tricky propagation. If it's cold weather and the seeds are difficult to trans plant (like parsley is), add water so the J-pots expand put the seed in as per directions on seed packet etc. Find a warm place, waterheater, back of fridge or even just inside. Keep an eye on them, the directions for germination time on packets are usually way out when it comes to pampered conditions. Parsley must be put in a intermediate pot if you are in a very cold area. I like my idea of having a cheap container with its bottom removed so that when its time to plant out dig a suitable hole put container with plant in, fill in soil and push plant and soil in pot down & at the same time pulling up the bottomless container.
If low humidity is a problem even though the peat in the pots hold water very well put the J-pots in a transparent plastic contaier with a small breather hole.
Some seeds may not want to much moisture so be careful how much water is used to "activate" J-pots.
Could go on for ever about J-pots, just one more point if seeds do not come up reuse the same pot (not Irish are you) O and some seeds are best put one to a pot, some more - depends on success rate & number of seeds to the packet.
Some times J-pots are not easy to find but they are around. I had no trouble here - sifted soil to a fairly fine tith spread seed, covered thinly, gave them a fine spray when the soil looked dry. The advice in the posts here is comprehensive. Each weather zone, soil type has an effect. They seem to like semi shaded spots, decent soil depth for the tap root. Humus rich soil helps as with most plants.
Good luck & bon appetit |
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