He was doing a demo session on leeks to the community allotment group today.
Leeks take approx. 11 weeks to grow altogether. As soon as they emerge thin out. Water the day before you do it to minimise stress. Early leeks (harvesting Sept - Oct) would be grown in pots with bottom heat. If you use late leeks as early ones they will bolt and go to flower/ seed. Modern varieties are bred for long white sections. Winter leeks are less susceptible to leek moth and the allium leaf miner by then has only one more generation left - these sow 3rd week in April - they will germinate in 2 weeks.
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| Photo 1: Leek seedbed - originally thinned and now ready to be lifted and transplanted (this is covered with environmesh). |
When thinning, do it to 5cm a part. If not root systems are not as strong. When transplanting - 40cm between plants and 30cm between rows (these are minimum spacing). Dib 15cm deep. It should be 10cm left out of the ground - we cut the tops of these with this in mind. In fact Mario had dug a huge chunk of each rows out and put them in buckets of water whilst I processed them, as there were many I tried to be as selective as possible - pencil thickness and straight.
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| Photo 2: Mario demonstrating the preparation of the bed for transplanting. |
When transplanting the leeks - holes dibbed are backfilled with water and it doesn't matter if they don't go in straight - they will straighten themselves.
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| Photo 3: Mario demonstrating transplanting. |
He also took them to the Trials field to see the Leeks trial going on there. Leeks can be grown from bulbils. They used pheromone traps and vials that were changed every 15 days. Fruit are store at 4°C. Onions dry at 23°C.
Symptoms of leek moth - holes in leaves, leaf miner - distorted leaf growth.
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| Photo 4: Champion giant leeks on the Trials field - New Welsh Seedling from Melwyn's of Anglesey. |