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Malformed parsnips?

connie77connie77 Posts: 148
in Fruit & veg

Hi All, back again to ask for advice please? My Parsnips have been hit by something that has caused them to come out the ground half the width & knarled ? I asked another allotmenteer (who has won many cups in his time) what it could be? He thought possibly clubroot but, he said it didn't quite look like it, pkease see attached pic, as i am unsure about using the ground next Spring or to leave it empty to treat whatever it is? Connieimage

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  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,104

    Looks like the damage caused by either hitting a stone or being grown in freshly manured soil. Club root only attacks members of the Brassica family by the way.

    There is a disease of Parsnips called Canker. That usually manifests itself as brown marks on the skin and then the roots rot. You do not usually see it though until later in the season.

  • connie77connie77 Posts: 148

    Hi Berghill, thankyou for your help, maybe i have a random Yorkshire virus in the soil then? The plot was part of a larger plot that hasn't been cared for as the man that recently gave it up is 85, i took it on & have tried to dig out all the stones, connie

  • LynLyn Posts: 21,908

    Did you try to sow the seeds in pots then transplant to the ground? 

    Berghill is more likely right, and definitely about the club root. 

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • connie77connie77 Posts: 148

    Hi Lyn, no i put seeds directly in the ground,  connie

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,863

    I think that the parsnip in the photo has suffered from drought and then had a lot of water and split ... it has then continued to try to grow but in a deformed way.  


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391

    If that foilage is from the same thing, it's a carrot and not a parsnip.. image

    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 83,863

    By Jove he's right!!! image

    Still think I'm right about the cause tho' ... it occurs in carrots too.  

    Last edited: 14 August 2017 10:23:50


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • connie77connie77 Posts: 148

    Well, it definately said parsnip on the packet ? Lol! Anyway thanks everyone for your advice ?

  • LynLyn Posts: 21,908
    BobTheGardener says:

    If that foilage is from the same thing, it's a carrot and not a parsnip.. image

    See original post

     ????????

    its funny how you sometimes don't spot the obvious!  It didn't even occur to me, Berghill or Dove. Clever lot aren't we

    ????????

    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • PalustrisPalustris Posts: 4,104

    Carrot or parsnip the answer is the same. Either the soil is very stony or as Dove says it is splitting caused by wet weather after drought. I cannot find any virus which would cause that.

    Out of interest

    Carrot on the right, parsnip on the left

    image

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