Parsnip pre-chitting progress

The piccies below (taken on April 20th) show what had happened to the parsnip seeds that I had started pre-chitting two weeks before. I put them in a lidded tupperware-type box as before but, this time, the boxes were placed on a windowsill (instead of the airing cupboard) and the seeds were not covered with a second layer of damp kitchen paper. No slightly mouldy seeds this time.




On April 20th, I potted up the seeds that had germinated (about 15 of each type) leaving the others to continue thinking about it in the boxes. The pots are now outside on the patio and I will keep checking the boxes and will pot up any other seeds that germinate.

When I had read about pre-chitting parsnip seeds on blogs and in magazines before starting, "a few days" was often stated as the time that the process takes. In my case, germination took 12-14 days and in some cases longer. I will bear this in mind next year.