How long leeks take to grow

Leeks are especially cold hardy, and able to withstand temperatures well below freezing. Depending on the hardiness zone you live in, you may even be able to grow leeks as well as other cold-hardy vegetables throughout winter. Leeks are not heavy feeders, but because they take a while to mature, nutrient-dense soil is important to the success of your harvest.

A mid-season side dressing of composted manure or a high nitrogen fertilizer is beneficial. Most varieties of leeks require a fairly long growing season of — days, although some modern cultivars have been bred for shorter seasons lasting about 90 days. Unlike their cousin, the onion, leeks don't die back and signal they are ready to harvest. Instead, they are ready once the base has at least a three-inch white section and feels firm and solid.

Remove from the soil by twisting and pulling or digging. You can start leeks from either seeds or transplants. In colder climates, seeds can be started indoors, anywhere from eight to 12 weeks before your last spring frost. Move outdoors when temperatures begin to stay above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and harden them off slowly for about seven days before transplanting them to the garden.

In warmer climates, where spring and fall are your prime growing seasons, you can start your seed indoors approximately three to four weeks before your last spring frost and transplant outdoors for an early summer harvest.

Alternatively, you can direct seed in late summer and harvest in winter through early spring. When planting leeks, space your seeds at least 6 inches apart. To encourage a succulent white stem the edible part of the plant most frequently used in cooking , leeks must be blanched. This is another way of saying they should be hidden from the sun so that part of the plant doesn't make chlorophyll and turn green. To do so, plant seeds about inches deep in the soil and continue to mound the soil up around the leek as it continues to grow out of the ground, starting around when the stems are an inch thick.

Slugs can be a big issue for leeks they munch on the leaves , as well as other pests that bother onions, such as onion maggots, leafminers , and thrips.

You can use an organic solvent, like neem oil, to get rid of most pests. However, if a true infestation occurs, your best bet is to rip up the affected crop before the pests have to chance to spread to nearby plants. Keep an eye out for several common diseases like blight and leek rust, which forms orange pustules on the leaves. Most of these diseases occur in damp weather—to remedy, remove the affected leaves and improve air circulation. New growth should come in healthy.

Fill the holes with water, but do not backfill the holes with soil. The soil will gradually crumble in, but it will be loose, allowing the leeks to swell to a plump diameter as they grow. Simply cut off and use the top, leaving at least an inch of stalk at the end, with the roots intact. Place this bit in a cup, add water to cover about half the stalk, put it in a sunny window, and soon you will have more greens shooting up.

Once the top part has started to show new growth of inches, you can plant it out in the garden. Alternatively, keep it in the water to continue growing and harvest straight from your windowsill!

Leeks prefer rich, well-draining soil with a pH between 6. They need a minimum of eight hours of bright sunlight daily. Many varieties require a long growing period of to days, but newer cultivars may require as few as 90 days to mature. The white part of the leek is the most desirable for cooking and eating, being tender and less fibrous than the green.

Therefore, gardeners often hill the dirt around the shaft to prevent that part of the plant from making chlorophyll and turning green. Alternatively, you can fashion a sheath out of cardboard or other porous material to wrap around the stalk as it grows. It needs to be opaque but still allow for some airflow, otherwise the leek may start to rot.

About midway through the growing season, side dress the growing area about six inches away from the plants with a balanced fertilizer such as a NPK mix at a rate of one cup for 10 feet of row.

Leeks are highly tolerant of cold. So pull them before the weather gets too warm, or let a few bolt for seed saving purposes. The round purple, lavender, or pink flowers are quite attractive, and after they go to seed, you can harvest and save the seeds for planting next year. To do this, pluck the pods when they start to crack open. Place them in paper bags to dry, then shake the bags to separate the seeds from the chaff.

As referenced throughout this article, a number of leek cultivars are available, all with various enticing qualities. This heirloom variety is hardy and will overwinter in mild climates. It has thick, blue-green leaves. Find seeds in a variety of quantities from Eden Brothers. This heirloom variety is known for its consistent size and great flavor. Eden Brothers sells a number of quantities of seeds of this variety. This tall heirloom grows as tall as 30 inches, with stalks that can reach three inches wide at maturity.

Get packages of about seeds from Seeds4planting via Amazon. This adaptable hybrid grows a 12 to inch white shafts with dark blue-green flags. Packages of 72 seedlings of this cultivar are available from Burpee. They leave thin, white, winding trails on leaves. You might also see white blotches on leaves. This is damaging in and of itself, and the damaged plants are also more susceptible to other pathogens, such as bacteria. Prevention — such as through crop rotation — is the best way to prevent an infestation.

Yellow or black dots on plants may be a symptom of thrips. Another sign is leaves that turn silver or gray, or leaves that twist and die. Thrips are small winged insects that damage plants by sucking fluids out. Control them with insecticidal soap, neem oil, or spinosa, a biological pesticide. Read more about thrip identification and control here. Leeks may be plagued by a number of types of fungi, all of which can be treated with a commercial fungicide. Good airflow and proper planting techniques and watering practices, as well as diligently ridding the beds of errant weeds, can help to protect your plants.

Seedlings that grow slowly and then wilt and die may be a sign of damping off. Root tips of affected plants may be tan, yellow, black, or pink. Learn more about this disease here. Purplish-gray fuzzy growth on leaf surfaces may be a sign of downy mildew.

You may see pale spots on leaves, followed by widespread leaf yellowing and collapsed leaf tips. Stunted plants with undersized shafts may be a sign of pink root, which also causes roots to turn light pink and then darken to purple. The roots may be transparent and water-soaked. Purple blotch presents on the flag or stalk with small, water-soaked lesions with white centers.

These blotches enlarge and become brown or purple, with yellow edges. Foliage may die. Carefully plant the leeks so that they are absolutely upright in the bottom of the trenches, then water in as described above.

Water the young plants well, especially in fry conditions, until they are well established. Soon after planting apply a liquid manure. Hoe between the rows regularly to keep down the weeds and also this will aerate the soil. Frequent hoeing will also create a dust which helps conserve moisture.

Leaves which grow too long can be trimmed back slightly so that they do not rest on the ground. Cut the long dark leaves back by about 5 cm 2 in in early summer and again in mid summer, and a third time if it is necessary, in early autumn. Blanching Leeks Blanching leeks increases the proportion of plant which is edible and improves the flavour which would otherwise be strong and harsh.

Start blanching in mid August, this is a gradual process and should be done in several stages rather than all at once. As the plants increase in height you an earth them up which will blanch the stems.

Scoop soil up around the plant which excludes the light from the bottom part of the stem and tuns them white. Don't earth them up so high or soil will become lodged in the leaves of the leek. You can earth them up twice during the growing season. There are several methods of blanching depending on which way the leeks are growing. If you have your leeks growing in a trench, blanching consists of gradually filling in the trench with soil to the bottom of the lowest leaves each time until the plants have finished growing, which will probably be around mid to late autumn, this also depends on the weather.

This should give you at least cm ins of blanched stems. The soil used for earthing-up must be dry and of a fine texture. If you use wet earth rot is liable to set in and if the soil is lumpy it will be difficult to handle and wont keep out the light properly. If the leeks are grown on the flat surface, push the soil up around the plants increasing the soil depth by about 5 cm 2 in each time.

You can keep the stems free of soil by using collars, which are secured around the leeks up to the base of the leaves. Various materials can be used for the collar, lengths sawn from plastic piping, clay drain pipes or at virtually no cost, pieces of strong brown paper tied up with string or rubber bands.

Whatever type of collar you decide on the minimum diameter should be 7. Attach the collars before carrying out the earthing-up process. As the plants grow, draw up more and more soil with a hoe fitting another collar above the first one.

Feeding Leeks are quite greedy plants and will benefit from a sprinkle of poultry manure spread widely around the roots. Our 'Seafeed seaweed-chicken manure pellets are an excellent source of nitrogen which will be perfect for leafy crops like kale. If you want to give the plant a quick boost a liquid seaweed feed is ideal. Seamungus will release nutrients for up to 3 months so only needs to be applied once in the season. Feeding will increase the thickness of the leek stem.

You shouldn't feed overwintering leeks beyond August. Rust Leeks affected by rust will have orange patches of spores on the leaf surface. The spores will slightly reduce the yield and affects the look of the plant but won't kill it. For over wintering varieties frost will kill rust so it won't be long term problem.

For Autumn Types you ca remove the affected leaves. Don't grow leeks on the same patch of ground the following year. Onion Fly Yellow, drooping leaves and tunnels in the plant tissue. Leek Moth White streaks on the leaves.

White Rot Yellow leaves, white or grey fungus at the base of the plant. White Tips Leaf tips die back with white papery patches on the leaves. They tend to be far less susceptible so you are not that likely to get them. A good crop rotation regime should protect you from most problems. Harvesting Leeks may be harvested from mid autumn through to the end of late spring, depending on the time of sowing and the variety.

The hardier varieties are left in the ground until they are needed. Never pull the leeks out of the ground by force or they will more than likely break in two, leaving you with just a handful of leaves.