Summer Leek Albos

Allium porrum - Albos

Leek is a biennial vegetable. In the first year, the usable part grows at a moderate depth or on the soil surface, and only in the second year does it grow into flowering and the seed matures. It reaches up to 60cm in height. We can find more than twenty varieties in our region, but many more exist. Leeks can be divided into summer, autumn, and winter varieties. The leek forms a very rich rosette of flat leaves above a bulbous thickened underground stem. The leaves contain a range of minerals, vitamins, and essential substances that give the leek its typical aroma and juiciness.

How to Grow Leeks

• The soil for growing leeks must be well-worked and loosened to a greater depth than, for example, for onions or lettuce. It requires a bright, sunny location. After planting, gradually hill soil up to the necks; by early winter, the strong seedlings are already in ridged furrows. Until the newly planted plants establish themselves, they must be watered generously every day. Later, irrigation is only necessary occasionally, only during dry weather.

• Sowing of summer crops is done in a greenhouse at the turn of December and January. At a temperature of around 18°C, from a seedling height of 5 cm, the temperature can be reduced to 15°C. In April, planting is carried out in beds at a spacing of 30×10 cm.

  Sowing of autumn crops is done from mid-February to mid-March in a greenhouse. In mid-June, seedlings are planted in beds.

  All sowings of various crops are done to a depth of 1 cm, at a spacing of 10×1–2 cm. We plant seedlings that are pencil-sized at their final location.

• Requires very nutritious, well-loosened soil. Optimal pH 7–7.8.

• N 100 kg N/ha, of which 50 kg 5 weeks after planting. P 80 kg P2O5/ha, K 200 - 250 kg K2O/ha. Ideally, leeks should be planted after crops fertilized with cow manure.

• Leeks are threatened by the leek moth (Acrolepiopsis assectella), which lays eggs at the boundary between the underground and above-ground parts. The hatched larvae feed on the tissue and damage it. Against the leek moth, treat with Decis EW 50 spray at a concentration of 0.03%. Similar products are also effective against the less common onion fly.

  Downy mildew may also appear. Gray-green spots covered with a grayish coating of mycelium and spores appear on the leaves; in bulbs, the inner scales rot. Protection involves fungicides with a wetting agent.

• Leeks are harvested 16 to 20 weeks after sowing, but they can remain in harvest maturity for entire months. Leeks are harvested by digging them out from summer onwards, whenever needed.