How to grow salad turnips with the Paperpot Transplanter

Paperpot settings for salad turnips

Use 4″ paper chain pots, drop 3-4 seeds per cell with the Kwik Klik Slide, and transplant 5 rows on a 30″ bed, 6″ apart. Plan on about 6 trays per 100′ bed.

Paper chain pot	4″
In-row spacing	4″
Rows per 30″ bed	5 (6″ apart)
Trays per 100′ bed	6
Kwik Klik top plate	Paperpot 264, 3 mm thick, 5 mm holes
Seeds per cell	3-4
Seed per 100′ bed	16 g (+/-)
Cultivars	Hakurei
Germination	36 hours at 77°F
Days to transplant	21 days
Days to maturity	38 days
Harvest window	14 days
Harvest unit	Bunch of 8-12 (golf-ball size)
Yield per 100′ bed	220 bunches

Bed figures are for a 100′ x 30″ bed. From the Paperpot Co. Growers Notes, developed with farmers Erich Schultz (Steadfast Farm) and Seth Davis. Adjust for your climate and conditions.

Bed preparation

• Broadfork the bed to aerate and loosen the soil.
• Smooth and shape the bed with a bed prep rake, removing any debris.
• If the previous crop was fertilized, salad turnips will do fine without reapplying. If not, either layer on 1″ of compost (enough to mostly cover the native soil) or sprinkle on alfalfa meal and pelleted chicken manure.
• If you layer compost, don’t tilth it in, so surface weed seed stays smothered. If you add amendments, tilth the top 1″ to mix them in.
• Irrigate for 10 to 14 days* to germinate weed seed in the top layer of soil, then flame weed once the weed cotyledons are up.

Seeding

• Set a germination tray with 4″ paper chain pots and fill with potting mix.
• Set up the Kwik Klik Slide with the Paperpot bottom plate and the Paperpot 264, 3 mm thick, 5 mm holes top plate.
• Pour seed on the top plate and work it until 3-4 seeds sits in each hole. Line the seeder up over the tray and slide the plate to drop seed into every cell at once.
• Water the tray, then germinate for 36 hours at 77°F.
• Move trays to greenhouse benches as soon as you see germination.

Transplanting

• Water the trays thoroughly before heading to the field.
• Plant five rows of salad turnips with the Paperpot Transplanter: 6″ between rows, 3″ from the outer rows to the bed edge.
• New to the transplanter? See the how-to guide and videos.

Bed layout

Irrigation

• Water the bed in thoroughly with overhead irrigation or four lines of drip.
• Right after that first watering, cover the bed with floating row cover (insect netting in warm weather) and weigh the edges down with sandbags every 5 feet. It only comes off to cultivate and harvest, which keeps flea beetles off.

Cultivation

• 14 days after transplanting, cultivate with a wire weeder or collinear hoe.
• After that the canopy shades out new weeds. Put the cover back right after cultivating.

Harvest

• Pull turnips with tops on and bunch in the field: 8-12 per bunch at 1.5-2″ each.
• Pile bunches in the path and collect them in a tote at the end of the bed.

Washing and packing

• Spray each bunch with a washdown gun over a root wash table, turning it until all the soil is off.
• Store at 35°F in a plastic bag or tote to keep them crisp until market.

Salad turnips in paper chain pots: FAQ

Other crops

basil · beets · bunching onions · cabbage · cilantro · dill · fennel · garlic · head lettuce · kohlrabi · leeks · Little Gem lettuce · mesclun mix lettuce · onions · snap peas · spinach · storage radishes · summer crisp lettuce. All crops in one table: the Paperpot growers notes.