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JERSEY ROYAL SEED
Seed is lifted from late June, through July. It is first placed loose in chitting trays and left until November when it is worked, graded and ‘stood’.
This process involves the initial primary shoots being rubbed out to encourage (ideally) three further apical shoots to develop. This seed is then graded into six sizes and “stood” with the apical shoots uppermost in the chitting trays. The trays are stacked in the seed stores where they are physiologically aged to around 5-600 day degrees before planting.
All Jersey Royal seed is planted by hand taking special care to make sure that the shoots are placed uppermost to ensure even and early emergence.
The earliest crops, planted in the côtils, are planted at a rate of around 1.4 tonne per vergée (7.8 tonne per hectare) with seed rates then decreasing to about 1.1 tonnes (6.1 tonnes per hectare) for the next third of the crop and then increasing again over the remainder of the planting to a rate of around 1.6 tonnes per verge (8.8 tonne per hectare).
The next fields to be planted are generally the lighter sloping soils of the western and southern coastal plains and the northern coastal fields. These are planted from mid January through to mid February.
The last areas to be planted are the heavier inland soils which produce the late season crop as well as the seed crops for the following year’s production. These fields tend to be larger and flat.
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