LEEKS (Allium porrum) VARIETIES1 AL LEEKS Alcazar Bandit Chinook King Richard Lancelot Lexton Tadorna 1 A Abbreviations for state where recommended. Transplants. Transplants are used for early spring plantings. For summer planting, sow in seed beds as indicated in following table. About 2 pounds of seed are required to provide enough plants to set an acre. Seed should be planted 1/3 to 1/2 inch deep 8 to 12 weeks before field setting. Plants will be ready to set in early August. Plug cells have worked well. LEEK PLANTING DATES Spring AL North AL South GA North GA South KY East KY Central KY West MS NC East NC West SC East SC West TN East TN West NR = Not recommended 3/15-4/30 2/1-3/31 3/15-4/30 2/1-3/31 4/1-6/15 3/25-7/1 3/15-7/15 NR 2/15-6/30 4/1-8/15 2/1-6/15 3/15-6/30 4/1-6/30 3/15-8/1 Fall 9/15-10/31 NR 9/15-10/31 NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR Field Spacing. Rows: 20 to 30 inches apart; plants: 4 inches apart in the row. Set plants in trenches 3 to 4 inches deep. Culture. Leeks grow slowly for the first 2 or 3 months. To develop a long white stem, start to gradually fill in trenches and then hill soil around stems to 3 or 4 inches. HARVESTING AND STORAGE Spring-transplanted leeks are ready for harvest in July. Falltransplanted leeks are ready to harvest by July. Fall-planted leeks are ready by November and can be overwinterted. See Table 14 for postharvest information. A K A K A G N N N S S T T GA KY NC N N SC S TN T T 2022 Vegetable Crop Handbook for Southeastern United States 87