Some leeks (and onions, too, for me) like to take their time. Don't give up on them yet. And it's not unusual for them to not all germinate within a day of two of each other.

I'll be interested to see if others have ways of speeding up onions and leeks or helping them grow more in sync with each other.

You don't want heat for leeks and onions. I sowed mine in a deep pot on a chilly kitchen counter on Feb. 11 and they were up the 20th.

I would agree, take them off the heat. Mine were sown at the same time as laceyvail's and up at the same time too, on the chilly baywindow. Also maybe just wait a bit longer?

In another post I tried to get some answers on bottom heat for alliums, but everyone's opinions went against what I saw with my own eyes. With bottom heat my onions and leeks germinated in around 6 or 7 days and without they took 21 or 22, so I am a proponent of bottom heating alliums (but removing once all are up). As far as un-uniformity with germinating time, I could only say to be patient. Also, I have noticed that SOME varieties that seem to be the most vigorous indoors underperform around harvest time and the ones that seem the weakest end up really beefing up once transplanted outside.

Thanks all. Originals are still going, but I planted a second batch which is not on the heating pad.........still in the basement near the furnace so it's not a cold room, but certainty not getting constant heat either.

I think not bottom heating a second batch this late is actually pretty backwards. If it speeds germination time why would you not use that to your advantage? Since it is getting very late for leeks from seed anyways, if I was you I would scrap the idea and order some starts from Dixondale and plan to have them shipped end of March for planting around April 1.

It's hardly late for leeks from seed. This is the same time I started my second flat of leeks last year. Some of those were sized up and ready at the same time as my leeks started 3 weeks earlier. But of course it is always good to have a backup strategy!

My leeks took 30 days to grow come up. The package said American flag rakes thirty days but I thought they weren't coming. What leeks variety are you guys getting in a week?

I planted Leek Lexton, Johnny's, on Feb 19th. Began germinating Feb 24, with strong germination by Feb 27 , same as Onion Pontiac. Used a shelf in the heater closet, not bottom heat, but here in MA our heater has been working hard, so it is warm in there.

I pre-soaked king richard leek seeds on or about 12/31/2014 for 24 hours and plated them under lights in my basement. They germinated in about 7 days with probably at least 96% germination. They are now 8 inches tall and I am going to have to re-pot them before setting them out into the garden.

Have you trimmed them? As in, given them a haircut? That will thicken them up and may allow you to avoid transplanting

Here are my leeks and my artichokes. The leeks are about a foot high. Should I trim the tops? I am not going to transplant them into the garden for 35 days.

I always trim onions but I've never trimmed leeks. I just let them grow. Are they normally trimmed?

Wild Haired Mavens I am growing American Flag (Broad London) and Megaton from Johnny's. I also soaked overnight and bottom heated soil to somewhere around 70-75 F. I believe I have pinpointed the main difference in my crop that germinated in 7 days versus the one that took over 20. Bottom heat may have played a part, but I realized that my soil mix changed. The mix that produced in 20+ days was a cheap seed starting mix that was mostly peat and was very tough to fully saturate, so I think the seeds remained dry for much longer than the pro-mix I added vermiculite and sand to on the second batch and drained pretty freely and saturated more evenly.

Charlie- don't know about trimming them, never have, but you can get a jump on them forming a nice white shaft by adding some soil at the base of those.