Carrots never even sprouted

[catjac1975]

This is in the soil? Not trays right? How would you ever transplant carrot seedlings with out killing them???

I've taken to using vermiculite for small seeds: carrots, parsley, lettuce, etc. I make light groove in the soil, place the seeds, cover with vermiculite then gently water or mist them. Vermiculite holds water but not so much as to drown the seed, helps them to quickly develop roots.

 

[catjac1975]

If you plant an occasional radish seed along with your carrots they will quickly mark the rows for you. I have had trouble with the colorful carrots germinating. They are expensive and I think they germinate poorly. Carrots are easy for me so I wonder if there is a lot of poor seed out there? I have always thought of them as a cool season crop. Are some regions just too hot for carrots?

I've taken to using vermiculite for small seeds: carrots, parsley, lettuce, etc. I make light groove in the soil, place the seeds, cover with vermiculite then gently water or mist them. Vermiculite holds water but not so much as to drown the seed, helps them to quickly develop roots.

 

[catjac1975]

re: the potatoes died. They die back when they are ready. At what point did they die? They take about 3 months to be ready. I can only think that they got too much water. Do your raised beds have good drainage?

Put the different seeds in the trays, once the day came for them to go out, I put them on our porch to get used to wind and then over more for sun and stronger wind. Then planted them, watered and morning they were flopped over and never recovered.

I use peat moss, sand and top soil mix for all my mini raised beds. Most things did great.

Oh, my potatoes yellowed and died in 3 days, also never recovered. They were 2ft over the 1ft soil and suddenly went yellow and died on me.


I tried different things with the carrots. Followed the package instructions, shallow, deep, wetter, more shaded. Just weeds grew since they never even tried. Too late to try yet again?

 

[secuono]

We had a mini drought, but they also weren't 3mo in when they died on me.

 

[wsmoak]

We had a mini drought, but they also weren't 3mo in when they died on me.

Did you dig them up to see if anything grew? We had a very strange not-winter and spring this year... my potatoes seemed to grow and die back very quickly, but most of them were rotten inside.

Maybe it just wasn't a great year for potatoes, try again next year.

-Wendy

 

[vfem]

We had a mini drought, but they also weren't 3mo in when they died on me.

Oh yes... dig dig dig! I thought I lost mine, got mad and starting cleaning out the bed to find baseball size potatoes rolling out everywhere! I lost track and hadn't realized how long they were in the ground. I was so thrilled after being so mad!

As for the carrots, it took me years to get them to sprout, and now.... I'm lucky to get 50% germination because they are so picky. Sometimes they would sprout in 10-14 days, other times 20 days... and sometimes I planted carrots in the spring and then wouldn't sprout until fall. Total frustration sometimes with those things. I mulch mine with a light layer of hay. In the fall I scatter them inbetween my tomato plants a few weeks before I plant on pulling them. This helps them not dry out as fast so I have sprouts in the ground when the tomatoes come out. This is the only time of year I can ever get those expensive colored carrots to sprout. The atomic reds didn't sprout this past spring, but I have some coming up for the fall between my wasted away tomatoes right now.

 

[Smart Red]

I have found a trick to growing carrots that works well for me.

I try to plant carrots soon after a rain so there is a lot of moisture in the ground, or I water well and plant the next day. I don't plant in rows, but broadcast them over a given area. Then I just move my hand over the area to scatter some soil over the seeds. I have a shower watering tool that lightly wets the area. Then I cover the area with either plywood, cardboard, or black landscape fabric that is held just off the soil about 3 inches. This keeps the area moist, shaded, and away from drying winds. Once the seeds germinate I remove the covering. The rest is normal weeding and thinning for good carrot growth. I often interplant radishes and lettuces or spinach between the carrots as they are harvested and gone before the carrots need the space.

 

[digitS']

Holding the board up off the ground is a clever IDEA, Linn!

I might be able to do that and not forget the darn things until living under a board kills them!

A good and simple way for me to have good germination rates with carrots is to use seed encased in clay - pelleted seed. You can buy that seed thru Harris & Johnny's & elsewhere. I think the original plan was to make the machine sowing of seed easier but the clay coating really seems to help with a soil that dries quickly.

Steve

 

[SuperChemicalGirl]

Here's what I did with my carrots after 2 years of failure and did great this year. In fact, I'm fighting the vermin for my carrots.

I made carrot seed tape out of carrot seeds, flour/water mixture for glue and paper towels.

Made a tiny little trench for them in the garden, laid the seed tape in, covered very lightly with dirt and then kept them watered. In fact, I hate to admit this, but we got snow and insanely cold weather right after I planted them and it took FOREVER for them to come up but they did great. They would have done even better had I actually kept them weeded... but for my lazy way of gardening, it was good!

 

[catjac1975]

I am a pretty crazy gardener, but chem girl,you take the prize. Glue? Elmers?

Here's what I did with my carrots after 2 years of failure and did great this year. In fact, I'm fighting the vermin for my carrots.

I made carrot seed tape out of carrot seeds, flour/water mixture for glue and paper towels.

http://www.theeasygarden.com/forum/uploads/6992_seed_tape.jpg

Made a tiny little trench for them in the garden, laid the seed tape in, covered very lightly with dirt and then kept them watered. In fact, I hate to admit this, but we got snow and insanely cold weather right after I planted them and it took FOREVER for them to come up but they did great. They would have done even better had I actually kept them weeded... but for my lazy way of gardening, it was good!