Trouble getting carrot seeds to germinate!

[papadekaitlyn]

My carrots germinated with outdoor temps in the 50's. All I do is sow them directly into an open bed, (it helps if the soil is already most from prior rains or watering several hours before, but not wet) then I take my hoe and use the top flat side and simply tamp the seeds lightly into the soil.

The only times I haven't had a good crop is when I bought lousy seed from a dollar store because it was cheaper. I have come to believe that discount seed is what was left over from the previous planting season and that they just don't do as well...

 

[papadekaitlyn]

I noticed several typos in my previous post...

I am a reely good speler, jus not a vury gud tiper...

 

[Reinbeau]

Fixed it for ya, Papadekaitlyn

 

[Rosalind]

I put my carrot seeds in about, oh, late April, and I'm getting sprouts (just the first couple of leaves) now. And I'm technically in Zone 6/7a (MetroWest area of Boston), on a Northerly slope.

I sowed them in play sand mixed with compost and cow manure, just the quick-n-dirty way: add shovelfuls of compost and manure until it looks sorta brown and not totally sandy, dig rows with a hoe, sprinkle seeds liberally in the general direction of the row. Watered them last weekend with the yucky water off the top of the pool cover, which I'm sure had a lot of rotted leaves and dead frogs and such in it. Now, my rows are interplanted with onions to stink out the carrot bugs, so I'm wondering if that makes a difference? Maybe the marauding robins that tend to eat every other friggin' seed I plant are put off by onion sets?

 

[papadekaitlyn]

Sad as it sounds, I am really not sure what zone I am in...

I live about an hour north of Mobile Bay...

When I plant the carrots, I build up a row, my grandmother calls them hills, but it is just a raised pile of dirt that runs the entire length of the row. When I sow, I scratch a trench in the top of the hill about 1/2 inch deep (or less), then I sow the seeds down the trench and tamp the seeds down with the hoe as I mentioned in my previous post. a very slight covering of dirt may get over them from the tamping, but mostly they just get packed down into the dirt a bit...

I don't have too much trouble with birds (or rats)... The cats do a good job of keeping them run off and the ones that don't run get eaten...

I haven't done a lot of container growing myself, and I know there is a big difference between container growing and bed growing in terms of successful germination of seed and moisture control...

I think if I was planting a large container, such as a small plastic swimmimg pool, I'd probaly bury in some soaker hose about halfway down the depth of my soil and then plant the rows between the runs of hose. I'd probably get a cheap humidity probe from the home supply store too and stick it about mid way of the pool so I would be able to gauge how long and how often I'd need to put the water to it.

In my experience, seeds germinate more predictably and quicker when the moisture comes from beneath them than when the moisture is poured on from above( which can bury the seed too deep or wash them out...)

I guess I'm just rattling off theories now, so I will let it rest...

I hope you have success with the project.

Steve

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

We use the hill/trench method as Steve described above.

Yes, moisture control from the bottom up is very important in seedling germination. Color of the container has a lot to do with moisture control too. Wood containers lined with plastic seem to work well for us.

There are many resources online available to look up your zone.