tricks to germinating carrots?

[orgoveg]

I direct-sowed my carrots this year too early. I just went by a planting calender I found somewhere on the internet. No germination has occurred for over two weeks and I just learned that they like a 75 degree soil temperature. It has been sunny and high 60's the last couple of days, so that may help.

My black garden hose sits in the sun and the water gets hot. I thought about watering with that. What do y'all think? I'm also wondering roughly how long it would be before the seeds are likely to rot.

Same problem with beets, but I get conflicting information on the soil temperature that they prefer.

Ooh, I just had another idea. Put black plastic over them?

[WinglessAngel]

I actually germinated all my seeds indoors this year. My carrots in a plastic bin with about 6" of soil as the roots even as seedlings tend to be very long. They took about 4-5 days to germinate this way and I had them on a table in front of a window in my home up until day yesterday. They do tend to be somewhat hardy with cooler temperatures depending on where you live and the stype of carrot you buy. Since I have transplanted outdoors it did get down to the high 30's and I did lose a few seedlings either to cold temps or handling of the roots...which in all honesty is not all that bad as I planted a whole hord of them lol. Soil temperature is based mostly on the type of carrot you plant...mine did fine going from indoors to out I just left them sit in the morning sun till the afternoon when I planted them outdoors to let them come up to the outside temperature. I am not sure how much this will help you but you will get conflicting stories bec most people don't all plant the same types of carrots

[jal_ut]

No germination has occurred for over two weeks

Don't panic. Carrots usually take 3 weeks to germinate when planted in early spring. If you planted them two weeks ago you will see them in another week. I would not put anything on them, just be patient.

[rainbowgardener]

I don't know where you learned that carrots need 75 degree soil temp. If you look at the carrot seed packet, it will say plant "as soon as the soil can be worked." That means the ground is unfrozen and dried out enough to be crumbly. Jal is right that planting in cool soil like that will mean they take awhile to germinate.

Carrots are not usually planted indoors. It is difficult to transplant them without disturbing the root and if the root is disturbed you don't get a nice carrot, you get something all branchy.

[orgoveg]

Thanks, Y'all. I'll be patient

The 75 degree soil temp is from The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. I think I threw my empty seed packets away (which I never do, until now).

[gixxerific]

I can tell you my super secret trick to plating carrots.

I dig a furrow and plant the seeds, than after a while they come up and I thin them down.

Don't tell anyone.

Of course this is in loose soil they don't like compacted soil or rocks one tiny bit.

Now saying the I'm not the greatest carrot grower out there but I'm getting better. I can think of one person you need to talk to about carrots on this forum and the would be Jal_UT that man has the touch.

[farmerlon]

...Ooh, I just had another idea. Put black plastic over them?

I don't think that would be a good idea. I believe that the carrot seeds will definitely fail if they get too hot. Also, I think they require light to germinate (someone please correct that if I'm wrong). And, if they did happen to sprout, the seedlings would likely "cook" under the plastic.

In the past, I always seemed to have trouble keeping my carrot seed bed moist. This year, I covered the seed bed with a single layer of burlap. That worked perfectly! The burlap had enough of a "mulching" effect to keep the soil surface moist, and it also let enough light through to germinate the seedlings.

[Bobberman]

I always plant my carrots with lettuce and when the lettuce bed is done I have carrots everywhere in the lettuce bed! I also plant a few radish in the bed to loosen the soil!

[Bobberman]

Another thing I have done in the past was to mix lettuce and carrot seeds in a small bag of seed starting soil or potting soin and leave it in the house for about 4 days hen pour it into a small out side bed a 1/2 inch deep and pat it down. The seeds will come up in a 1/3 of the time and the lettuce will be up very quick! You can moisten the potting soil when you mix the seeds in! Do not keep it longer than 4 days in the house or your lettuce seeds will be all germinated! As for light that the seed needs to germinate I think not!

[garden5]

Personally, I think 75 degree temps would be a bit much for the carrots and make them bolt. Although grown into the summer, I've found carrots to be a cool-weather crop.....well, at least when planted.

[rainbowgardener]

sorry, but carrots like parsley and other things in the family are biennials. They won't bolt/ go to seed the first year. And they grow just fine through the summer heat. But they do like to get started while it is still cool.

[digitS']

. . .I covered the seed bed with a single layer of burlap. That worked perfectly! The burlap had enough of a "mulching" effect to keep the soil surface moist, and it also let enough light through to germinate the seedlings.

A lot of gardeners do this and report that it works well.

Some, put a board over the row. If you can check for seedlings often, I'm sure these are successful techniques.

Me? I disremembered to check them enuf.

Steve

[gixxerific]

I don't understand the board trick, I always get ton's of sprouts, the thinning is what is not a good time. Though with those tons of sprouts I don't get super great harvest. But I don't need a board to get them going.

I don't understand why you would use one. could be climate differences, don't know.

[digitS']

Gixxerific, this is an arid part of the world and quite windy but, more than that, the soil is extremely porous - glacial till.

These things work against the germinating of carrot seed.

Burlap will hold moisture on the soil surface. And, since the seed is sown very shallow, that would help over the course of the many days it often takes carrots to emerge.

Since many gardeners plant seed in rows - as I do, even tho' the rows are in beds - a narrow board can also be used. But when I tried it, the carrots emerged from the ground between the days that I lifted the board to check on them. Most of them were smothered .

Steve

[tedln]

I learned the hard way that my carrots will not germinate if I direct sow them without insuring they are about 1/4" below the surface. I tried it a lot of times and could only get a few seed to sprout. When I started either topping them with a thin layer of soil or breaking the soil surface with a garden rake both before and after sowing the seeds, they started germinating great. After sowing the seed I keep the soil moist until they germinate which is usually within ten days. I sow the seed mixed with sand from an old spice shaker. It allows me to see where the seed is going and obtain even distribution.

Ted

[soil]

I suck at planting carrots, so when I want to grow carrots I just toss some seed out in winter. come spring they grow and in a few months I have nice big carrots that if I tried to plant would for some reason be puny as hell.

[digitS']

These all seem to be such good ideas for better success. Even the one for sowing the winter before - that might work here where we have sub-zero winters, I'm not sure.

I'm going to do more than say these are "such good ideas" and add a few things that have worked for me. (Unlike the keeping track of what is going on under the board trick .)

First, the easy one: buy pelleted seed. A number of companies offer it, Johnny's, Harris, are 2. That clay coating really helps keep moisture against the seeds during the days it takes for them to germinate.

A little more difficult is somewhat like making seed tapes, which you can do, also. I just have quite a few feet of carrots I'm trying to sow - besides, the paper tapes kept blowing away before I could get soil on them !

Anyway, Fluid Seeding, or a variation on that. Fluid seeding is used in the west with alfalfa seed - another tiny seed sown shallow and subject to drying out. In the garden, I've used cornstarch gel as my "fluid" and just sown the seed in the gel.

One tablespoon cornstarch to each cup of water is brought to a boil on the stove. Allow it to cool a little, pour it in a suitable container (I fill a zip-lock quart bag at a time) and head out into the garden. Drizzle the gel in your furrow and sprinkle the carrot seed on top. You will use more gel than if you make seed tapes but cornstarch isn't very expensive.

This has worked just as well as pelleted seed for me . I have used it for lettuce seed as well but lettuce germinates so quickly anyway that it isn't a very important help.

Steve

[SOB]

As someone who will be planting carrots for the first time soon you all are getting my scared!

What about putting wet newspaper in the bottom of the furrows and planting on top of that? Then cover with your soil. Anyone try that?

[rainbowgardener]

I don't have any trouble; I just put the seeds in the ground and they sprout. It does help to have your soil very loosened up and light. I don't really bury the seeds just pat them down so they are in contact with the soil and then dust a light layer of potting soil over them and water them in.

[Gary350]

I sprinkle my carrot seeds in the snow. I read some where carrots require several weeks of cold weather to get good germination. When the temperature gets right the seeds grow.

[tedln]

I have random carrot seed germinating in beds this spring where it was planted two years ago. Same thing with lettuce seed. Interesting how long some seed can remain viable and still germinate. I don't understand why it didn't germinate the year it was sowed.

Ted

[applestar]

@SOB - trouble with using newspaper like that is any part od newspaper gets exposed will dry up and wick moisture away. Also, I don't think newspaper will break down enough for the weak seedling roots to grow through, even less so if it dries out.

I don't particularly like seed tapes for shallow planted seeds like carrots for the same reason, though I've tried making them with tissue party streamers.

The cornstarch gel digitS described is what I used to make the seed tape though. sounds a lot simpler to just squirt it in the ground.

[tedln]

If the corn starch gel is thick enough, why not add the seed to the gel and disperse it in the cold gel. Then use a mayonnaise or ketchup dispenser to squirt the gel into a shallow trench. It should give even distribution better than sprinkling the seed on the gel.

Ted

[WinglessAngel]

I think that is something I am going to have to deff try with the next carrot sowing I do for my garden, thanks for the tip

[orgoveg]

As someone who will be planting carrots for the first time soon you all are getting my scared!

What about putting wet newspaper in the bottom of the furrows and planting on top of that? Then cover with your soil. Anyone try that?

This is my second year trying carrots. Last season, it went perfectly but I had waited to sow on my last frost date. It's really not difficult. I'm just surprised at the time required for germination when seeds are sown early. I run my finger along the tops of the rows to make a shallow trench. I rub the seeds between my fingers into the trench, then squeeze the sides of the trench together. I sow many different seeds this way, adjusting the depth of the trench accordingly. In spots, it's necessary to pick up a clump of soil and crumble it over the seeds. (I make the soil fine on top of the rows before making the trenches).

I love the corn starch idea. Sometimes, really heavy rains can ruin everything. I'm thinking that could really help keep the seeds in place.

I don't think anyone has mentioned that mulching helps after the tops are 2"-3" high. It seems that after germination, carrots like the soil cool. I think I experienced evidence of that when my late season second planting failed.

BTW - I think I am seeing 2 or 3 sprouts emerging. I'll report back when germination is successful.

[WinglessAngel]

I think you've got a pt there on the rain washing away the seeds....I was worried about tha twith my romain seeds after we got rain that night after planting....I am deff going to be using that method for sure the next time I plant!

[digitS']

If the corn starch gel is thick enough, why not add the seed to the gel and disperse it in the cold gel. Then use a mayonnaise or ketchup dispenser to squirt the gel into a shallow trench. It should give even distribution better than sprinkling the seed on the gel.

Ted

I did that with the lettuce seed I tried, Ted. . . . with the bag, not a dispenser.

It worked okay except I got a little too much seed or too little gel because the plants came up in little, dense globs! You'd probably need to give some thought to how far you wanted to run the gel out in the furrow and how many seeds that would require. That way, you wouldn't get them too thick in the gel.

As I said, lettuce is really no problem for me in the garden. Carrots have been. There seems to be a fairly small window here to get good germination for "naked" seed. Yes, it seems to be right about the last frost date but, I think it has a lot to do with getting some well-timed rain.

Here is how this idea came to me: [url=https://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/VegFruit/fliud.htm]Fluid Seed, CSU[/url]. Be advised that I DID NOT find that sprouting the seed worked well, at all! Not only did the carrots not come up well but they didn't seem especially early. However, just getting the seed in the gel worked as well as buying pelleted seed for planting. Very high germination over about 4 years now.

Steve

[tedln]

Another thought on using the gel planting method would be to put the gel into a zip lock bag, add the seed, and then zip the bag and squish it around until the seed and gel are mixed well. Cut a corner off the bag any size you want. Then plant the seed by squeezing the bag like your decorating a cake. The zip lock method should work because it makes it easy to mix the seed and gel plus you can squeeze almost all of it out of the bag. It should result in very little wasted seed.

(digitS, If you already described the zip lock method, I apologize. I just read your last post and you mentioned using a bag instead of the dispenser.)

Ted

[Canoe]

First I have to say I love this forum. You folks have the best ideas. I am getting back into gardening, didn't have the time or space for a long time. But my little girl likes to do things with me, so trying to get her hooked too. The cornstarch in a zip lock idea is great. But when it was said to use it like frosting a cake a light went off. If I can get them to sprout in the shape of a happy face or something she would love it. I may do it with rye grass seeds though. Thanks for all the great info and the great ideas.

Canoe

[WinglessAngel]

that is a great idea canoe! I never thought of that....I have my fiance's "daughter" taken under our wing since her dad is not around and her mom is perpetually working and she loves the thought of her second "mom" having a garden....next time I plant some seeds again, carrots or lettuce or radishes or something I will have to do that with her...she would love that idea....or spell her name with them or something lol apologies but I'm snagging ur idea...hope u don't mind?

[Canoe]

No worries on taking the idea. I kind of got it from Disney anyway. They do it with there plants. But I would never have that type of room to make things like they do.


Canoe

[digitS']

First I have to say I love this forum. You folks have the best ideas. I am getting back into gardening, didn't have the time or space for a long time. But my little girl likes to do things with me, so trying to get her hooked too. The cornstarch in a zip lock idea is great. But when it was said to use it like frosting a cake a light went off. If I can get them to sprout in the shape of a happy face or something she would love it. I may do it with rye grass seeds though. Thanks for all the great info and the great ideas.

Canoe

Ha! Well, with my limited experience - I'd choose the lettuce.

It came up really easily and while it was in "globs" for me, a little more artistic gardener could have turned it into something cute!

I used a lettuce seed mix, by the way. A lot more colorful that way .

Steve

[tedln]

Canoe,

You will probably have to wait until fall for the Rye grass. I think the weather is already to hot for Rye grass to germinate. Mine is already trying to send up seed heads so it can die. If you have a packet of lettuce seed, try that. It will germinate quickly and grow a little before the high heat arrives for the summer.

Ted

[WinglessAngel]

I agree with the lettuce, my romain I will prob have to replant as I think the seeds washed away in the rain we had the following night....I might just be growing romain lettuce in my yard next to the garden area lol, but if I do oh well, its not fenced off and the rabbits can have something to munch on lol

[Canoe]

Thanks Guys I was just thinking some type of grass so we didn't have to thin it is all.

Canoe

[orgoveg]

Okay, I can officially declare that my carrots have sprouted. It took 23 days.

Thanks for making me be patient

[WinglessAngel]

aww thats great! I am going to have to replant again, as out of probably a hundred seedlings planted I did a sprout count this morning and only found 16 had made it through the wind storm and the last few days of rain, and I'm sure the rest are going to follow suit with the next few more days of heavy rain and thunderstorms we are going to be getting on top of that...replanting it is!

[maringardner]

I planted carrots three weeks ago and had a bunch of sprouts, but I came home today and noticed they were gone. I am thinking birds or slugs got them.....
I planted more seeds last weekend so maybe they will make it......

[Bobberman]

If its slugs they will ony get worse. My slugs only seemed to eat my first two leaves of lettuce. I would go out at night anc check. If it is slugs sprinkle some salt around the bed or epsom salts will also get rid of them! The real tiny slug will be n the 100,s soon if you have some now! I usually look under the boards or rocks and get rid of the big ones that will produce the many!

[tedln]

marlingardener,

I would be surprised if you have slugs. I haven't seen one in years because of the drier climate where I live. I think of your area as primarily dry.

I test my garden yearly for slugs and snails by strategically placing a large stone or board in a shady portion of the garden. I lift the board or stone occasionally to check under it for critters. Many people swear by the old beer in a saucer method of eradicating them. It never worked for me because by the time I got the saucer placed, my beer can was empty.

(oops! that was from maringardner instead of marlingardener. Yep, you probably do have slugs.)

Ted