Topic: Why wont my carrots grow?

[The Cardinal]

I've planted four packets of carrot seeds so far - the first 3 packets 4 weeks ago, and the last one 2 weeks ago. Not a single one has come up!!! Last year I had absolutely hundreds of carrots, and I've not done anything different this year - so why have none of 'em germinated? Same with my Parsnips!!

[posie]

Well I have a theory as to why mine haven't grown up the lottie and it's a simple one.  I sowed 3 rows up the lottie and a tub in the garden.  The soil in the lottie hasn't been planted for a long time and despite endless digging I just don't think it was fine enough, plus it seems to be part clay.  The tub in the garden was brand spanking new organic compost and they've all come up within a few days.  So I can only surmise that it's the fineness of the soil that's caused the problems.

So I'm going to weed the bed again and do what was suggested to me a while back on here and that's to fill the drill with fresh compost to give them a bit of a headstart.  Other than that - not the foggiest?!

[bionear2]

I have often had problems with getting carrots to germinate, so this year I sowed thinly,  topped off the drills with council compost instead of soil, and kept watering.

After 8 days there are thousands of the little beggars - same goes for beet, swedes, and kohl-rabi.

[redimp]

bionear2 - your sig should actually say:

Noli nothis permittere te terere

What you have is a corrupt translation ;D

PS - I watered my carrots a lot last year and then it rained for weeks on end and I got diddly.  I have not watered at all this year and they seem to be doing better. :)

[Robert_Brenchley]

I doubt whether the fineness of the soil makes that much difference. I can never grow carrots myself, but I've heard of the compost trick before.

[Rhubarb Thrasher]

carrots are a lot more difficult than they look. Grown in tubs in compost is quite easy, we've just started eating some sown in January. In the ground is another matter. Haven't decided whether to try again this year

[calendula]

temperature has a lot to do with it as well, makes the germination fickle, i.e. lots or none but it can be the seed, 2 years ago I sowed over 4 packs of carrots and got nothing, it was a cheap 'offer' from a well known seed merchant and I suspect the seeds were not viable for some reason as there was no other logical reason for lack of germination

[Plot69]

I've sown a few varieties down the allotment and they've all come up to a certain degree.

The variety that has germinated far better than all the others I've found is Flyaway and the worst has been Early Nantes. I've had the same results in fresh compost in tubs in my G/H.

[Hyacinth]

Cardinal, my thoughts are: in previous years you've had no problem with your chosen method of sowing, therefore I'd factor in the lower soil temps when you sowed them this year? Carrots need a min.temp of 40deg to germinate....viability of the seeds you've sown are perhaps also an issue this year?

I'm of the trowelling out fresh drills, lining them with fresh compost,watering, sowing, covering with more fresh compost then watering again brigade & I've always had good germination in all of the carrots - Early Nantes, Nantes ll, Autumn King & those little purple-cored dumpty ones I can't remember the name of atm - but this year I've delayed sowing any of them directly in the ground until last week....

[manicscousers]

flakee and st valery let us down last year, tried again this year, same result
early nantes, early market, flyaway and autumn king all doing well  :)

[George the Pigman]

I struggled for many years trying to get carrots germinating on the clay soil of my allotment. Then I cracked it - spent compost!!. I always save the old compost from my garden and greenhouse pots and end up with several bags of it. Now I take out a shallow trench and fill it full of the compost. Sow the carrots in it and they usually always come up. The problem with germinating carrots seems to be they need  a reasonable soil tempearture and if they dry out at any stage that's it! The compost retains sufficient moisture to keep them happy. It also stops a clay pan forming which means even if they came up they couldn't push their little head through te pan and hence get stuck there and rot. .

[Normie]

The soil in the lottie hasn't been planted for a long time and despite endless digging I just don't think it was fine enough, plus it seems to be part clay.  The tub in the garden was brand spanking new organic compost and they've all come up within a few days.  So I can only surmise that it's the fineness of the soil that's caused the problems.

My Dad told me last year that carrot seeds to do not germinate when there are "pockets" of air in the soil. He said to either sow in drills of bagged compost or firm down the soil with the flat side of a rake after sowing.  I did the latter in quite lumpy clay soil and had good germination.