Topic: Carrot failure?

[Bjerreby]

This is my first year growing carrots.

I have read "expert" advice on growing carrots, and it seems very contradictory to me. Water. Don't water. Feed. Don't feed. Add compost. Don't add anything. Recommended sowing depth varies between 5 and 15 mm, which doesn't agree with the general rule that sowing depth is twice the size of the seed.

Charles Dowding says that after watering the drills, carrot seed should not be watered for at least 2 weeks. Well I followed his advice.

I sowed on 11th April in fine weather, the soil was about 10 degrees C. Since then, up to 2 days ago, it has been fine, dry and warm. I watered about 27th April, and then we had a bit of rain.

I haven't seen a single seedling yet, and I suspect thew whole business is a failure.

I suspect that sowing too deep can cause the seedlings to fail, and maybe that is why the experts recommend we don't water just after sowing........the water washes the tiny seeds down deep. Any thoughts on that?

I'd love some nice carrots, so can anyone pease give details of how deep they sow, soil preparation etc?

[saddad]

I find that the two main reasons for failure are no germination, when the soil caps... hence no watering after sowing, and/or drying out. Then not loosing the tiny seedlings to slugs...  :-[

After ten years of trial and error what now works for me is... wait for wet soil, after or during prolonged rain... make drill, water it add seed cover thinly with sharp sand, tamp down with back of rake, water again finely to dampen sand... if it starts running too much water, cover with fleece (to keep sand damp) check if weather dry every three days or so to redampen sand....  carrots usually through within two weeks...  ;D

[SPUDLY]

Hi Bjerreby,

For me, growing my veg is hit and miss. I don't try to get to technical with what i grow. As has been said before, it's not an exact science. I just follow the packet guidelines, if it grows that's great, if not i try something else. I have a lot of trouble with root crops because of heavy soil. I'm growing two types of carrot this year, St Valery and Healthmaster. St valery i grew last year and had a good crop. This year they have let me down, but the Healthmaster are doing well. I know carrots like a nice light, fine soil which i find hard to get. I also find that my soil caps quite badly, stopping young seedlings getting through. Some people start their carrots off in trays and then plant out, others grow them in tubs. You could try that. One thing that worked for me, was to earth up the soil as you would for potatoes, only not as high, and sow your carrot seed in the ridge of soil, thats if capping is a problem on your plot. 

[shirlton]

 We fleeced and wire netted ours and we must have trapped the slugs inside.One day we had two lovely rows of seedlings and the next day nowt.

[angle shades]

same here Shirl :(/ shades x

[oliveoyl_25]

I've got clay soil so dig a trench and backfill it with a mixture of compost and sand, sprinkle the seeds along the row, then cover with a little more compost/sand mixture, fleece on top, then water.

[Busy Bee]

I've lost half of mine. I garden on a slope and heavy soil. Last week i couldn't figure out why only the bottom half had sprouted. Yesterday went to check again. The soil at the top half of the bed is wet and heavy. Quite hard to get through when i weeded. The bottom half is soft and fine and the weeds just 'jumped out' really leaving some nice carrot seedlings. . I've decided not to put carrots on the top half and just put something else there instead ( any ideas appreciated). All trial and error but i do think i put them in a bit deep to begin with so the top half may have rotted in the wetter soil.  :(

[thifasmom]

I'm like Saddad i try and sow when the soil is still damp from recent rains, then i make my drill (by the way i would never say my soil has a fine tilth I'm a bit to haphazard to guarantee that, but its friable enough unless i sieved it to remove large stones). i then sprinkle the seed in as thinly as possible dust some of the soil back over the top of the drill water again with a fine rose and cover the area with clear plastic to stop the soil drying out germination normally occurs withen 10 to 14 days. when they start to germinate i raise the plastic to form a peak and leave for a few more days till I'm relatively certain there is no more germination occurring then i remove the plastic. i would say i average at about 80% germination.

[sawfish]

because I have very strong soil I I grow mine in five 10" wide vertical pipes, each pipe holds about 10 carrots, closely spaced.

I seive my soil into a wheelbarrow and add lots of sharp sand into the mix then put it in the pipes, then I water the earth/soil mix, then I sow the seed about 1cm deep and cover the seed. No manure - No fertilizers.

Thinly station sow the carrots so there's not too much thinning to be done.

Then I wait till they get eaten by carrot fly  >:(

Raising them as high as possible off the ground, like about 3 feet, stops the carrot fly.

[Bjerreby]

Then I wait till they get eaten by carrot fly 

 ;D

Thanks for all the comments. I've just about decided to sow carrots in a container and really pamper them, so I can learn what they want. The vacant bed shall be sown with White Gem parsnips. I can get them to grow!  :)

[Teej]

I can't even get them to grow in pots!  Saddad has inspired me though to have a go of his method & do direct-sown 'snips too.
Just nned the rain to stop on Saturday & it's all systems go!

[phoenix_co2]

Hi, this is my first year growing carrots and parsnips, im growing them in big containers, mine were sown straight into b and q compost on 15th march, i have added some alpaca manure and put fleece over the top, ive made sure and kept the soil damp and now my carrot tops are measuring about 10cm, pulled a couple up to take a peek and they definatley growing nicely in there, good luck with yours

[shirlton]

Hi Phoenix. I'm not sure about growing carrots in a rich manured compost but there again I may be wrong

[Tee Gee]

I'm not sure about growing carrots in a rich manured compost

I sow mine in manured ground but I form a 'vee' trench and fill it with fine compost to grow in.

The surrounding compost/manure keeps the soil moist meaning I don't have to water the plants after the initial watering at sowing time.

I was always taught let your carrots seek moisture this makes them longer!

[Justy]

I have never done any good with carrots.  Bought some of the seed tape this year and still not a single carrot 3 weeks after sowing.   :(

[Columbus]

Hi all,  :)

It seems there are as many ways to grow carrots as there are gardeners.  ;D

For my main crop I make two drills.

I water the drills, sow the seed and then cover with fine soil and tamp down gently. Then I net the two rows with fine netting and ignore them for two weeks or so, then I re-sow the gaps.

Then I ignore them until one cloudy day when I weed the whole netted area.
This just gives the seedlings a fair chance to get started.

Then I ignore them until I feel like eating a few. By then the whole area is full of weeds. I take what I want and I might earth up a few if the crowns are showing too much. But I don`t take the nets off and I don`t weed them.

In the autumn I dig up the the whole remaining harvest and pack them in spent compost in a rat proof metal box. I eat or freeze any damaged ones as soon as possible.

I`m still eating last years harvest from the compost box. They are still fresh and good. They seem to thrive on neglect. I grow a rainbow mix for interest and whatever else I have seeds for.

I also grow some in my salad beds for harvesting and eating younger, but also netted and ignored if I`m not collecting a few to eat.

Best of luck, Col

[shirlton]

TeeGee. Is it a multi purpose compost you use. We fill our trenches with loam. If we could use MPC then it would save us a lot of hard work.

[Tee Gee]

Is it a multi purpose compost you use

No! 'multi uses' compost  ::)

Usually it is just compost I have removed from pots and trays when re-potting and transplanting.

I just seive/riddle it to remove old roots and trickle it into the vee trench.

Note; I have a couple of old dustbins (pre wheeliebins) I kept to store this otherwise waste compost.

Providing it is not diseased, any used compost I have goes in these for use on occasions such as these.

With the ever increasing price of compost these days the more uses I get out of the better.

[shirlton]

So old stuff like the tomato pots will do.

[Tee Gee]

So old stuff like the tomato pots will do.

Yes!