Topic: Complete carrot flop!

[RichardS]

Carrots a complete failure this year!  Out of 2x5m rows that were sown about 8 1/2 weeks ago literally only 5 plants have germinated!

I'm seriously thinking about hoeing the whole lot up this weekend and starting again...  last year was a bit of a carrot bonanza, so I don't think that the site is particularly unsuitable.

I've been keeping a fairly close eye on them to date (watched pot syndrome, perhaps?) so it isn't a case that they have germinated and promptly been whipped out by the birds, but if I sow again I'll fleece 'em just to be sure...

Not too late to start again, is it?

[tim]

Depending upon variety, you can sow till November!

[North Country Boy]

Ive sowed Autumn King diretly into the ground and had marginal success, i did fleece them to stop carrot root fly, and netted them, just to be on the saf side . Did you sow this years crop in the same bed as last years crop?

[RichardS]

good, I think my mind is made up then!

No, I've rotated the crops about, so the onions + carrots are in the bed that had spuds in them last year, and the spuds in the old onion & carrot bed.

Leaves me with a bit of a problem next year, but I think I'll put the onions + carrots in the last bed to be rotated, and the spuds back where they were last year.

(I plant 2 rows of carrots in between 2x2rows of onions)

[RSJK]

Up to yet I have had bad results with my carrots,  I am putting it down to the cold weather at night time, does anyone else agree.
                                                                                    :-\

[Granny_Smith]

I think that you are right Richard - not one of my two rows has appeared. I'm going to hoe them out this weekend.

[cleo]

I reckon it`s the cold-first sowings were a complete flop as well.

Stephan

[Dirkdigger]

We are onto our 2ND attempt. First lot about 3 carrots germinated. Second lot put in about 2 weeks ago are just starting to show. This is our first year, only took the allotment on in Feb. Much to learn!!!!
Think I will try the compost drill as explained on another thread by sandersj89 I think.

[Gadfium]

Snap!

First two rows of carrots show about 7 individuals.

Out of 56 parsnip stations sown (3x seeds/station)... I can't find a single one. And the whole bed was swathed in enviromesh as soon as I'd sown them. Is it too late to give the parsnips another go?

We had very wet & cold weather for some weeks after I'd sown them, so it's possible they all rotted away. Similarly the spring onions show only about a 5% germination rate, there's hardly a one to be seen. The only thing that's come up are the broad beans (after a 6 week wait).

 :(

[ALAN HOWELL]

Same here....about 6 carrots showing...gonna sow more next week....Alan

[Svea]

i am not sure what the parsnip seedlings are supposed to look like either....
cant find them, anyways, between a whle lot of weeds that have come up.

maybe another sowing is in order - together with some more scorzonera of which only 1(!!) seedling has come up (from two short rows)

[RichardS]

thanks, makes me feel a little better knowing that others are in the same predicament.

I'm also relieved that this didn't happen last year (my first full year with the lottie) - last year's success has meant that I'm not likely to give up as "just one of those things", so I'll persevere with this one.

[RSJK]

Richard S,
                 You will find as you go on that you get no two years the same in this game, what does good one year does not always do the same the next.
                                                                                                                    :-\

[littlegem]

same here with the carrots, out of one row only four have appeared, hit and miss with the parsnips aswell, and my leeks have done absolutley nothing!! >:( I sowed some carrots in with my toms in GH, supposed to give juicier fruits, they havent come up yet, did them about 4 weeks ago.  and they're nantes earlies.

[Roy Bham UK]

I think I'm a lucky first timer, I have carrots growing in toilet roll centres planted out also sowed seeds direct in drills of compost and they are an inch high ;D the ground is so hard they may turn out as funny pictures for the watershed :o ;D

[Anne Robertson]

Having never grown carrots before, my first attempt this year is with small round ones. Germination rate seems 75%. How would I know if they get carrot fly ??? What does it look like?

[Roy Bham UK]

Having never grown carrots before, my first attempt this year is with small round ones. Germination rate seems 75%. How would I know if they get carrot fly ??? What does it look like?

Tie a wall of fleece around them at least 2ft high that should keep the beggers out ;D

[Merry Tiller]

                 You will find as you go on that you get no two years the same in this game, what does good one year does not always do the same the next.

What you say is true up to a point but you'll find that with a few years experience you will know what happens when and why and results will become far more consistent as you learn, of course the weather can put the kybosh on the whole thing and we're all back to  square one ::)

[jimyb]

our initial early (march) sowings only a few came up so i tried pre-germinating some carrot seed (sugarsnax) on kitchen roll in a dish putting this is a propagator until germinating then very carefully sowed one seed every inch or so in a 12ft row had every one came up though still very slow to grow as pretty cold here
a bit fiddly but i did it as a test to see what would happen and it worked for me
later sowings i.e. April and better still may have better results.
damm crappy spring so far!

[Amazin]

Richard, would you consider growing the mini-varieties of carrots? I'm not sure why, but I seem to have 100% success with those.