I can't grow carrots to save my life. So far.

I can grow wonderful tomatoes, but I'm on my fourth try this year for carrots (four packets of lovely heirlooms from seedsavers) and I can't get anything to grow.

Mostly they don't sprout.

If they do sprout, they disappear soon after sprouting.

Is there a secret to carrots? thoughts?

Have you tried anything but heirlooms?

I suffered from the same problem for years. I live in zone 5 ( but not sure if it is a or b). I know grow them easily, but still suffer from great anxiety until they come up each year. I am sure they aren't going to come up.

First, carrots need to be wet to germinate. They seem to me to be pickier than most veggies about being wet all day every day of the 10 days it takes for them to germinate. When I got an automatic sprinkler put in my raised bed, my carrot germination really improved. They get watered every day during germination and sometimes twice if it is dry. Don't know if this is so important in MA but it really matters in NM.

Carrots do love wonderful soil. The soil should be enriched with organic matter and soft. Carrots don't like hard soil or rocks -- mine do much better now that I have raised beds full of compost.

If they disappear after they germinate but haven't grown much, I suspect bugs. Cut worms, and others. I find that if something else is up nearby, like turnips which sprout fast, they tend to leave my skinny little carrot hairs alone.

None of this is scientific, but some of it did come from reading, especially the regular watering and wonderful soil part.

Anyhow, I now grow orange, red, yellow and white carrots. Didn't get the purple ones in this year.

If your soil is heavy, it is better to grow a pointy carrot rather than the nice cylindrical ones. My first successes were with royal chatannay. But now I that my soil is light and fluffy with organic matter, it doesn't seem to matter which ones I grow. This year I have royal chantannay, sunshine yellow, kuttinger white, atomic red and Kyoto red as well as red nantes which is orange in spite of its name.
But believe me, I find carrots love to be pampered.

I'm in zone 5 and am currently growing nutri-red, but have had chantanay and others. Do you get them out early, as soon as the ground can be worked? I glued mine to strips of newspaper this year, but have used seed tapes too.

Pajaritomt pretty much covered the rest!

This message was edited Jun 8, 2006 8:09 PM

I been yearning for some good fresh carrot juice, so I'm working on it, previously i found it imposible to keep them damp manually. so i've reciently bought an automatic misting controller, the one with a stainless screen that collects mist and turns on the valve when it dries out. (usually used for propagating cuttings) + i'm going to use a fertilizer injector with liquid kelp extract in it, kelp is a sprouting enhancer and desease stopper. then maybe add a little bit of liquid humate and some soft rock phosphate water, and a little fish solubles would help after they sprout. My mother grew some successfully years ago by being close by and keeping them damp 2-3 times a day.
I know, I'm putting $100's into the setup, but I'm planning on having enough to share with lots of people.

I've heard carrot juice tastes really good. Not like a carrot, but sweet. That does sound like quite a set up, but good for growing a lot of things.

I have tried things other than heirlooms, and either nothing germinates, or once it does, it soon disappears.

This year I planted them quite early, as someone said they were a cool weather crop (though this year is still cool) but nothing happened. Not sure if it's too late to try again. If I do, I will try to do the watering twice a day thing.

glueing to newspaper is news to me. What's that?

I used Elmers glue, but you can make a paste of cornstarch too. it lets you space the seeds and avoid thinning them later. I glued the seeds to strips of newspaper. The glue is water soluable. I don't keep my seeds real moist. I plant and wait for rain. If we get rain, then it's dry for awhile, I'll water the row, but I don't keep it wet every day.

When you ready the bed, is your dirt so fluffy that the seed gets covered deeper than it should?

The dirt is a little on the fluffy side. How deep are they supposed to be?

The spacing thing sounds good. Why can't they just be planted spaced apart to begin with (pardon my ignorance)?

I cover the seeds with a sprinkling of compost and then put a plank/board over them. After a few days, viola. Seedlings.

Oh, and I thin with scissors. Always with the root crops.

I decided to try the plank method (this is the first time I am trying to grow carrots myself -- trying an heirloom) and it worked like a charm -- Even during four days of unseasonable heat (33C/91F) late in May! The rest of the garden was bone dry when I returned from work, but the ground under the plank was still nice and moist.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2006 8:37 AM

Planking sounds perfect.

Is it too late in the season to try again?

Planking attracts bugs here in New Mexico and as for planting them late, I would still give them a try. As for depth -- what does it say on the package? I think it is 1/4 inch. If you bury them too deep that will be a show stopper, for sure. Good soil and moisture are key. If your soil is too fluffy, probably need some organic matter.

To determine if you have time to plant again, look at the package. See how many days from germination to maturity. Then look up when your average last freeze date is. I bet you still have time for most of them. I found that some of the red ones take a really long time, but I bet you still have time.

This message was edited Jun 9, 2006 8:07 AM

Carrot seed is so small, that spacing them on the newspaper, or buying seed tape, saves cutting to thin them out later.

I've never heard of planking. That sounds interesting.

Seed tape?

Some seeds come already spaced and enclosed in paper, ready for planting. Carrots are the only ones that I recall seeing sold that way..

I have put a covering of damp peat moss over small seeds and rewet that every couple of days when it doesn't rain. The little seedlings can emerge through softness and not a crust.
My carrot bed has been amended several inches deep and contains sand which makes for easy emergence but needs daily watering until they come up. The board method is an old reliable trick, but you must take it off at the first sign of carrots coming up.

My Dad had a bag of vermiculite that he sprinkled over his seeds in the trench when he planted them. He didn't cover them with any dirt. They grew up thru it with no problems.

These are great ideas. Need to get some more carrot seeds, now that the sun's out again, finally.

Never had any problem with germination, when planting as soon as the ground can be worked. However, they grow best here as a winter crop. Planting them in the hot dry summer is a challenge., Because they need shallow planting and the ground drys out fast. Some sort of covering, the plank works if you watch faithfully for emergence, is neccessary. I usually use grass clippings. If they are dissapearing after emergence, you have a soil borne problem. http://axp.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/selectnewpest.carrots.html

Nice-looking carrots. Sigh.

Anyhow, I can get grass clippings.

Connie,

Try this for your Carrots: I soak all my carrot seeds overnight in warm water. Then when planting I put vermiculite over the seeds and tap down lightly. Just press the seed into the soil but not too deeply.

My own tip - lay a piece of very damp gardening burlap over the area (they need a little warmth to get going & so they don't float away with the Spring rains) only until they sprout. Keep the gardening burlap watered, they need to stay damp to germinate. Check them every day! When they look like blades of grass coming through the burlap you can remove the gardening burlap. Slowly & Gently does it! This whole process works like a charm. I get 100% germination this way!! And Carrots are notorious for being difficult to germinate anyway.

~* Robin

My Dad used vermiculite and really liked it. He has black gumbo soil. Mine is sandy loam. I pulled a footlong daikon radish out with no digging. (Three inches were already out of the ground, but still!)

Last year wasn't so good for me and carrots. This year, I was dedicated to checking the carrot seed bed twice a day. Several days before they germinated, I needed to water twice as the wind dried out the bed in the late afternoon. THe sun was still shining on them, so, another round of water.

This year I was reward with more than 80% germination rate! I'm growing chats, oxheart, yellowstone and purple haze. Should be ready to start pulling up very soon.

We've tried to grow them twice, once Colo Spgs and another from Bryan TX and both times they were plucked out teeny tiny and twisty. We gave up because we can grow some vegetables that are much more costly and where flavor is less good from the stores: tomatoes, corn, etc.

My problem is that they germinate and I get nice tops but the roots are always very, very small. The soil is pretty good.

BB

the size ratio top to root is a function of soil mineral balance. mainly the phosphate/potasium balance, but also the nitrate/amonia balance.
I finally got a planting board made, for planting pellated seed, 529 at a time spaced 2" apart in all directions. then went and got 100 ft of bed prepared. next gonna get the misting eqipment set up.

Up North here; Water + Wooden Boards = Slugs; and they just LOVE carrot tops!

That's why I use the "very damp gardening burlap."

They just hate sliming their soft bods over it.

~* Robin

I didn't plant a lot, not even sure what seed I used, but I dug them last night.

Man, those are gorgeous. Yum.

I'm going to slow roast some of them with potatoes, garlic, (which I haven't dug yet, but soon,) and onions!