In article ,
David wrote:
On 03/12/2017 15:40, stuart noble wrote:

By default I germinate everything between 2 wet sheets of kitchen roll
covered with a plastic bag. Bigger seeds are easy to handle when they
sprout but carrots probably not.

For everything from peas on upwards, and even smaller seeds if they are
sown in small numbers, yes. But that's infeasible for carrots without
adopting a sowing gel solution - which I have thought of. The problem
is that the failure doesn't always occur that early - it is quite often
that they germinate but fail to establish.

Could be a PH issue with synthetic gels I suppose. Gelatin might be a
safer bet

Old fashioned wallpaper past was the thing, breaks down with just a
little moisture.

I would use REALLY old-fashed wallpaper paste - made from flour and
water, cooked up! But that doesn't help if the problem is with the
seedlings getting established.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.