"Suzanne D." wrote in message
...
All summer long, every few weeks, I did a new planting of carrots. Most
did not germinate. I planted different varieties from different vendors,
so I know the seed wasn't the problem. I think it may have just been too
hot all summer (temperatures regularly 100 and above). As a result, two
of my beds now have tons of un-germinated carrot seeds in them. One of
them holds garlic now, and the other has the wilted remains of peanuts.

I am wondering if some of the seeds may sprout and grow into carrots next
spring. I know that you can plant onions in the fall and have them sprout
first thing in spring; would this apply to carrots as well? I have
noticed a few sprouts since the weather got cooler, but they haven't
really done much, as it is quite cold at night. Do carrot seeds just stay
sleeping all winter and sprout in the spring like onions do?
--S.

Utah wasn't it? Why plant a cool weather crop in the summer heat?

As to your question; in the wild seeds have to overwinter to survive, so
yes it is possible, although I would not imagine not in your climate
extremes. Besides today's crops are a far hybrid journey from their wild
roots.

So while possible, your overwintered seed bed can be a breeding ground for
carrot diseases*, so practice safe gardening. Besides if you get a good
soil freeze you will kill most of them off. Also, I would destroy any
volunteers that do come up and rely solely on tested seed stock. There can
be good and bad reasons why Volunteers survive, for example; an undesirable
throwback to earlier breeding stock. If you are into food production you
don't have the time to spend finding out why. That's a dollar waiting on a
dime. Besides, you want to grow seed stock a ways from your garden anyway
and rotate your crops .

A technique you can use on your seed stock is to try to germinate prior to
planting to see if they are viable. a simple wet paper towel in a sunny
window is usually sufficient. That way you know it is not the seed before
you plant and can concentrate on the garden variables. BTW, Carrot seeds
don't transplant well so these are on a suicide mission.

Some guidelines to review:

http://extension.usu.edu/files/publi...HG_2004-12.pdf

http://www.soilzone.com/Library/Crop...California.pdf

http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/cultivation2.html

BTW white root is touched on in these links


*Integrated Approaches for Carrot Pests and Disease Management from General
Concepts in Integrated Pest and Disease Management By Aurelio Ciancio, K.
G. Mukerji