Second year running my carrots have not come up...the year before that they
were brilliant. I have rich dark soil and have been keeping the patch damp,
what could be the problem....bad seeds perhaps??

clutching at straws here i think...lol

I had a similar problem last year with three sowings. I think they got a
little too damp at a critical time.

This year tried a 50:50 mix of sand and potting compost and filled a trench
with this into which the carrots were sown.

Came up with no problems, so this may be a solution...

John


"welshuser" wrote in message
news
Second year running my carrots have not come up...the year before that
they
were brilliant. I have rich dark soil and have been keeping the patch
damp,
what could be the problem....bad seeds perhaps??

clutching at straws here i think...lol

I planted a whole packet this year. Only three came up

Odd, that out of the whole packet!! only 3. I will take care of them though cos i have never grown carrots before so want so see them come up.

i have put barriers around each one cos there are only three, to stop carrot flys getting at them.

Odd, that out of the whole packet!! only 3. I will take care of them
though cos i have never grown carrots before so want so see them come
up.

i have put barriers around each one cos there are only three, to stop
carrot flys getting at them.

Three years ago I had a terrific crop of carrots. The last two years none
have germinated and I have given up for this year.

It is interesting to see that I am not alone. If anyone comes up with an
answer I will try again next year.

Howard Neil

In article , Howard Neil
writes

Three years ago I had a terrific crop of carrots. The last two years none
have germinated and I have given up for this year.

It is interesting to see that I am not alone. If anyone comes up with an
answer I will try again next year.

Carrots can take a long time to germinate. We waited ages for ours to
show this year, then when the weather turned warmer in the last few
days, they all started to show. Give yours a little more time before you
give up on them.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Carrots can take a long time to germinate. We waited ages for ours to
show this year, then when the weather turned warmer in the last few
days, they all started to show. Give yours a little more time before you
give up on them.

That's been my experience too. I thought it was just because I didn't now
what I was doing ...

Mary
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

"welshuser" wrote in message news
Second year running my carrots have not come up...the year before that they
were brilliant. I have rich dark soil and have been keeping the patch damp,
what could be the problem....bad seeds perhaps??

Usually too dry, too deep, smothered by quicker growing weeds. Also on certain soils watering the surface will cap the
bed and make it difficult for seedlings to penetrate.Try watering your drill - really flood the bottom of the drill with
a hosepipe. Sow your seeds, *just* cover and very lightly firm the soil with the back of your rake. No need for any more
watering 'til after germination.

Rod

On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 16:38:59 +0100, "welshuser"
wrote:

Second year running my carrots have not come up...the year before that they
were brilliant. I have rich dark soil and have been keeping the patch damp,
what could be the problem.

Same here. I never have much success with carrots.
Is it possible that they germinate and something eats the tops?
Having an allotment I cannot easily check them daily, so not sure what
comes through. About 5 last time I looked! That won't see me through
the winter!!

Pam in Bristol

"Alan wrote in message
Three years ago I had a terrific crop of carrots. The last two years none
have germinated and I have given up for this year.

It is interesting to see that I am not alone. If anyone comes up with an
answer I will try again next year.

Carrots can take a long time to germinate. We waited ages for ours to
show this year, then when the weather turned warmer in the last few
days, they all started to show. Give yours a little more time before you
give up on them.
--

Even though I'm in the S. of the country it's been the same here this year.
Sowed a few short rows in our carrot box and nothing, gave up and planted
some more but using our own saved seed (Chertsey or Long Red Surrey) and
they germinated then noticed the bought seed had just done so too. So much
for staggered planting! :-)
--
Bob

www.pooleygreengrowers.org.uk/ about an Allotment site in
Runnymede fighting for it's existence.

Carrots can take a long time to germinate. We waited ages for ours to
show this year, then when the weather turned warmer in the last few
days, they all started to show. Give yours a little more time before you
give up on them.
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.

Thanks for the thought but when I say I have given up this year, I mean I
have not sown any at all. Last year I sowed four different varieties from
two different seed producers. One carrot germinated but stayed very small.
Otherwise, nothing.

I will wait till I have new ideas as to what is causing the failure before I
waste any more time and money on carrot seeds (as much as I like carrots).

Howard Neil

"Howard Neil" hneil@REMOVE TO REPLY.co.uk pushed briefly to the
front of the queue on Mon, 2 Jun 2003 18:44:49 +0100, and nailed this
to the shed door:

^ Odd, that out of the whole packet!! only 3. I will take care of them
^ though cos i have never grown carrots before so want so see them come
^ up.
^
^ i have put barriers around each one cos there are only three, to stop
^ carrot flys getting at them.
^
^ Three years ago I had a terrific crop of carrots. The last two years none
^ have germinated and I have given up for this year.
^
^ It is interesting to see that I am not alone. If anyone comes up with an
^ answer I will try again next year.

You are not alone. I've only had three or four come up. Mind you,
they're doing better than my peas - not a single one!? How can you go
wrong with peas, for God's sake? I did the whole thing as per
instructions - prepared the soil carefully, made the V-shaped trench,
gave it a good watering, plonked the peas in, sat back and waited ...
and waited ... are they especially fussy about sowing depth? I think I
may have planted them a /little/ deep, but other than that I am
flummoxed.

Andy
--

"No, you claim the magpie is to blame for all the
worlds ills, based on your ignorance of magpies."
(4a7391c12e538ef306d33d71c9482221@TeraNews)

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 16:38:59 +0100, "welshuser"
wrote:

Second year running my carrots have not come up...the year before that
they
were brilliant. I have rich dark soil and have been keeping the patch
damp,
what could be the problem.

Same here. I never have much success with carrots.
Is it possible that they germinate and something eats the tops?
Having an allotment I cannot easily check them daily, so not sure what
comes through. About 5 last time I looked! That won't see me through
the winter!!

Pam in Bristol



thanks everybody, interesting responses. Yeah I sowed them about 4 weeks ago
and I thought they would have come up by now. Might wait another 2 weeks
before putting in a second sowing and writing off the first. Also, I have
watered them a few times with the hosepipe so the 'capping' theory sounds
very plausable. Will try again in a few weeks if none of them come up...lol,
and keep everybody informed of course

thanks a lot peepz.

On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 23:16:45 +0100, "Howard Neil" hneil@REMOVE TO
REPLY.co.uk wrote:

~ Carrots can take a long time to germinate. We waited ages for ours to
~ show this year, then when the weather turned warmer in the last few
~ days, they all started to show. Give yours a little more time before you
~ give up on them.
~ --
~ Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.
~
~Thanks for the thought but when I say I have given up this year, I mean I
~have not sown any at all. Last year I sowed four different varieties from
~two different seed producers. One carrot germinated but stayed very small.
~Otherwise, nothing.

I had all of six last year! Out of *four* packets. I asked at the national
veg soc stall at the BBC GW show what was going on and the old chap manning
it said it was mainly conditions of last spring and he had heard of a LOT
of folk with this problem. I got a bit bloody-minded this year and sowed a
pot inside of Amsterdam forcing in January (!) just so I had some... (just
mature now - sweet,straight and no carrot fly!!

This year I did what the old chap had suggested - trod the rows down after
planting and together with our slightly better spring I have tiny plants
again. But to reinforce the other advice given by John Pearce, I sowed a
row of Flyaway into a cm of compost, covering them up with a mix of compost
and my quite-light soil. They came up like rockets, and have the added
bonus that there are fewer weeds in that row. And the ones I do have are
easier to pull out!
I've now got Autumn King pelleted, Early Nantes and Flyaway. I am expecting
the sacrifice-crop Nantes to be munched in preference to the Flyaway,
though may do the old net curtain trick and cover them all soon.

Anyone know how big a carrot is when the fly attacks? I'd say when the
roots begin to swell, but I've never seen it mentioned...

~
~I will wait till I have new ideas as to what is causing the failure before I
~waste any more time and money on carrot seeds (as much as I like carrots).
~
~Howard Neil
~
Good luck!


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

Andy Spragg wrote:

You are not alone. I've only had three or four come up. Mind you,
they're doing better than my peas - not a single one!? How can you go
wrong with peas, for God's sake? I did the whole thing as per
instructions - prepared the soil carefully, made the V-shaped trench,
gave it a good watering, plonked the peas in, sat back and waited ...
and waited ... are they especially fussy about sowing depth? I think I
may have planted them a /little/ deep, but other than that I am
flummoxed.

Andy
--

It doesn't sound from my, somewhat limited, experience that you've done
anything wrong. Maybe mice or birds got to the seeds before they had a
chance to germinate?

Started my first ever veg plot this year, and nearly all of my peas have
come up. Fantastic moment last night when I picked one of the immature
pods and ate it while looking at my garden. Delicious! Slightly sad I
know, but it's the first thing I've ever eaten that I've grown myself,
so I think I'll excuse myself!

In article ,
says...


"Pam Moore" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 2 Jun 2003 16:38:59 +0100, "welshuser"
wrote:

Second year running my carrots have not come up...the year before that
they
were brilliant. I have rich dark soil and have been keeping the patch
damp,
what could be the problem.

Same here. I never have much success with carrots.
Is it possible that they germinate and something eats the tops?
Having an allotment I cannot easily check them daily, so not sure what
comes through. About 5 last time I looked! That won't see me through
the winter!!

Pam in Bristol



thanks everybody, interesting responses. Yeah I sowed them about 4 weeks ago
and I thought they would have come up by now. Might wait another 2 weeks
before putting in a second sowing and writing off the first. Also, I have
watered them a few times with the hosepipe so the 'capping' theory sounds
very plausable. Will try again in a few weeks if none of them come up...lol,
and keep everybody informed of course

thanks a lot peepz.




On heavy clay, I found the solution is to spread an inch of potting compost sow
the seeds, cover lightly and water. No risk of capping. Carrots require warmth
to germinate so early on I sow small poatches and cover with a cloche. So far
has worked for the last ten years. If you have cats you may need to cover the
compost with netting once they have germinated otherwise it gets dug up.
--
Jonathan Ward
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