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Post by ottawagardener on Jul 19, 2013 7:23:30 GMT -5
In order to get better germination on carrots in my sandy, droughty soil, I've been experimenting with different techniques. So far, fall sowing seems to provide some success as does sowing in part shade or under a very thin layer of mulch - very thin. I'm also trying pre sprouting. I've done pre sprouting on paper towels sandwiched with cardboard. You could then lay the paper towels on the ground with pre sprouted carrots but when I went to do that they all started to tumble off so I just spread them in planting rows and covered with vermiculite.
Other experiments:
Sprouting jars: no germination compared to 3 day germination with paper towel/carboard/bag method.
Gel seeding: haven't done this yet
Germination board: I'm afraid this would be a B&B for the earwigs
Vermiculite over planting rows: hopefully this will help
Hot water germination: Apparently pouring hot water over them (and parsley) is supposed to speed germination. So far, I've noticed no difference. It didn't seem to hurt or help germination.
Planting with peas: I've done this before with success. This time I planted rows of carrots alternating with peas but some carrot seeds got under the peas and germination and grew far, far better than those in between the peas which probably suffered more insect predation and drying.
Any other possibilities I'm missing to try?
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 19, 2013 8:21:38 GMT -5
You might try planting deeper: Like 2 cm.
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Post by ottawagardener on Jul 19, 2013 13:48:19 GMT -5
I'll give it a go. It's something I thought of given soil moisture.
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Post by ottawagardener on Jul 19, 2013 19:52:37 GMT -5
Is there any point to gel seeding except for spacing? Does the gel hold moisture?
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Post by littleminnie on Jul 19, 2013 22:21:04 GMT -5
Do you mean like Agri gel? I am loving that for transplanting. I didn't think about it for seeding. Dumb question, you have tried with peas, have you tried with the old favorite radishes? I always do it. I like it in spring when I use my seeder then the radishes come up and I can hoe with a pointy hoe before I can discern carrots. My mom was saying she has heard carrots have staggered germination- that some germinate later and they just keep sprouting. That makes sense when you see the different sizes in a carrot bed but I have never heard of it put like that. I seeded carrots again Wednesday. I am just using a sprinkler several times a week to help them come up in my sandy dry soil. I have noticed the Earthway seeder does terrible with tiny seed in the tiny seed plate. So I have started to overseed the row twice with the thing or use the radish plate for brassicas, carrots and baby lettuce.  So the gel, could you make up a bucket, sow the carrots in rows and then gently go along the row with a watering can to deposit the gel? I think that sort of stuff works well with grass seed. |
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Post by steev on Jul 19, 2013 22:21:27 GMT -5
Gel seeding sucks up moisture and money. Perhaps it makes sense commercially, where every outlay is deductable, and thinning is expensive, but otherwise, what's the point? If you feel the need to spend, buy your plants in six-paks.
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Post by littleminnie on Jul 19, 2013 22:28:35 GMT -5
I guess I don't know what it is, or how one would do it with carrots.
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Post by richardw on Jul 20, 2013 0:43:32 GMT -5
You might try planting deeper: Like 2 cm. Yer i sow about that deep. I started an experiment on about shortest day in June by sowing some of my Benhorn carrots under a clear plastic hopp-house,amazed it took only two weeks at a time when there's been up to -6Cdeg frosts,wanting to see if by sowing really early i'll get more bolters showing up and to see how big they can get with a 10 mouth growing season. |
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Post by diane on Jul 20, 2013 0:52:14 GMT -5
Many years ago I tried what I assume is gel sowing. I don't remember the exact details, but the sprouted seeds were in wallpaper paste in a plastic bag with one bottom corner snipped off, and I squeezed it along a furrow.
Last year I sowed in the fall and sowed too thickly. (Fall is when we finally get some rain so every seed must have germinated.)
A few days ago I sowed in flats - pinches of seed well-spaced. I plan to transplant the groups as clusters as soon as they germinate. I haven't tried this before.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 20, 2013 1:41:46 GMT -5
My first crop of carrots this year got frozen hard when they were still very small plants. About 99% of them bolted without forming a useful root. That same frost outright killed the carrots of a nearby market farmer.
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Post by richardw on Jul 20, 2013 5:16:36 GMT -5
My first crop of carrots this year got frozen hard when they were still very small plants. About 99% of them bolted without forming a useful root. That same frost outright killed the carrots of a nearby market farmer. Gees how cold was that to have frozen them Joseph. Took the plastic off my mid winter sown carrots today for weeding,they're about 3cm tall and looking good considering the frosts,but i suppose it wouldn't have been as cold inside the hopp house as outside |
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Post by richardw on Jul 20, 2013 5:18:00 GMT -5
Many years ago I tried what I assume is gel sowing. I don't remember the exact details, but the sprouted seeds were in wallpaper paste in a plastic bag with one bottom corner snipped off, and I squeezed it along a furrow. Last year I sowed in the fall and sowed too thickly. (Fall is when we finally get some rain so every seed must have germinated.) A few days ago I sowed in flats - pinches of seed well-spaced. I plan to transplant the groups as clusters as soon as they germinate. I haven't tried this before. What a interesting way to sow Diane |
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Post by ottawagardener on Jul 20, 2013 8:28:23 GMT -5
Diane: yes, that sounds similar to the technique I've heard of using cornstarch gel. You are supposed to pre-germinate or at least soak seeds first then sow. Apparently, it helps you not hurt the little rootlets though I would only use this if I found a simple way of mass germinating. Sheets of paper towels can be laid down with germinated seeds on them but are fiddly to prepare.
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Post by davida on Jul 20, 2013 16:02:25 GMT -5
Sheets of paper towels can be laid down with germinated seeds on them but are fiddly to prepare. A couple of years ago I read about using toilet paper to space your small seeds and then just lay them out in the garden. My daughter just laid out the TP, sprayed it moist with a spray bottle, spaced seeds and then covered with TP and sprayed again in the comfort of the bar at her house. The seeds stayed in place excellently and we planted the raise bed in no time. Our weather went from winter to 100F plus summer and we did not get germination because we could not keep it moist. But if you used this method between card board like you used the paper towels, would it work better? |
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jul 20, 2013 19:34:08 GMT -5
Gees how cold was that to have frozen them . The closest weather station to her farm reported -7C. Add another -5C of radiant cooling onto that, so around -12C. Her farm is in the bottom of the valley, so that puts it in a cooler micro-climate than the weather station or my farm. |
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