Carrots. The base of nearly every soup recipe. Delicious raw with dip or slowly roasted in a glaze. What’s not to love about this versatile and delicious vegetable? Too bad carrot germination isn’t as easy as pie! Over the last few years of trying to grow more carrots and figure out how many we need to grow to be self-sufficient, we’ve learned a few tricks to maximize the germination rate for carrots. Carrot seeds are tiny and a bit finicky, but not impossible to germinate. Read on for some of our trial and error tips to help you get your own delicious harvest of homegrown carrots.
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Help, I don’t see any carrot sprouts!
The first reason you might not see any carrot germination, is that it takes forever…okay like 2-3 weeks, but it is a lot longer than most of the other vegetables that you’ll be sowing in your garden. So if it has been just a week and you see sprouts everywhere but in your carrot patch, don’t panic yet. Wait another 1-2 weeks and try out some of the carrot seed germination tips below to help your carrots reach their full potential.
Finicky Carrot Seeds
Carrot seeds are a bit like goldilocks. They like it at just the right soil temperature (50-85F) and consistent moisture level to begin emerging. In order for seeds to germinate moisture has to penetrate the seed’s natural coating and activate the growing process. To jumpstart the process, I’ve read some people will pre-sprout their carrots seeds before planting them outside. While we haven’t tested out this method, we’ve seriously considered it some years when germination is pitiful.
Tips to increase carrot germination
Soil moisture is the number one issue the majority of people have when germinating carrot seed, including yours truly. Trying to keep soil moist in a sunny location in late summer heat can feel like a futile task. And when you live 10 minutes away from your garden like we do currently, we just aren’t there to monitor it closely. But we have a trick up our sleeves to help maintain soil moisture and increase the carrot germination success.
Water the soil deeply before sowing
Often we plant into drier soil and then water afterwards, but carrots seeds have to be sown so shallowly that this helps prevent the seed from washing out of your rows or percolating up to the top of the soil where it will dry out.
Sow shallowly
Carrot seeds are tiny and their little sprouts are slender too. If you plant them too deeply they may struggle to reach the surface or not make it at all. A general rule of thumb if you’re not sure of a seed’s precise planting depth is to plant it two times as deep as the width of the seed. So with a ½ bean seed, you’ll need to plant about an inch deep. But carrot seeds are so tiny that they don’t need to be planted too deep.
Cover soil to prevent water evaporation
Evaporation is the enemy of carrot germination! If the soil dries out during the 2-3 week germination process, bye bye carrots. Our favorite way to trap moisture in the soil is to cover the carrot patch with an old row cover or shade cloth (you could use a new one, but it’ll get rather dirty). We simply lay the row cover right on top of where we just planted and use a few bricks or rocks to hold it in place and not get blown away by the wind or breeze. The row cover simultaneously holds in the moisture while helping to maintain a good soil temperature–both key to germination success.
Still having trouble?
Check the date on your carrot seed packets. Carrot seeds are only viable for 2-3 years, so if your seed packet is old, you’ll want to over-seed and not get too disappointed with lower germination…or purchase a new packet. 🙂
Hope this helps you germinate a beautiful patch of carrots this coming year!
