Carrot seeds - Is it best to sow direct?

[mew]

Hi everyone

I have some Flyaway F1 Carrots and I just wondered if it was best to sow direct or start off in modules for transplanting?

Any tips / preferences / suggestions ??

Many thanks as always

MEW

[Wombat]

OK, MEW I always had patchy carrot seed gemination until I read a book called "Organic Gardening" (imaginative title eh?) by Peter Bennet an Aussie based in South Aus. I have followed his instructions ever since and never failed to get good germination -

Make sure the soil is fairly fine tilth and sprinkle the seed over the bed where you expect them to grow. You can mix the seed with sand to make the application more even. Now tamp the soil down lightly to ensure good seed/soil contact - I use the flat of the hoe to do this. Then water and apply a water permeable barrier to keep the seed moist. I use an old hessian sack with the stitching undone and spread out over the bed. Water though the sack daily or as required and keep an eye on what is happening underneath so that as soon as the seedlings start to appear you can remove the covering.

Do this and you will get excellent germination!

Nev

[mew]

Thanks Nev

Will give it a go thanks - i havent got any hessian sacks but I have got some enivomesh - dyou think I could use this instead - it lets the light through as well as the water. I was told to use this to help deter carrot fly.

What dyou think or am I best using a hessian sack to begin with?

thanks once more

MEW

[Wombat]

I have never had a problem with carrot fly MEW so prehaps what you have will do the trick. The main thing is that it will keep the moisture in because the carrot seeds will be at or very near the surface and so can dry out quickly.

Nev

[Millymollymandy]

Why don't you just try without especially as your soil is likely to be damper than Nev's. I've never had a problem with carrots germinating. If they don't germinate then you could try other methods.

[paradox]

Ive been told that carrots should be sown direct because of there tap root?

[red]

I understand that carrots don't do well as modules.

but - why not bung in a row as told on the packet - and then just try a module as an experient, and tell us the results

and then next year we shall all be copying you with whichever turned out to be the best method!

[ohareward]

One good thing about sowing carrots direct is that they are too close together and when you thin them out you get some yummy young carrots when they are cooked. You can get 2-3 thinnings depending on how dense the sowings were.

Robin

[Millymollymandy]

If you have very dry soil like mine you just can't thin them at all as the soil turns to concrete. They still grow really well though.

[flower]

try mixing with nigella (love-in-a-mist) and spring onion seeds, both of which are said to deter carrot fly and I love to see flowers in veg beds

I mix several varieties of carrot along with the above and put them in an old marmite jar with holes in the lid.

mark out the bed and make a 'fleece wall' round it then let my four year old broadcast (shake the seeds out)

then whenever you thin/pick you get some white, red, orange, long fat thin carrots, spring onions and even flowers for the table...keep the marmite jar topped up and shake some more in the gaps

[mew]

Hi all

thanks so much for all the usefil tips and hints

really like the marmite jar idea - might just have a go at that idea, sounds like lots of fun.

Fingers crossed for a successful crop

MEW

[Jack]

Gidday

Is it O.K. to use a vegemite jar as we don't have marmite?

Yeah Right!

But seriously now, in you very hard, like concrete soil, try to get some straw bales of even lucerne or alphapha hay bails and plant in them. Beaut-bloody-ful carrots then.

[Millymollymandy]

How do you plant seed into a straw bale Jack? Have you got to fill them up with soil first?

[Cheezy]

Hi
the variety that mew has sown is widely reconned to be the best anti carrot fly one i.e "fly away"!

The reason apart from that carrots hate being transplanted due to their
root, that you don't transplant them, is that any disturbance of the carrot emmits the smell that the carrot fly can detect.

You should plant insitue, pull out the weak and too close ensuring you take away the seedlings, and it is preferable to use a raised bed with fleece, or companion plants to hide/mask the smell.

[Andy Hamilton]

I have also heard of people sowing directly into compost filled toilet rolls and then plant the whole roll. It degrades into the soil and you don't have to worry about disturbing the tap root.