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I planted carrot and beetroot seeds outdoors (UK) nearly 2 months ago. Only a few seeds have sprouted, out of two full packets (probably 30+ seeds of each type). The seeds were planted into freshly prepared soft ground. I think we have the right kind of soil for carrots and beetroot, fairly decent loam. The weather has been warm and fairly wet, however, I'm worried they might not have had enough water.

Will the seeds have simply rotted by now, or is there a chance that they could still germinate, with extra watering?

Matt
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  • How many seeds do you plant? Into what material? And what bed preparation? – Graham Chiu May 31 '16 at 10:55
  • Thanks for the comment @Graham. I've added more detail to my question. – Matt May 31 '16 at 11:23
  • If you had a bout of warm weather, they might have sprouted but you didn't see it, then if you had some (too) cold weather the sprouts died. Is this what happened? How old are the seeds? Many smaller seeds don't keep well. – Bulrush May 31 '16 at 12:36
  • Maybe ants ate the seeds (it happens for tiny and early seeds) – Giacomo Catenazzi May 31 '16 at 13:07
  • Thanks for the idea @Giacomo, however, I've never seen any ants or evidence of ants in the garden. – Matt May 31 '16 at 13:40
  • Thanks for the comment @Bulrush. It has been consistently warm since the seeds were planted. Nothing even close to a frost, as far as I'm aware. Also the seeds were new, and well within the 'use by' date printed on the packet. – Matt May 31 '16 at 13:41
  • @Matt: it's possible the seeds were poorly stored at the warehouse and are now bad. I bought some flower seeds at a store once and got completely different seeds! – Bulrush May 31 '16 at 14:12
  • Two months is too long. Mine germinated in a week. All they need is warmth and moisture. So cover them with plastic to keep the birds off after you broadcast more seed. – Graham Chiu May 31 '16 at 18:50

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Any chance slugs ate them ? What you can try is plant some of the seeds you got in for example clumps of 4 in the module trays and then transplant outside when they are big enough this is the safest bet to avoid slugs and you will confirm at the same time if problem is not with the seeds you bought.

Rafs Kitchen Garden on Youtube
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So it turns out that I probably had a bad batch of seeds.

After replanting from a new seed packet, under essentially the same conditions, I have some thriving carrots!

Matt
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I have experienced similar problems before as well. I now use a seeding mix when I plan seeds directly in the ground. That seems to be working for me since this year I got both carrot and beet seeds to sprout from the ground.

JStorage
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