What am I doing wrong with my carrots?

[Suzanne D.]

Two years ago, I tried planting carrots in one of my raised beds. Most of them didn't sprout, and those that sprouted disappeared in a few days.

The following year (last year), I prepared a bed with commercial potting soil. I planted several different types of carrot. Many sprouted, and most of them grew very well.

This year, I used a similar bed with similar potting soil. I started planting carrots in February, and have planted them every few weeks since then. (It was regularly frosty in February, and currently gets up to about

90-95 degrees in the daytime, so they have seen a great temperature range.) I have planted about ten different varieties, from three or four different seed companies. I've tried scattering them and covering them with a thin layer of commercial soil, and I've also dug shallow furrows for them and covered them. Most of these did not sprout at all, and the few that did were gone within days.

So...does anyone know what I did RIGHT last year? I can't see why there was such a big difference between the massive success of last year and the utter failure of this year.

--S.

[Steve Peek]

[Lilah Morgan]

Do you think you might have underground critters eating them? Because what I did in the first raised bed I made is put 1inch chicken wire at the very bottom of it then piled all the soil on top of it, so I didn't have to worry 'bout something burrowing up to them and getting them from underneath. Hardwear cloth would probably work too.

[Pat Kiewicz]

I also think that it sounds like you have something eating your carrot seedlings, most likely at night. Slugs have been mentioned. (Some areas their shelled cousins, snails might be the culprits). I'll throw in earwigs as another. And there are people who have reported isopods (aka pill bugs or woodlice) feeding on tender seedlings.

These are pests whose populations can vary a lot from year to year, depending on rainfall and temperatures.

It might take some midnight investigations to see what might be out there eating your garden.

[Suzanne D.]

We definitely DO have a lot of earwigs. Would they eat the seedlings even before they emerge, though? This is what is so mystifying--that most of the seeds don't even seem to be sprouting at all. (As opposed to, say, my cucumbers, which sprout wonderfully but are nibbled down within a few days by bugs.)

Many of my seedlings seem to be eaten this year. Hopefully, next year might have a lower population. Or maybe the praying mantises will start taking over soon.

--S.

[Pat Kiewicz]

Hmmm...if the carrots were sprouting at night and were immediately eaten, would you ever know it? Earwigs can be really destructive to tender sprouts. (They are easily killed by soapy water, if hit with it directly.)

I've occasionally had problems with seed corn maggot. They wiped out one planting of parsnips. (I actually found the a small maggot in several parsnip seeds.) Usually they go after bigger seeds.

[Billy]

to preparing the soil with nutrients, and having removed all litter from the bed. The last time I grew them, my feeling was that they were eaten by Armadillidium vulgare (Pill Bugs) which lived in the litter.

[Charlie - "An Organic Fanatic"]

On Sun, 31 May 2009 09:42:07 -0700, Billy spuked forth:

It's been noted that they are also called Land Shrimp, for when gently cooked, the taste is very similar.

Charlie, who has experience with sauteed Junebugs