Made home-made carrot seed tapes

[Liberty7]

I'm going to be planting carrots in an 8 ft. x 3 ft. section of the garden. To make it easier to deal with those teeny tiny carrot seeds and not have to worry about thinning later, I made these seed tapes. By the way, you can use the same method with a lot of different seeds.

Cut 1" wide strips of newspaper (black & white ONLY.)

Make a paste from flour and water. I made mine about the consistency of like a medium-thin gravy.

I put a yard stick on the kitchen counter and then positioned one or two of the newspaper strips next to the ruler to get the spacing of 3 inches per seed (which is the spacing after thinning.)

Using a toothpick, I put a little drop of the 'paste' every three inches; and, using the sticky toothpick picked up individual seeds and put it in the center of each paste drop.

It didn't take long for them to dry; and, the 'paste' dries clear.

I also made some radish seed tapes, too.

 

[dipence71]

I'm going to be planting carrots in an 8 ft. x 3 ft. section of the garden. To make it easier to deal with those teeny tiny carrot seeds and not have to worry about thinning later, I made these seed tapes. By the way, you can use the same method with a lot of different seeds.

Cut 1" wide strips of newspaper (black & white ONLY.)

Make a paste from flour and water. I made mine about the consistency of like a medium-thin gravy.

I put a yard stick on the kitchen counter and then positioned one or two of the newspaper strips next to the ruler to get the spacing of 3 inches per seed (which is the spacing after thinning.)

Using a toothpick, I put a little drop of the 'paste' every three inches; and, using the sticky toothpick picked up individual seeds and put it in the center of each paste drop.

It didn't take long for them to dry; and, the 'paste' dries clear.

I also made some radish seed tapes, too.

Awesome!!!!! I purchased a carrot and radish one this year but after ate all the radishes got regular seeds and just planted but I will remember this for next time.

THANK YOU!!!!!

 

[vfem]

HEY! I saw these for sale in the seed catalogues over the winter. I talked myself out of buying them since I already had those kinds of seeds.

Now I know I will have something to do and make next winter. What a good idea to prepare for spring!!!

(P.s. - While planting do you position the seeds so they are on top, or on the bottom of the paper? Or does it even matter?)

 

[cherokeechicken]

hey, this method would work for those tiny flower seeds like poppys. i will have to give this a try. thanks for the ideal.

 

[karanleaf]

Way Cool Liberty. Like vfem says Great Idea to prepare over the winter for next spring And as cherokee chick says this will work Great for those small tiny flower seeds. Hey maybe even make your own seeding flower mats, :watering I think I will give that a try :coolsun

Great info gals Thanks

:happy_flower Karan

 

[4grandbabies]

Fantastic,helpful idea... cant wait to try it!!

 

[Liberty7]

HEY! I saw these for sale in the seed catalogues over the winter. I talked myself out of buying them since I already had those kinds of seeds.

Now I know I will have something to do and make next winter. What a good idea to prepare for spring!!!

(P.s. - While planting do you position the seeds so they are on top, or on the bottom of the paper? Or does it even matter?)

For planting, position the seed tapes with the seeds facing UP.

 

[digitS']

It is an excellent idea!

Have I shared this? Fluid Seeding - CSU I found it helpful but probably not in the way the author intended. Over 3 seasons, a simplified approach evolved in my garden.

First of all, presprouting the seed didn't work for me. Planting really early didn't either.

I just make the cornstarch gel, run a "bead" at the proper depth in the soil, and sprinkle on the seed.

I did use strips of paper towels, somewhat in the way you have described, Liberty. But, then I got the things stuck to me during construction , realized that I had many feet of row to plant :/, and got lazy .

What was especially, especially important to me was keeping the seed moist while it was germinating. Carrots take a long time to start growing and they are sown very shallow. I've had lots of trouble with poor germination over the years. Another remedy for this is pelleted seed where the seed company coats the seed with a clay mixture. It is nice to know, we can do some of these same sorts of things in our homes, with broader choice of varieties, and good results!

Steve