Carrots are a beautiful thing. There are so many different ways to eat them that one simply can’t grow bored of them. You can find a place for them in every meal of the day, whether it’s in smoothies, baked, dipped in hummus for a quick lunch break, or even in cake. However, to eat carrots, you have to be able to grow them first, and there are a few ways to go about it.
Some wonder, can you grow carrots in seed trays? Technically, yes, you can start them out in seed trays and then transplant them to the outdoors or to more adequate pots to finish growing. Transplanting them can be dangerous for the vegetable, so usually, growing carrots in seed trays is not a good idea.
In this article, you’ll learn all about root vegetables and what transplanting them from place to place can do to the plant. In addition, we’re going to teach you how to avoid having to transplant your veggies as well as some of the different types of pots you can grow them in. Lastly, you’ll find out what vegetables might be better suited for seed trays, what seed trays really do, and how to transplant your root vegetables to and from seed trays just in case it’s a must.
Can You Grow Carrots in Seed Trays?
You cannot feasibly grow carrots fully in seed trays, but you it is possible to start them off that way if you really need or want to. The most common reason people start their carrots off in seed trays is because they have a few different ones going with different types of vegetables and are going to transplant all of the seeds at once when it is either warm enough to garden, or they are ready to transplant the vegetables into the appropriate pots.
Why Seed Trays and Carrots Don’t Work
Seed trays and carrots are like water and oil; they just don’t mix well. There are a few reasons for that: carrots are root vegetables, which are considered the Achilles heel of seed trays, carrots are long and pointy, which are traits that also do not do well in seed trays, and carrots are very susceptible to transplant shock.
What is a Root Vegetable?
A root vegetable is a vegetable where the part you eat actually grows down inside the soil, like a carrot or an onion, whereas other vegetables like lettuce and peppers grow on stalks above the soil. However, the carrot itself is only one kind of root, known as the taproot. In addition to the taproot, there are another group of plants known as tuberous roots.
A tuberous root is a fleshy root that has developed in order to serve as a storage organ for the plant. On one end of the plant, it produces the shoots. The shoots are what grow toward the sunlight and usually have leaves so that the plant can generate energy via photosynthesis. The other end of the tuberous root plant has the roots on it, which just do their normal job of holding the plant in the ground. Things like peonies and the different varieties of potato come from tuberous roots.
A taproot works in almost the same way as a tuberous root does. Instead of being just a fleshy storage unit, the taproot is usually found to go straight down into the soil and taper off to a point. That point is where most of the roots of the plant will come from. Taproots are extremely sensitive.
Why Taproots and Seed Trays Are Not A Good Choice
Again, taproots are very sensitive plants. Since the bulk of the roots of the plant come from the tip of the root, coming in contact with another object is going to trigger them and cause them to form in a weird way. Any kind of object can cause the growth of a carrot to become misshapen, which is part of the reason why seed trays are such a bad idea for planting carrots.
The bottoms of seed trays are typically made of a hard, plastic material that will absolutely throw off the course of the carrot’s growth. That’s not all that will go wrong, though. The cells for growing plants in a seed tray are tiny as it is, so if you’re trying to grow carrots and it hits the bottom, it’ll just keep hitting the other walls. A carrot is not interested in becoming a pretzel, nor does it want its root to spread and grow legs.
Taproots and Transplant Shock
Taproots are very sensitive and thus incredibly at risk for developing transplant shock. The slightest touch of that root is going to set it off; even if you touch it yourself with the end of your glove, you could throw it off.
It is also difficult to transplant carrots correctly. That is why so many gardeners strongly advise that you do everything you can to avoid it–in most cases, the loss that usually comes with transplanting them is greater than the benefits. If you are transplanting in bulk, you might have some make it, but if you are just a novice gardener who wants to try it out, you are in for some disappointment.
What Vegetables Work Well in Trays
That being said, not all vegetables (as well as some other plants) are so sensitive to the trays themselves. If you have a plant that you know forms its blossoms above the soil level, then it might be worth it for you to give a seed tray a try, at least on a smaller scale.
There are plenty of vegetables that can be started off in seed trays. Some of the most common are lettuce, kale, and spinach, as well as other vegetables like brussels sprouts and melons, gourds, and most herbs. If you’re going to plant melons, though, you need to be conscious of how fast they’re growing, as they don’t tend to thrive for long in containers. If you let them get too big, they can crush the other plants around them.
When to Transplant Your Plants
No plant should live in a seed tray forever, regardless of the type. Seed trays are not designed for that kind of long-term use, and if you decide to get lazy, your plants will suffer. Not giving your plants the proper space that they need to root correctly is going to result in a stunted plant and tangled roots.
You should definitely not transplant your plants outdoors unless it is the right temperature for your plants. There is no point in starting a plant if you’re going just to let it freeze. There are plenty of indoor options, like pots and planters, that are big enough to support anything from a beanstalk to a taproot vegetable with no problem.
You can either keep them in these indoor containers until you can harvest them or you can keep them there and transplant them again when it gets warm. Be wary of choosing to transplant them again, though, since you again will face the risk of inducing transplant shock.
What Size Should My Carrots Be to Transplant Them?
This part is kind of tricky because it goes by quickly. It may take a while for your seed to germinate, but once it does, you have yourself a one-way ticket to Carrot Town, and a taproot will form very speedily.
Almost immediately, the cotyledons, which are the seed leaves, begin to grow. They’re going to need to be decently long, about three-quarters of an inch before you can even think about using them as a handle for transportation. By that point, your actual carrot will be around two inches long and near the bottom of the cell. If you transplant them too early or too late, your carrots will fork at the end.
How To Transplant Carrots Safely
At this point, you’ve reached the point of no return in your carrot growing journey. You need to get those carrots away from that seed tray before it’s too late, and you need to do so very carefully, or it’s all for naught.
The most crucial part of transplanting any kind of plant from a seed tray to the ground or to a larger pot is to make sure that the dirt around the root stays intact. This is key to avoiding transplant shock as best you can; if the plant’s roots remain tightly snuggled up in their little dirt bed, they have less of a chance of noticing that you’re uprooting them and freaking out.
To begin with, a general rule of a green thumb is to wait until your plants are root bound before you start the transplant process. That will exponentially decrease the risk that your plant will go into transplant shock and die. If it already has something to bind to, there is little chance of it trying to improperly bind to something else and then dying in the process.
Make sure there is enough space between each of your carrots. Their taproots are very sensitive, and that’s where the bulk of the roots are, but not all of them. There are some roots that grow laterally in the soil, and they could become damaged if there is not enough space for them to stretch out completely. Another possibility is that the lateral root could grow around the other carrot and kind of choke it, in a way, which stunts its growth and increases the risk that that carrot doesn’t survive the harvest.
What Does a Seed Tray Do?
A seed tray is designed to be kind of like a community garden, but on a smaller scale and typically not actually shared by a community. Each seed tray is divided into cells, and in each cell, you can have a different type of plant. For example, maybe you were growing radishes in your section of the community garden, but Mrs. Norris next door was growing lettuce. They’re growing side by side, but they remain divided so that each person or group of vegetables have their own space.
For most gardeners, the seed tray is just the jumping-off point. Oftentimes, you’ll see people outside with their seed trays, carefully transplanting their little baby veggies from it to the fresh soil in the garden. If it’s not warm enough to have an outside garden, a lot of people will opt to start off in seed trays and then transplant the goods to larger pots or planters. Overall, the seed tray is usually more of a plant nursery than a plant bedroom; you’re still making sure it’s growing and staying healthy before you give it its own big kid space.
The Pros and Cons of Using Seed Trays
Seed trays are not an option you should completely discard; in some circumstances, a seed tray will be just the right fit for what you need. However, in other circumstances, you might find that using a seed tray isn’t really working for you or your garden.
Whether or not a seed tray is going to work for you is going to depend on what you want to grow. Quantity isn’t too much of a concern when talking seed trays; you can have more than one tray going at once, and a lot of seed trays can fit multiple seeds per cell. However, there are some deciding factors that will help you choose between using a seed tray and not doing so.
Pros
There are undoubtedly some benefits to using seed trays, at least in the early stages of plant growth.
- Allows for some variety
- Easy to keep plants labeled and separated
- Great for smaller plants like herbs
- Easy to move around
- Can be used to grow in the winter
Cons
Unfortunately, with seed trays, there are a few issues that, depending on what you want to grow, might be considered a fatal flaw.
- Transplanting involves risks
- Terrible for root vegetables
- Hard to distribute water evenly
- Won’t support a lot of bigger plants
Why Transplanting Seeds is so Dangerous
Transplanting is the major setback of using a seed tray to start out, and for a good reason. Transplanted seedlings and sprouts are incredibly sensitive to movement; they want to stay in one place, not be bounced from this pot to that pot and so on.
When you transplant a plant, there is an incredibly high possibility it will develop something called “transplant shock.” Transplant shock means that the plant is not going to root properly, which is a terrible, incurable thing to have to happen to your plants. Though some plants do recover from the shock, there is no way to know whether or not a plant is going to recover.
The symptoms of transplant shock can occur directly after transplantation, though they can also occur days later. The reason the range of time it can experience the shock is so wide is because of the rooting process; the plant may try to root in the ground before it goes into shock, or it might not try. If your plant goes into shock, it will begin to change color and wilt. If there are any flowers or vegetables growing on it, they may shrivel.
What to do if Your Plant Goes into Shock
If you notice the symptoms of transplant shock in your plants, the best thing to do is to do nothing at all. Your best bet is to continue caring for your plant as you normally would; don’t just stop caring for it, or it will definitely die. Though transplant shock is not something you can just cure, caring for the plant even when it seems like there is no hope might help it recover and root properly.
If your plant does not recover and dies, you need to dispose of it. Do so carefully, as you don’t want to harm any plants that are near it accidentally. Make sure you do get rid of it just to be safe. Do not go to special measures to revive it–in introducing new products and methods into the garden, you could send the other plants into shock, and then the cycle begins again.
You Reap What You Sow
Overall, if you care about your garden and you try to make as many good decisions as you can, you’re probably going to be fine. Gardening is a hobby, but it also takes time to master. If you don’t love it, odds are, it’s not going to show the same promising signs as Mrs. Norris’ garden from earlier, which gets showered with love daily.
Carrots in seed trays are not the best decision for your garden. They’re very sensitive little veggies, and a lot can go wrong very fast. Instead of investing in seed trays for carrots, try to invest in some nice planters or pots that you can reuse and grow your plants in from the start. Plants are like children; they need consistency to thrive, and it’s your job to give it to them.
