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Is it too hot to plant Fall Seeds? (carrots, turnips & beets?)

So we were going to plant some fall seeds today including carrots (Atomic Red, Tonda di Pargi and some other type), Bull's Blood beets and Shogin Japanese turnips. I'm in St. Louis, MO (Zone 6) and according to the MU Extension planting guide this is the right time to plant and we are planting in our raised garden bed. HOWEVER, starting tomorrow we are going to get another heat wave of temps in the mid/high 90's low 100's. Will those temps end up cooking my seeds?Thanks in advance!!!

Tags: Fall, beet, carrot, garden, hot, planting, raised, seeds, temperature, turnip

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Permalink Reply by linda Kramer on August 2, 2010 at 3:10pm

I am looking for advise on this too .. We are south of St. Louis & just put in some seeds. My daughter has been keeping them watered but other than that I am not sure as of any other thing to do ... I guess if all else fails we will re-plant... This is surely going to break!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Angie Couts on August 3, 2010 at 10:15am

I'm in the same teetering boat. I'm in zone 4 and it's 92 degrees today with a dewpoint of 72.

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Permalink Reply by linda Kramer on August 3, 2010 at 10:25am

Our temps are expected to reach into the 100+ Also the humidity is very high.... I feel for all our animals not much we can do other than make sure they have plenty of fresh water!!! This heat will break soon!

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Permalink Reply by Kristie Nackord on August 3, 2010 at 10:36am

No, your seeds will not cook! The varieties you listed will probably take a 7-10 days to germinate. By that time hopefully your heat wave will have passed. Which doesn't mean another one won't come through! But planting seeds now is a great idea while the days are still long and the plants are still willing to grow vigorously. As each day passes the light diminishes triggering seeds/plants to slow their growth. By getting a head start now, come October you will have a bounty of veggies to enjoy! Keep succession planting your veggies and herbs and you will enjoy the maturing of your veggie's at different times so you don't end up with 30 lbs of beets all at once!

Good growing to you~
Kristie

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Permalink Reply by Stacey on August 4, 2010 at 6:30am

Thanks Kristie! Great advice about the succession planting and the days getting shorter. I was hoping the planting would be successful, so we moved forward with planting 1/3 of our remaining garden with just the varieties of carrots on Sunday. I'll plant another 1/3 with the turnips/beets in a couple weeks and then the final 1/3 a week or so later...I'm hoping the idea of succession planting works! Our first carrots (planted in April) are just coming of size and I think the weird weather this year had something to do with it. @Linda - I certainly feel for the animals and all the farmers that have lots of outdoor work to do this time of year and hope your planting is successful. @ Angie - Good luck! Wishing you all well with the summer plantings!

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Permalink Reply by linda Kramer on August 4, 2010 at 11:25am

Hi to All, To river we go , Started the watering early this am , All the Critters are OK the horses are better off out in the pasture so what breeze there is they will get & plenty of shade , I wanted to put them in the barn but even with the fans going they are better off out . Some of our seeds have spouted & in another week will plant more ... Good luck to all ..