Top 5 Reasons Your Seeds Didn’t Sprout

Nothing is quite so dispiriting as staring at your seed starting tray or your garden bed after you’ve recently planted seeds and see absolutely nothing. No brave little seedlings poking their heads above the soil. What went wrong? Well, it could be a lot of things, or nothing at all. Here are my top five reasons why your seeds might not have sprouted.

1. You haven’t given them enough time

This is a common issue. Maybe you just haven’t waited long enough. Most seed packets have a “days to germination” number on them, but it’s just an estimate. If it says 5-7 days or 10-15 days, that doesn’t mean that your particular seeds might not take shorter or longer. I give my seeds a good 10 days after the longest time on the seed packet before I completely give up on them. Don’t give up too soon. Or if you’re getting worried, plant a few extra seeds and give them some more time. If they all come up, you’ll just have few extra seedlings.

2. Not the right amount of humidity or moisture

Your seeds will germinate best if they have relatively constant moisture, rather than being soaked and then too dry. Using clear lids over your seed starting trays, or plastic covers for your outdoor beds can help keep your seeds at the right humidity. Letting your started seeds get too dry can kill the tiny seedlings before they make it above the ground. But, if they sit in standing water, they can drown or rot in the soil before they sprout. Generally the moisture of a wrung out sponge is your goal. If you planted outside and then had a flood, there may be nothing you can do but wait and hope. But if you are starting seeds indoors, check your seed trays regularly to make sure they are getting proper moisture.

3. Not the right soil temperature

Starting your seeds in soil that is too cold or too warm can delay sprouting or prevent it altogether. Most seeds have an ideal germination temperature range. If you’re too far outside of that range you could run into problems with not very many (or not any) seeds sprouting, or it could take twice as long for your sprouts to emerge or for your seedlings to grow. If you’re planting outdoors, you can use row cover, mulch, or shade cloth to help cool season plants germinate in warm conditions. Or you can use black cloth or plastic mulch, or clear plastic covers to solarize or warm up soil in the early spring to start warm weather seeds. Indoors you can choose a cool part of your house to start cool weather seeds and use a heating pad (preferably a temperature controlled one) to set the perfect conditions for warm weather plants.

4. You planted them too deeply

If you take tiny seeds and cover them with inches of soil, they won’t sprout, or if they do, they won’t make it above the top of the soil before they run out of energy. Even large seeds like peas, corn, or squash can have difficulty making it through lots of heavy dirt. Sometimes planting seeds to deeply will just delay sprouting but the seedlings eventually make it through, but it can reduce the percentage of seeds that sprout. The rule of thumb is to plant your seeds 1.5 times the diameter of the seed. So, tiny seeds get sprinkled on the top of the soil, or covered with just a dusting. Larger seeds can get pushed down in, but not too far. Check your seed packet for guidance for your particular variety.

5. You have bad seeds

Yes, you can have poorly germinating seeds because there is something wrong with the seeds. Or you’ve kept them for too many years. Or you’ve stored them in a way that makes them lose their potency (seeds like cool, dark, and dry). But this is last on the list for a reason. You can have the perfect seeds and if you have any one of the problems above, they won’t sprout. So, if you’ve made sure you were patient to wait for sprouts, and you have the perfect moisture, temperature, and planting depth, then you can consider if there might be a problem with your seeds. I’ve had seeds that molded in the package and they never sprouted, not even one. But for seeds that appear to be OK, it’s rare to have 0% germination unless one of the above problems is also involved. So, rule out all the easy problems to solve, and if none of that works and you’re getting no sprouts, then you might need to invest in some new seeds.