Troubleshooting · 1 min read
Why your seeds did not come up
Six causes, in the order they are actually to blame - and how to tell them apart.
27 July 2026
When nothing appears, the seed usually gets the blame. In practice it is somewhere near the bottom of this list.
1. Sown too deep
The rule is roughly twice the seed diameter. Very small seed - petunia, portulaca, tulsi - is pressed onto the surface and not covered at all.
2. It dried out once
A seed that has taken up water and then dries is dead. It only needs to happen for a few hours on one hot afternoon.
3. Waterlogged
Seed needs oxygen. Soil that stays saturated suffocates it, then rots it.
4. Wrong temperature
Winter vegetables will not germinate reliably in May heat; chilli and brinjal sulk below 20C.
5. Crusted soil
Heavy soil that dries to a hard cap after watering stops seedlings physically. Cover fine seed with cocopeat rather than garden soil.
6. The seed
Genuinely possible - and why the batch number exists. If you sowed at the right depth, kept moisture even, and the season was right, dig up a few seeds. Swollen but not sprouted means it tried and failed; unchanged and hard means it never started.
