Our article will help you to harvest a rich harvest of large crunchy carrots. By following the tips below, you will learn how to choose the right varieties for growing in open ground.
We have collected all the information necessary for summer residents and gardeners. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with tips for preparing seeds and beds, as well as learn about the features of sowing and caring for carrots.
When planting seeds, the correct sowing time is important, because the yield of root crops depends on this. You also need to take into account that the ripening of varieties occurs in different ways and the timing of harvesting depends on this.
To obtain early production, the so-called "beam", carry out winter or spring crops. It is better to give preference to early spring crops, since in the harsh winter the seeds can freeze.
This vegetable is grown in a seedless way. But it is better to sow seeds after stable warm weather is established. In spring, sowing is carried out in late April or early May, but you can sow in the first decade of June. For the winter, it is sown in late October or early November. So that the crops are not too thick, a teaspoon of seeds must be mixed with a glass of sand.
There are many varieties and hybrids of carrots. Some varieties are sown for the winter, others in the spring, they differ in yield and storage duration.
Figure 1. Early varieties: 1 - Amsterdam, 2 - Carotel Paris, 3 - Parmex, 4 - Dragon, 5 - Finhor Early varieties are fast germinating, but root crops do not have a pronounced sweet taste and are not intended for long-term storage. Popular early varieties include (Figure 1):
Mid-season varietiesripen by early autumn and can be stored for several months(picture 2):
Figure 2. Mid-season varieties: 1 - Nantes, 2 - Vitaminnaya, 3 - Moscow winter, 4 - Red giant Late-ripening varieties are intended for long-term storage and consumption in winter, fresh or cooked. The most popular varieties are considered (Figure 3):
Figure 3. Late varieties: 1 - Vita Longa, 2 - Yellowstone, 3 - Queen of Autumn, 4 - Shantane Experienced gardeners advise sowing several varieties at once with different terms getting the harvest.
For sowing, fresh seeds are chosen to ensure high germination of plants. The first shoots appear approximately 3-4 weeks after sowing. The seeds of the culture need preliminary preparation, which is carried out immediately before sowing, in order to accelerate the germination process.
The ways pre-sowing seed preparation(Figure 4):
Figure 4. Seed preparation for sowing Also, the seeds can be folded into cloth bags and buried in the soil for 10-12 days to harden them and accelerate germination. Alternatively, they can be mixed with peat and transferred to a warm place for germination.
In the spring, furrows are made on a prepared bed at a distance of 20 cm from each other, watered with water, sprinkled with ash and sown seeds. Depending on the time of planting, seeds are also prepared: in the spring they should be swollen, and the sowing depth should not exceed 4 cm. From above, the bed is covered with earth, mulch and covered with a film (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Selecting a site for sowing carrots For winter sowing, dry seeds are used, which are immersed in the ground by only 2 cm.In addition, the bed can be sprinkled with snow to increase yields.
To grow carrots, you need to choose well-lit areas where the sun shines throughout the day. In addition, you need to take into account the order of growing crops in a certain area. It is impossible to plant a crop on the same bed annually, since a violation of crop rotation will lead to a decrease in yield. Also, it is not planted after parsley, dill, parsnip and celery. But cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage and potatoes are considered good predecessors (Figure 6).
This crop has a number of specific cultivation characteristics. She is very fond of light and hates shading. Resistant to drought and at the same time hardy to frost.
Figure 6. The order of sowing carrots For cultivation, choose fertile soils with good drainage... However, it is not recommended to grow a crop for more than 3 years in one place.
Note: It is better to sow radishes along the edges of the garden. After emergence, the rows will be more clearly marked and it will be easier to loosen the plants.
It is useful to plant onions near the garden, as its smell drives away pests. Watering should be done abundantly before the first shoots, then reduce watering to twice a week. After the formation of the first leaf, the seedlings must be thinned out.
To obtain a good harvest, it is necessary to loosen the row spacings, especially after watering and rains, regularly destroy weeds, carry out top dressing and fight diseases and pests.
Extra and weak plants are pulled out, and strong ones are lightly sprinkled with earth. During cultivation, thinning is carried out several times (Figure 7):
Figure 7. Watering, fertilizing and loosening carrots Water the garden regularly, about once a week. Before watering, the soil must be loosened. Excess moisture leads to a delay in root growth and increased tops growth. With a sharp transition from dryness to high humidity root vegetables are cracked. If there is a delay in watering, then resume it gradually. The last watering is carried out no later than three weeks before harvesting.
Note: For irrigation, use water heated throughout the day in barrels or other containers. Better to water in the evening.
After a large amount of precipitation falls on heavy soils, a crust forms, which prevents the germination of weak plants, and also impairs gas exchange and increases moisture evaporation. To destroy it, the soil is treated with a flat cutter or a homemade ripper. It is impossible to be late with loosening, since the first shoots develop slowly and the weeds overtake them in growth. Loosening is carried out neatly between the rows, best of all in sunny weather.
Plants are fed in the phase of 3-4 leaves. Fertilizers are applied at a distance of 10 cm from the rows into wet soil. During the first feeding, nitrogen fertilizers are applied, the second time - potash and phosphorus fertilizers. Weak plants are fed with solutions of slurry, bird droppings or mineral fertilizers... Top dressing from the infusion of wood ash and plant compost is also considered effective.
The author of the video will tell you how to properly care for carrots at all stages of growing.
The most common diseases in carrots are fungi. They attack the leaves, cause root rot and change their taste. Major diseases include (Figure 8):
Ripe roots are affected, but the first signs can still be seen on the stems. Elongated gray-brown spots appear on the petioles and leaves. Dark depressions form on root crops.
The fungus quickly spreads to other root crops during winter storage, so the crop must be regularly sorted out and stored at a temperature not higher than +10 degrees. To combat the fungus, the tops are destroyed after harvest and potassium-phosphate fertilizers are applied.
The fungus enters the soil along with the manure. The development of the fungus is facilitated by the presence of weeds, dense planting and improper storage.
The fungus begins to manifest itself during storage, the roots gradually become soft. A fluffy white mycelium with drops of moisture appears on the damaged areas. The disease can be prevented by spraying the stems with products containing copper and potassium dressings. The cellar must be disinfected before storing vegetables.
A fungus that affects all parts of the plant. Dark stripes appear on young shoots at the base of the stem. This can lead to the death of the plant at the beginning of the growing season. When adult crops are affected, yellow patches appear on the leaves, which gradually darken. The affected areas of the lower part of the stem dry out, the plant dies. You can prevent the disease by spraying with a decoction of horsetail, nettle or celandine.
White bloom that looks like a fly from a distance. Plants of the first year and testes are most often affected, as well as specimens with a lack of water and growing on infertile soils. The affected areas become rough and brittle. Various complex fungicides are used to combat.
Figure 8. Diseases of carrots: 1 - phomosis, 2 - white rot, 3 - brown spot, 4 - powdery mildew In addition, pests can destroy the crop, such as (Figure 9):
Figure 9. Pests of carrots: 1 - carrot fly, 2 - flies, 3 - winter scoop, 4 - naked slugs It is important to determine when to dig up the carrots, as they must be in the soil for at least 80 days. If you dig it out earlier, it will not have time to absorb all the nutrients. If you overexpose, the roots will pick up excess moisture, begin to crack and deteriorate.
Figure 10. Collection and storage of the crop of root crops Early varieties can be dug up in the second half of summer. The harvest time of mid-season varieties can be determined by the yellowed tops. Late varieties are dug up in late September - early October.
After collecting the root vegetables, they need to be dried. Small ones can be stored in the garden. They dig a hole, pour clean sand onto the bottom and lay carrots without tops, sprinkling them with sand. They cover it with earth and throw leaves on top.
In storage facilities, carrots are kept in open plastic bags, boxes or boxes, sprinkled with moistened sand (Figure 10).
Everyone who is engaged in at least a small vegetable garden has carrots planted. We add this vegetable to all dishes, thanks to its useful properties and taste.
Before planting carrots, you need to study all the nuances of this process.
How to properly plant carrots in open ground is of interest to many summer residents because there are often cases when a vegetable bends or becomes rough and unsuitable for eating outdoors in a short time. Because of what it is forced to be fed to animals. In the process of planting, it is important to take into account all the subtleties of planting in the open field: when to plant carrots, how to plant carrots, the choice of seeds and what kind of care it needs. How to plant carrots correctly can be found out empirically, or you can follow the advice of farmers taught by mistakes.
Planting carrots is carried out in the open field in a short time, where there are no obstacles to sunlight. The shadow zone is not recommended.
The acidity of the soil where you will sow the seeds should be medium. Then the resulting vegetable will have a sweet and pleasant taste. Excessive watering causes it to become coarse and hard, unsuitable for feeding. The selected soil is recommended with a loose texture so that it does not bend. It is unacceptable to use fresh manure as a material for fertilizers, this also deforms the shape of the vegetable. Sparse and sparse watering will dry out the vegetable and rob it of its sweetness. It is not worth pouring a vegetable at the end of a long dead wood, it will crack. Be sure to thin out the garden so that your planting gains strength and beauty. Pull out unsuitable shoots carefully, trying not to touch the neighboring ones, so that the seedlings are not distorted. In order for the soil to be loose, it is mixed with sand so that it breathes. This is done in the fall before the onset of frost in a short time. In the spring, the soil with sand is loosened again. The maintenance of the structure of the earth and the maintenance of the acidity of the soil play a primary role.
Carrots can only grow in sunny areas
These factors can be taken into account for a successful landing. You can figure out how to plant carrots after you prepare the soil for planting.
Sowing carrots can be done in prepared soil:
The most decisive step in planting is preparing the soil in the fall, how you approach this issue and get such a crop. After cultivating the land in the fall, you will prepare the soil for growing carrots in the fall. Caring for a vegetable is not difficult, it will quickly harvest if watering and fertilizing are performed correctly.
To get a good harvest of carrots, the soil should be prepared in the fall.
When the soil is prepared, planting carrots with seeds can be carried out. There are two types of actions how to sow carrots from summer residents:
Soaked seeds produce better shoots and a greater likelihood of a successful event than planting seeds directly in open ground. Carrot seeds are very small in size, which makes it difficult to plant seeds. How to sow carrots with seeds, preferably mixed with sand, so that the seeds do not stick together. Seeds are planted glued on sticky tape after placing the seeds at the same distance.
Having prepared a thick solution, using starch for this, it is mixed with carrot seeds and poured through a watering can into the prepared cells. When preparing the cells, the distance between each seed and the rows is taken into account. Planting carrots in the spring is the right time for the event.
Planting carrots in egg cells is an original and effective method
Planting carrots in spring ends by covering the seeds with a film to prevent excessive dryness and excessive moisture. On the fourteenth day, the first seedlings will appear. The plant should be protected from the cold so that the vegetable grows a root in the cells. When to sow carrots, you can choose based on the climate and the forecast for the spring. The main thing is that the weather does not portend excessive cold.
Care after we have figured out how to plant carrots is carried out with equal care. Sowing carrots is carried out in compliance with strict watering or fertilization. It is especially important to control the rate of watering in the open field. Planting seeds is quick.
When watering, several factors can be taken into account at once: insufficient watering will not allow the root to grow, excessive watering will cause its excessive growth and hardening. We found out how to plant carrots, now you can decide what kind of care you need. Planting seeds in the cells correctly allows you to quickly get seedlings.
It seems to be an ordinary vegetable, everyone grows up in their gardens, but there are so many subtleties with it. Cases are common when the vegetable turns out to be knobby and crooked. It would seem an ordinary vegetable, but it turns out that this is caused by improper care.
Proper care will ensure you generous harvest and beautiful and sweet shoots. There are many nuances in the care provided, the main thing is to take everything into account and observe so that there are no unnecessary problems in caring for the vegetable.
What a vegetable garden without carrots! This is one of the indispensable vegetables in the garden, it is permanently present in a huge number of dishes, gives us vitamins in summer and winter, and therefore is so loved by housewives.
In this article, we will talk about when and how to plant this wonderful and healthy vegetable and how to care for it, as well as which varieties are most suitable for growing outdoors.
In order to germinate carrot seeds, the temperature must be above zero, the ground must be warmed up by 5-8 ºC, in this regard, planting time may vary in different regions. Somewhere it will be warm in March, but somewhere you will have to wait until early May. In the middle lane, most often landings are made at the end of April.
Late varieties can be sown a little earlier. Once in the soil, carrot seeds can withstand even light frosts down to -4 ºC. With favorable weather conditions seedlings will appear in about a week.
Carrot seeds are high in essential oils that interfere with germination. Therefore, before planting, gardeners by all means get rid of these oils. Presowing seed treatment is not necessary, but desirable for better germination.
These methods will help carrot seeds germinate better:
Carrots grow best in light, warm and loose soils. You can loosen the soil by adding river sand, peat and humus to it.
The pH of the soil should be slightly acidic or neutral. There should be no weeds in the carrot bed, it should be a bright, sunny place, otherwise the capricious root crop will grow slowly and sickly. Also, the earth must be well loosened, not only on the surface, but also to a depth of one and a half bayonets of a shovel, so that there are no dense clay lumps that can deform the carrots, as a result of which it will grow into a curve.
Carrots can be planted in the place where tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, garlic and onions used to grow. It is not advisable to plant it twice in the same place, because of the danger of the appearance in this place of permanent pests characteristic of this vegetable.
Carrots do not like liming the soil and fresh manure, preferring rotted compost to them. It will also benefit from wood ash and should be added to the soil some time before planting.
A week before sowing, the bed is thoroughly spilled with water and covered with polyethylene to warm and maintain moisture.
There are many ways to plant carrots, we will look at some of the most popular of them.
On the prepared bed, we make grooves, stepping back from the edge about 10 cm and then at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other. The depth should be 2-3 cm, no more and no less.
Four seed holes - the optimal number for easy maintenance of crops.
We shed the grooves made hot water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection.
We spread the seeds in the furrows in one line, at a distance of about 1 cm from each other. You can not do jewelry work and just scatter seeds in the groove by eye, but then you cannot avoid thinning, an unpleasant and laborious occupation.
Therefore, it is better to spend a little more time at the planting stage than to mess around in the sun, pulling out extra bushes.
Another way that can make sowing easier is to mix the carrot seeds with sand in a 1: 5 ratio and pour this mixture evenly into the well.
After sowing, the furrows are covered with soil, no more than 1 cm, and compacted with patting movements from above to improve the contact of the seeds with the ground. The bed is mulched with peat chips and placed under a cover - plastic wrap.
Monitor the germination process by periodically looking under the shelter. As soon as shoots appear, the film will need to be removed.
We know how convenient it is to buy a tape with carrot seeds in a store, it is placed in the furrows and covered with earth. And all would be fine, but seed germination on purchased belts is not always good. And it is far from always possible to choose the desired variety.
Therefore, now we will look at how you can make seeds on a tape yourself. It is very economical and easy to make toilet paper seed tape.
Take a roll and cut a strip of the desired length from it, usually 1-1.5 m. This is a convenient length for work.
In the photo we will show a sample with a shorter segment, this is just an example.
Next, we will prepare a kind of flour glue. To do this, take half a glass of flour and a little water. Pour water into flour, mix. We should get the consistency of thick sour cream. It is with this tool that the seeds are glued to the toilet paper in order to avoid its deterioration.
We prepare the seeds by sprinkling them on a plate for convenience and distribute them at a distance from each other.
With an ordinary match, we collect our impromptu glue, grab 2 seeds with it and transfer it to paper. We take not one seed at a time, but two, as a safety net in case one does not come up, which often happens with carrots.
We arrange the seeds in three rows. Thus, we fill the tape to the end, along its entire length. After that, the paper will need to be thoroughly dried.
If anyone has dealt with dried dough, he knows what kind of stone mass is obtained from it. It will perfectly hold the seeds on toilet paper after drying. and at the same time the dough is completely safe "glue", natural, no chemicals.
After drying, the seed tape will need to be cut. As we remember, carrots are usually sown in narrow grooves. Therefore, we will cut our paper into three pieces and each of them will have its own strip of seeds.
This is approximately the thickness of your ribbons. The length, of course, should be much longer than in the photo.
Further landing is very simple. The belts are placed in the prepared furrows and covered with earth. We carry out the same actions as for the classic landing method (see the previous point).
Galina Kizima has her own interesting farming technique. She is a supporter of easy gardening and uses methods that help her grow vegetables without significant labor costs. Galina Aleksandrovna's vegetable garden lives its own life, everything grows and ripens by itself, she can only harvest. Everything turns out easily when you know the garden tricks.
Galina Kizima's method for planting carrots does not require furrow preparation and further thinning of seedlings. Carrot seeds are mixed with fertilizer and fine sand. This helps to avoid thickening of the plantings.
All this mixture is sown on top of the ground on the garden bed, as if you are "salt soup", sprinkle a little and slam. Ready. This method is especially suitable for older people who no longer have the strength to selflessly make furrows and spread seeds.
It would seem that everything is very simple, will a capricious carrot really grow after such treatment? Galina shows her garden: it is growing, and how!
To see with your own eyes how Galina Kizima is planting carrots, watch this video:
Another way of sowing carrots with seeds without weeding. For this, cells from under the eggs are prepared from winter. They should be made of thin, loose cardboard, soak well in water. This is necessary so that root crops grow through them without difficulty.
If you have containers made of thick durable cardboard, you will have to cut off the bottoms of the cells.
The essence of the method is that egg boxes are placed in prepared soil and covered with soil. Each groove contains 1-2 seeds. This way the carrots grow at a comfortable distance.
You can put seeds in egg cassettes at home, and then transfer them to the garden. Convenient for saving energy, not a bad method.
See the technology in more detail in this video:
One of the very interesting and convenient ways... Its essence is that a paste of starch is cooked, into which the seeds are then placed. This again helps to avoid overcrowding. And how easy it is to plant with it! You just pour the seed paste into the furrows, as if you were just watering them.
Carrot paste recipe: for 2 liters of water, 6 tablespoons of potato starch. The paste is cooked over low heat until slightly thickened, it should remain sufficiently fluid.
After the paste has cooled down (sometimes warm), carrot seeds are poured into it. This composition is poured into the furrows. Carrots grow great!
If we sow winter carrots, we will get the harvest two weeks earlier than the neighbors. Autumn planting has its own minor differences:
If you have planted carrots thickly, they may need to be thinned several times. Also, carrots require loosening of the aisles and weeding.
This vegetable is sensitive to watering, it needs golden mean... Drought makes it sluggish and soft, with a bitter, gnarled (because in search of water, carrots can give additional lateral roots). Excessive watering is the cause of cracked carrots, their "hairiness" and oily tops to the detriment of the root crop.
Active watering of carrots is required only at the stage of tops growth. As soon as we see that the carrots have gathered their bouquets, watering becomes more rare, because it is at this time that the growth of the fruit root begins.
Two months before harvesting, the carrots are watered once every one and a half to two weeks, and two weeks before harvesting, watering is stopped altogether.
Carrots do not require frequent feeding. For the entire ripening period, it is fed only twice: one month after germination, and two months later.
A universal recipe for fertilizer for carrots: for 10 liters of water 2 tbsp ash + 1 tbsp. l nitrophosphate + 20 g of potassium nitrate + 15 g of superphosphate + 15 g of urea. Fertilize on damp ground (i.e. pre-water the carrots only in a smaller volume).
There are countless varieties of carrots and from all the variety we have chosen for you the most proven, fruitful, stable and disease-resistant varieties, with excellent taste.
These varieties are suitable for winter sowing, and just those who want to get a quick harvest.
Successful varieties for consumption and conservation, short storage.
These varieties are suitable for winter storage.
We hope that the article was helpful to you and everyone can choose their preferred planting method for this wonderful vegetable. We wish you wonderful harvests!
Carrots are a popular culinary vegetable. It adds sweetness to the dish.
It goes well with other vegetables, meat, fish or fruits.
This root crop is not a capricious plant, but mistakes in caring for it can lead to the occurrence of diseases, significantly reduce the quality and volume of the crop.
Over a long period of time, people have developed a large number of varieties of carrots. Initially, the plant was domesticated in our area as an exotic spice. The seeds and tops of which were used as a seasoning.
Carrots, after sowing with seeds in the first year, consist of tops and roots. Gives seeds in the second year of cultivation. They form in an umbellate inflorescence. As an agricultural crop, it is subdivided into types: sowing and cultivated carrots.
Carrots are rich in vitamins and minerals. It is necessary for a person to maintain life. The root crop has a positive effect on vision, contributes to the overall strengthening of the body due to the content of vitamins, acids and other useful components.
Carrot varieties are conventionally grouped into three categories according to the criterion of the shape of the root crop. It is a cone, a cylinder and a ball. Carrots are divided into varieties (Nantes, Chantane, Flacque), which are subdivided into early, mid and late ripening varieties.
Consider the features of each variety.
Nantes:
Parisian Carotel:
Amsterdam:
Emperor:
Berlikum-Nantes:
If you need a carrot that will retain its taste and useful components for a long time, opt for the Queen of Autumn, Red Giant, Autumn Red, Long Red, Perfection, etc.
If the result of the fastest ripening is important - after 1.7-2 months, Nantes 4 or 14 will delight with the harvest, provided the soil is soft, and after 2 - 2.5 months after sowing, you can eat carrots of the varieties Artek, Rex, Chanson, Vitamin 6 etc.
It is advisable to eat early carrots in the summer, or use them in preservation (in salads, marinades, etc.). She is not able to be stored for a long time. The varieties that are best suited for wintering in the cellar are harvested in autumn, and the ripening period ranges from 3 to 4.5 months.
Among the varieties of carrots, there is also a purple carrot F1 Purple elixir containing special beneficial substances that help cleanse the body of fats and cholesterol, improve the functioning of the central nervous system and circulatory organs.
In order for carrots to be poured into open ground to bring a good harvest, it is necessary to carefully approach the choice of soil. The soil should be loose, fertile, with neutral acidity and medium moisture. This is important for the quality of root crops: their shape, taste, health.
Carrot seeds do not need to be processed in any particular way. But some gardeners are trying to speed up the sprouting process by resorting to such tricks:
Seeds prepared for planting can be thrown into the ground. When sowing, try to keep the distance between the grains - this will facilitate the stage of thinning the carrots.
A proven method will help to maintain the coveted distance of 3 cm between the seeds during sowing.
Dissolve flour in warm water and boil for a few minutes. Put the cooled paste into a syringe without a needle. Squeeze the paste onto the unfolded toilet paper with drops at intervals of 3 cm. Sow the seeds on the paper, let them dry, pour in the seeds that have not adhered. The toilet paper in the ground will become limp under the influence of moisture and become a fertilizer for the vegetable.
An important component of plant care is loosening the earth. This could be weeding or piercing the ground with a pitchfork. The procedure must be performed regularly, combining it with weed removal. Be sure to keep the soil loose. Thanks to this, the shape of the carrots will be perfect. And if you miss it, be prepared for a crooked and branched carrot, which will be inconvenient to dig up and peel.
If carrots were sown without a ruler, thin them out. The distance between adjacent shoots should be 3 cm - this is the golden mean during the first thinning, which is performed when two true leaves appear at the shoots. It is not necessary to perform such a procedure only when a complex harvested crop using paper has been used. The procedure is repeated a second time after a while, when 4 sheets are formed, leaving an interval of 5-6 cm.
Watering is one of the most important stages of care, the quality of which depends on appearance and the taste of the root crop. You don't want to get sluggish carrots with a touch of bitterness? Then be sure to take your time to organize watering on the site.
How often to water carrots outdoors?
Twice during the season, regular watering must be replaced by watering with fertilizers: during the formation of seedlings and at 2-3 months of growth. For 1 bucket of water, a supermixture is diluted: nitrophoska (1 tbsp), wood ash (1 tbsp.), Potassium nitrate (20 g), urea (15 g), double superphosphate (15 g).
Carrots prevent pests from developing fully. Earth inhabitants can be collected in one place and destroyed.
Carrots are considered the most disease and pest resistant crop. Prevention and treatment of her ailments will cost you cheap or free.
Early ripe carrots look fully formed in July. It is harvested this month, but it cannot be stored. The same goes for the August mid-season. Winter storage varieties are harvested in September before the rainy season. The land should be dry and the weather clear and sunny.
You can pull carrots out of the sandy ground with your hands. If the soil is dense, you will need a garden tool. On the surface, the carrots are sorted out, sorted into suitable for storage and damaged (broken). Married carrots should be eaten as early as possible, before they wilted or start to grow rotten. It cannot be stored with healthy carrots, as it is fraught with rotting and infection. As a result, the crop will be spoiled.
The tops are cut right at the head of the root crop, and the carrots themselves are laid out under a canopy to dry for 3-4 days. After that, it is necessary to withstand 10 days in an air temperature not higher than 14 ° C. for hardening. Spoiled root vegetables are isolated from the harvest.
Effectively sprinkle carrots with sand, dry moss, onion husks or chalk in crates. The loose cushion protects the carrots from contact and disinfects the storage environment, thereby preventing the development of rot.
To prevent carrots from sprouting, keep the air temperature below 5 ° C.
Storage methods for carrots may vary depending on the variety used. In order not to be mistaken, consult with experienced gardeners or seed sellers, which way of storing carrots is best suited to your chosen varieties.
Carrots are a fairly unpretentious culture. She is not afraid of frost and prolonged cold weather. However, in order to obtain a stable harvest, you need to know some of the nuances of agricultural technology. In this article, we will look at how the cultivation and care of carrots in the open field is carried out.
Carrots meet all the rules of agricultural technology with an excellent harvest.You can see how to grow carrots in the country in our infographic.
A slightly acidic fertile soil, sandy loam or light loamy type, is suitable for growing carrots. The garden bed is prepared for spring in the fall. The earth is dug up mixed with compost, weed roots and stones are selected.
For planting carrots in open ground, deep digging is used with a bayonet shovel River sand, humus, peat, rotted sawdust are added to heavy loamy soil. In the spring, the bed is loosened with a rake, if necessary, it is dug up again. A week before sowing, the earth is spilled with warm water and covered with a film so that the earth warms up and does not dry out.
Carrots are a culture that is undemanding to the choice of predecessors. Good harvest get by alternation:
When planting, you need to focus on the timing of ripening and harvesting. Recommendations are given in the table:
|
Sowing type |
Landing time | Variety type | Target |
Estimated cleaning time |
| Spring | Mid April - early May | Early and mid-season | For summer consumption | Early July |
| Summer | June 20 - 30, after the establishment of stable heat (15-18 ° С) | Middle and late ripening | For laying in a cellar for long-term storage | September October |
| Podzimny | Late October - mid November | Cold hardy early and mid-season | For early collection | End of June - mid-July |
Sowing before winter is not practiced in all climatic zones. IN cold winter there is a risk of seeds freezing even under cover. Early spring sowing is recommended for northern regions. It is carried out when the soil is warmed up to 5 ° C.
Carrots have a long (up to 3 weeks) germination period due to the seeds contained in essential oils that impede the access of moisture to the embryo. To accelerate germination, it is recommended to perform pre-sowing preparation - to disinfect, soak, germinate the planting material. To reject low-quality material, the seeds are poured with warm water for 10 hours. Viable seeds swell and settle to the bottom, while substandard seeds remain on the surface.
Carrot seeds germinate no more than 55–75%. Fresh seed is taken for sowing. It is impractical to store carrot seeds for more than 2 years, since germination is quickly lost.
Seed on the belt ensures uniform emergence and eliminates the need for thinning. These tapes can be purchased at specialized stores. Sow carrots to a depth of 2-3 cm in prepared moistened grooves at a distance of about 2 cm from each other. The row spacing is at least 15 cm. Sprinkle on top with humus, humus or other light, loose biomaterial.
Carrot seeds are sown in shallow grooves and lightly sprinkled with earth The optimum temperature for the growing season is from 18 to 25 o C. In hot weather, plant growth slows down.
The essence of agrotechnical measures in the cultivation of carrots is as follows:
Tip # 1: The first weeding can be greatly simplified by mixing carrot seeds with lettuce or radish seeds during sowing. These plants will germinate much earlier and will be beacons to indicate where the carrot shoots should appear. The garden bed can be weeded out earlier than usual, without fear of damaging the main crop.
Under unfavorable conditions, carrots are attacked by fungal diseases and damaged by insects. In order to prevent massive damage to the crop, you need to take care of the safety of the plantings in advance and take preventive measures. To limit the access of pests, early plantings are covered with non-woven fabric. It protects seedlings from insects and protects against possible frost.
Prevention measures for common carrot diseases are shown in the table:
| Disease / Pathogen | Symptoms | Causes | Agrotechnical protection measures |
| White Rot / Marsupial Mushroom Sclerotiniasclerotiorum | The formation of mucus on the roots, covered with a "cotton" bloom of white | Excessive nitrogen content in the soil; untimely harvesting (dried, overcooled, unripe or overripe roots are affected) |
Compliance with crop rotation; balanced application of mineral fertilizers; Compliance with the terms of cleaning; optimal storage mode |
| Carrot fly / Shade and moisture-loving insect of the family Psilidae and its larvae | purple-red tint and gradual drying of the leaves; the ugly look and bitter taste of root vegetables; storage decay |
Thickened fit; darkened area; |
Timely thinning and weeding; alternation of crops of carrots with onions, garlic, tomatoes, salad; surrounding plantings with marigolds, calendula, rosemary, sage, tobacco; |
| Dry rot (phomosis) / Mushroom Phoma rostrupii Sacc | Oblong gray-brown spots on leaves; brown depressions with black dots on roots; storage decay |
Hot and humid weather; contaminated seed |
Timely removal of tops and weeds from the garden; application of potash and phosphorus fertilizers; sorting before storage; disinfection of storage; seed dressing before planting |
Tip # 2: So that the covering material does not crush the seedlings, it is better to put it on the arches. For the same purpose, mustard or other fast-growing green culture can be sown along the edges of the garden. The mustard stalks will raise the protective cover. In this state, the web can remain until the first weeding and thinning.
To scare away pests, a garden with carrots is surrounded by plantings of onions or garlic.
Carrots can be affected by several pests and diseases at the same time. . Therefore, preventive measures must be comprehensive.
If, despite the preventive measures, pests still appear, it is necessary to treat the carrot beds with protective agents. In advanced cases, you will have to use chemicals - Arrivo, KS, Inta-Vir, Prestige, Karate Zeon. Fungicides and insecticides must be neutralized prior to harvest, so products with a short protective period must be purchased.
Instead of chemicals, improvised environmental products are successfully used:
The new universal remedy for pest control of carrots Question number 1: When harvesting, all the carrots were even, but soon the roots cracked. What is the reason?
Too wet soil immediately during the harvesting period. Harvesting carrots is recommended in dry weather. This will prevent cracking and make it easier to prepare for storage.
Question number 2: A good harvest of carrots was harvested, but there are specimens with a bitter aftertaste.
Bitterness accumulates in green-headed root vegetables. This happens when exposed to sunlight if the top of the carrot protrudes from the soil surface. When weeding carrot beds, the roots should be slightly earthed.
Question number 3: Carrots germinate extremely unevenly. How to get friendly shoots?
Before sowing, you need to compact the bottom of the groove so that the seeds lay at the same depth.
Question number 4: Despite the fact that the usual amount of seeds was used for sowing, very rare, single seedlings were obtained. What is the reason?
Most likely in poor quality seed. A couple of months before sowing, it is recommended to test the seeds for germination. For this, a small amount of seeds is wrapped in a wet cloth. The percentage of germination is determined by the number of shoots, and the seeding density is calculated.
Question number 5: Young leaves of carrots have acquired a curly shape without changing their natural color. This is fine?
The curliness of the leaves is caused by the defeat of the crops by the carrot leaf beetle. This pest hibernates on conifers, so it is better to plant carrots away from them. If the infection does occur, the roots will slow down their growth and acquire an unpleasant bitter taste. It is advisable to spray the beds with such means as decis, actellik, arrivo, sumicidin, sherpa. Processing is carried out no later than 25 days before harvesting.
For each climatic zone, you can make your TOP the best varieties carrots for taste, disease resistance, aesthetic appearance and other characteristics. If we select according to the keeping quality, then Shantane 2461 will take the leading positions.... This is a late variety. Reaches technical ripeness in 110-130 days after germination. Root vegetables have a pleasant taste. The pulp is fragrant, sweet, dense. The variety is high-yielding, resistant to stalking, blooming and root cracking. Distinctive feature- increased resistance to fungal and bacterial diseases.
