virraszto
Junior Member
Posts: 43
Zone:: 6B
Joined: April 2011
|
Post by virraszto on Aug 31, 2014 19:21:08 GMT -5
I planted a row of carrots in one bed. Out of that small row, I got the two on the right. In a totally separate bed, I just picked this, which I thought was a weed ( Queen Anne's Lace?). I pulled it up and was amazed to find a normal shaped carrot. It doesn't look like the weed grew so closely to the carrot, it actually roots TO the carrot. I'm totally lost here. I've never grown carrots before. I did not plant the perfectly formed (QAL) carrot, it just appeared. Why did the ones I planted grow like this? And is the other one really a carrot? Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by paulf on Sept 1, 2014 7:17:44 GMT -5
Deformed carrots are pretty common especially if the soil is a little hard or has obstructions of some kind like rocks or even hard dirt clods. Carrots will follow the path of least resistance and if you get an unthinned bunch and they are obstructed they will curl and turn and bend looking to find an easy way to grow. The soil needs to be very soft and fluffy as deep as you can get it.
|
|
|
Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 2, 2014 9:54:47 GMT -5
What Paulf said. If you can't get deep, soft, fluffy soil with all of the rocks picked out and clods broken up, you will probably have better luck growing the short, stubby types of carrots. Carrots are great candidates for growing in a raised bed. Fill the raised bed with light,fluffy soil mix without too much compost. (Carrots like soil a bit on the lean side.) In a raised bed you can plant carrots densely throughout the entire area. That means you can grow a lot of carrots in a small space. For example, a single 4' x 4' raised bed planted with carrots at a 2" spacing yields 576 carrots! Even a 1' x 1' square yields 36 carrots. Deep tubs, bins, or pots are also great for growing carrots as long as they have adequate drainage. For long carrots you ideally want your tubs, pots, or beds to be 10"-12" deep. ________________ Another possible cause of carrot deformities is root-knot nematodes. Minor infestations cause one or two forks in the roots so that the roots are still usable, though they can require more work to clean and prepare. But bad infestations can cause severe deformities. See the picture in Figure 2 in this article: www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/Nematodes/Pages/RootknotNematode.aspxI try to grow carrots after crops nematodes don't like, such as marigolds or mustards. I also get better-looking carrots from plantings that I make as early in the spring or as late in the fall as possible. (Nematodes are less active in cooler soil and the worst deformities happen if nematode feeding occurs during the first few weeks after germination.) __________________ Oh, your carrot on the left looks to me like it was bolting - blooming to make seed. Carrots are biennial, but if they are grown in hot weather they can bolt early. Also, if you are in an area that had alternating cool and hot spells this summer, it could have "confused" the carrot into thinking it had already been through winter.
|
|
dogfish
Junior Member
Posts: 56
Joined: January 2014
|
Post by dogfish on Sept 2, 2014 11:09:12 GMT -5
Carrot seeds are very small and light weight and are easily caught by the wind and moved around. I would guess you lost a few while planting and they made their way into your other bed.
|
|
|
Post by meandtk on Sept 2, 2014 11:10:29 GMT -5
Our soil is easily packed. A short variety would help. Recommendations of a variety? Thx
|
|
|
Post by horsea on Sept 2, 2014 16:44:36 GMT -5
Carrot seeds are very small and light weight and are easily caught by the wind and moved around. I would guess you lost a few while planting and they made their way into your other bed. Every day I thank the powers responsible for the development of Pelleted Carrot Seed! You can get various varieties from both Johnnys and Stokes.
|
|
|
Post by coppice on Sept 3, 2014 7:49:20 GMT -5
The two kinds of 'phunny' I've run into with carrots are as you show yours, from lumpy gravely soil. or hairy carrots from too fresh of an application of manure.
I have actually sifted carrot soil on a hardware cloth table and them sifted compost into the soil while it was up out of the hole.
|
|
|
Post by Laura_in_FL on Sept 4, 2014 8:12:30 GMT -5
meandtk, I haven't been ignoring your request for suggestions for short carrot varieties, but I don't have any specific suggestions. I grow in raised beds, so I usually grow the long, thin carrots. The best I could say is to check variety descriptions for varieties that say they are good for heavy soil. Maybe someone else has some experience?
|
|
|
Post by bestofour on Sept 5, 2014 15:00:16 GMT -5
I didn't realize carrots are biennial. It seems it takes forever for them to produce though. And I've never thought of Queen Anne's Lace as a weed.
|
|
|
Post by paquebot on Sept 6, 2014 22:56:22 GMT -5
Carrots are normally biennials but there are often some which bolt in a single season. Doesn't matter if they are OP or hybrids as I've seen it in both. Although they will have what appears to be a normal carrot root, they are invariably too tough to eat. When I see one forming a top, I pull and discard it it right away since there is apparently no way to reverse the toughening phase.
|
|
|
Post by kctomato on Sept 9, 2014 11:43:15 GMT -5
Our soil is easily packed. A short variety would help. Recommendations of a variety? Thx Short n Sweet (Burpee's) Little Fingers Babette Romeo Parisian Paris Market Redland Mini Sweet I havent tried these all but like the taste of "Short n Sweet" the best. It's been around for quite some time. I believe since the 80's. "Little Fingers" can be found in seed stand displays. The "round" types like Babette, Romeo, Parisian & Paris Market usually are catalog selections. There are some shorter Chantenay types that if properly thinned and harvested early can do fairly well but more for "early" baby carrots. They will still send down a longer primary tap root that can be deformed by heavy soil. I glanced over the other responses but proper early thinning is important for getting shape as well as size.
|
|
|
Post by meandtk on Sept 9, 2014 12:46:32 GMT -5
Many thanks!
|
|
|
Post by stratcat on Sept 9, 2014 13:42:12 GMT -5
Hey, meandtk! I called Cousin Dennis and he recommends planting a cover crop of Oilseed Radish to loosen your soil. You can read about it here and here. He has had good luck with it.
|
|
|
Post by kctomato on Sept 9, 2014 21:05:42 GMT -5
From the Fauxbooks Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by meandtk on Sept 9, 2014 21:34:57 GMT -5
I'll look into it. Thanks Jason
|
|
|
Post by meandtk on Sept 9, 2014 21:44:10 GMT -5
stratcat I found a daikon that grows up to 24 inches long at Cleveland Seeds. It's on the way. Now to determine where to put them.
|
|
|
Post by paquebot on Sept 19, 2014 1:49:57 GMT -5
Nothing replaces deep or double tilling for carrot growth. Deep plants like Daikon radishes make holes down into hard soils but then whatever follows must also use the same route. It is no different than if a spud bar was used to punch deep holes in the soil. Both compact the soil around them as they penetrate into it. One Daikon versus one carrot is not acceptable. I've got some monster carrots this year, as usual, by a lazy form of double digging with a Mantis tiller. First was normal pass as deep as it will till. Then using it to pull as much of the loose material away and create a trench. That was then tilled as deep as possible and fertilizer added at that time. Ended up with at least a foot of loose soil with the NPK down where the roots will be looking for it. Only problem is now to find a lot of others who want the excess!
Martin
|
|