Carrot Observations

I have 8 boxes and I have planted carrots once a month in almost all of the boxes. The soil is not exactly the same in each but similar. And I planted from the same seed packet.

I have had skinny carrots that were pale and forked carrots and fast growing carrots (the most recent) and very slow growing carrots and very dark orange carrots. Too many variables to pinpoint what is what but maybe a lesson not to get discouraged if something does not work out once.

The second to last batch grew almost horizontally to the ground but were well shaped and nice color. The current batch are very wide and have a lot of forking. The widest in the picture below is almost 2" in diameter:

What type of carrots are those?

WOW! Hooray!! I'm glad you got carrots! All season I had about 10 come out of 3 squares. My thinking at this point is that next season I will probably buy carrots and free up squares to grow more expensive and reliable produce.

So far they seem to have thrived in the fall more than the spring and did ok in the summer, remembering that our summers tend to be hotter, although this year was pretty mild.

I have been planting Scarlet Nantes.

I don't have any helpful advice, but I've found carrots to be a bit tricky. We planted seeds that Josh sent us for large carrots and we got a wide variety of shapes and sizes, but the last one we pulled was beautiful! I even took a picture of my son holding it... he was so proud *giggle* It was surprisingly flavorful too.

The box we planted in is 16 inches deep, since the carrots were supposed to grow to be a foot long (which at least one did!). I had very little luck in a shallower box (8 inches deep), so I'm thinking that I'm only going to grow carrots in very deep soil because reaching the bottom of the soil seemed to cause some strange shapes. We've been lucky so far because we haven't had any carrot fly maggot damage. Last year the stunted little carrots that managed to grow in the 8 inch boxes had a fair bit of carrot fly maggot damage

Could these deformities be caused by Root Knot Nematodes. They are a microscopic worm which cause these sort of deformities in root crops.

I've heard and read that the slightest piece of any sort of hard material, will make a carrot deviate from straight and/or fork like crazy. I've had very inconsistent carrot results, also, but our carrot favorable seasons are fairly short. They don't like our hot summers and our winters get just cold enough your timing and the weather has to be exquisitely perfect for germination and good growth. I HAVE had carrots, that I had all but given up on, take off once conditions were right. I'm going to try starting them in the cold frames again and see if I can coax them along. I've already gotten a few baby carrots that I had in the soon to be asparagus/strawberry bed (but I knew I would likely be pulling them before they were grown because of the timing for the asparagus).

Thanks, Chops, for an excuse to get my hands dirty! I wish Chocolatepop was here to say this properly, but 'those are some butt-ugly carrots, Girl'! I know...once they are prepared and served, their ugly ducking beginnings will mean nothing...I'm just sayin'!

I grow carrots 'cause I can; I can't say the same about some warm weather crops. A 3x5 by 12 inch deep box keeps us in carrots most of the year. This is the fourth straight year I've planted carrots in this box. An honest 1:1:1 Mel's Mix and my homemade compost is screened with 1/4 inch hardware cloth. Each picture is one half square worth of carrots.

Look at the difference in size due to staggered planting dates. My summer wasn't hot this year; I don't have a clue why the difference.

Danver 1/2 Long planted on 4/18


Danver 1/2 Long planted on 5/24


Side by side-just how they were planted.


Who knows?! One thing for sure that I learned this year from reading everyone's posts, carrots nearly always take lots longer to reach full size than the seed package says.

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Another type



Imperators: these should reach the bottom of the box but they never do.

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These are Mokum Hybrids grown in a six inch box. It appears they will make a ninety degree turn just like Mel says.





I'm with Chopper: plant early, stagger plantings, spread them around, and keep your fingers crossed!

Josh and I will be having a 'grow the longest carrot' contest next spring. If anybody wants to enter, you are welcome. There are no rules at this point. Start studying up on how the experts do it...who knows what we might learn! The current record is over 19 feet! Most everything you want to know about carrots can be found here:

http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/

If you dream of carrots - it portends prosperity and health; for a young woman to eat them denotes she will contract an early marriage and be the mother of several hardy children!!

boffer (Wed Dec 15, 2010 6:01 pm) wrote:Josh and I will be having a 'grow the longest carrot' contest next spring. If anybody wants to enter, you are welcome. There are no rules at this point. Start studying up on how the experts do it...who knows what we might learn! The current record is over 19 feet!

Oooh, I'm in! I'll have hubby start on my 19-ft deep SFG box this week.