Carrots, unlike many vegetable crops, are never grown by seedlings. This crop is sown only in open ground. When growing carrots, there are several nuances and difficulties that are useful to learn about before you start planting it.
What kind of carrots to choose?
Inexperienced gardeners choose carrots for price, beauty of packaging, name, on the advice of a neighbor, reviews of vegetable growers and other dubious criteria. In fact, varieties of carrots must be selected according to agrotechnical characteristics.
All varieties of carrots are divided into categories. When choosing a suitable variety, the following criteria are taken into account:
- Selection. There are domestic varieties and foreign. The former are cheaper and regionalized in specific Russian regions. Foreign varieties have serious commercial and agricultural advantages, but their adaptation to the local climate must be taken into account.
- Ripening dates. There are three categories of carrots:
- Early For a quick harvest. It ripens in June-July. Not for winter storage.
- Mid-season. Rip in the fall. This is the sweetest and juiciest carrot. Well kept.
- Late. For long winter storage. They differ in large root crops, in terms of sweetness they are not inferior to mid-ripening varieties.
- Productivity Carrots produce from 20 to 50 tons per 1 ha. With 1 sq. m. collect an average of 5-6 kg of carrots.
- Product specifications. Varieties of carrots may vary in color and shape of root crops.
- Carotene content. The more carotene, the more useful and brighter carrots. Usually, Russian varieties outperform their foreign counterparts in this indicator.
- Sweetness. Recommended for baby food, as well as for people who regularly work at the computer. They have a lot of carotene and sugars.
The sweetest varieties of carrots are Orange buddy, Children's joy, Karotan, Emperor, Nastena, Red damsel, Beloved.
Among carrots, there are also varieties of unusual color and shape:
- Carrots with white, yellow, red and purple root crops - respectively, Belgian White, Yellowstone Stone, Queen of the Autumn and Dragon.
- With small and round root crops - the Parisian carrot and the Baby Round.
- Without a core - Long Rote and Karotinka.
The conditions for growing carrots in the open field
Carrots can not be called a whimsical and demanding culture. But there are a number of conditions without which it is impossible to obtain the desired crop. Carrots will grow under almost any circumstances, but whether it will be large, tasty, still, filled with vitamins depends on the growing conditions.
Site Requirements
Carrots are grown on smooth, without slope, areas. Landing site requirements:
- Illumination Choose a well-lit area. With a lack of sunshine, carrots grow poorly - the tops are stunted, and the roots are tonic. The sun should fall on the site throughout the day. When shading, even temporary, yield decreases, the taste of root crops worsens.
- The soil. Loose neutral or slightly acidic soils are preferred (pH 6–7). Acidic and alkaline soils are strictly contraindicated. The culture grows best on loamy soils with a high sand content, or on sandy loamy soils. In dense loams, carrots grow shallow, rot during storage. When cultivating varieties with long root crops, deep plowing is necessary. The soil must be well aerated and moisture resistant. With high humidity and a lack of oxygen, carrots grow tasteless, the risk of fungal diseases increases.
- Predecessors. Carrots grow well after tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, garlic, potatoes, crops. You can not plant carrots immediately after dill, parsnip, caraway, fennel, parsley, carrots and all umbrellas.
- Neighbors. Carrot yield increases if peas, radishes, and tomatoes grow nearby.
Carrots are planted on the site no earlier than after 3-4 years. If you re-plant the crop in one place:
- Yields are falling.
- Commodity quality is deteriorating.
- The incidence is growing. Root crops and aerial parts are damaged by pests and diseases - alternariosis, carrot fly, aphids, nematodes and others.
Categorically not suitable for carrots areas:
- with a strong bias;
- we overgrown with a hole;
- on which unfavorable predecessors grew - especially tobacco and sunflower.
Preparing the soil for planting carrots
Site preparation begins in the fall. During the winter, all fertilizers and additives are absorbed and will give the maximum effect. The ideal soil for carrots is air- and moisture-permeable, loose and fertile, without rhizomes and stones.
Features of soil preparation for carrots:
- They dig the soil in the autumn, removing everything superfluous from it - stones, rhizomes, solid debris.
- Digging depth - 1.5 bayonet shovels. Large digging horizons allow root crops to grow inland. Deep digging also simplifies the harvesting of carrots - it is easier to pull out.
- If the soils are heavy loamy, peat or sand is added for autumn digging - 1 kg per 1 sq. Km. m
- Manure or humus contribute to excessively sandy soils.
- From the autumn, humus is added to low-fertile soils - 6-8 kg per 1 sq. Km. But you can add organic matter in the spring - before sowing.
- In autumn, chalk or lime is added to acidified soil - 1 glass per 1 sq. Km. m
- In spring, you can not dig up the soil - just loosen it and level it.
In loose soils, carrots grow even and beautiful, in dense soils - curved and deformed.
The amount of fertilizer applied to the soil depends on its type. So, for example, in clay soils, in addition to peat and sawdust, loosening their structure, per 1 square. m contribute per season:
- coarse sand - 0.5 buckets;
- humus or compost - 5 kg;
- wood ash - 300 g;
- lime - 500 g (for acidic soils);
- mineral fertilizers - 2 tbsp. l
Each type of soil has its own fertilizer recipe. Before applying fertilizers, it is necessary to determine the density and acidity of the soil. Gardeners have a lot of methods for determining these indicators - from popular signs to litmus papers.
Dates of planting carrots in open ground seeds
Sowing dates depend on the variety, climate and the purposes for which carrots are planted. The packaging usually shows information about the duration of maturation - they are oriented on it, calculating the timing of sowing.
When to sow carrots in the winter?
To get an early harvest of carrots - a few weeks earlier than the earliest carrots ripen, they are sown before winter. For this purpose, only early varieties are used. The best time for sowing is mid or late autumn. Pre-winter sowing is practiced mainly in regions with warm winters. If the winters are harsh, even a thick layer of covering material will not help - the seeds will freeze.
Autumn sowing is carried out taking into account the peculiarities of the local climate. It is necessary to guess so that after sowing there could no longer be any warming. If the seeds have time to hatch and rise before winter, they will be destroyed by frost, and there will be no seedlings in the spring. Sowing is recommended to move away - towards the very end of autumn.
For winter sowing, only winter-hardy and zoned varieties are suitable - for example, Moscow Winter carrots.
In autumn, seeds are sown when the soil temperature is below +5 ° C. The sowing depth is 2 cm. On top of the planting, they are mulched with humus - a layer of 3-4 cm. If there is insufficient snow cover, the plantings are covered with spruce - a layer of up to 0.5 m.
Planting carrots in spring in the open ground timeline
In central Russia, carrots are sown no earlier than the end of April - by this time the likelihood of night frosts becomes minimal.
The timing of sowing depends on the maturity:
- early varieties are sown on April 20-25;
- mid-ripening varieties are sown until May 5;
- later - from April 15 to June 1.
In the south of Russia, the dates are completely different, here you can sow early carrots from mid-March, and in mid-June you can sow carrots for a second crop. In July, only early varieties and hybrids are sown. Sowing should be done no later than July 20. In the spring, the seeds are sown as soon as possible - as soon as the soil warms up to + 8 ° C, during this period a good supply of moisture in the soil.
Lunar Calendar Dates
The lunar phases are associated with the movement of juices in plants. On a growing moon, the juices move up, on a waning - down, to the roots. Therefore, root crops, including carrots, are recommended to be planted on a waning moon.
Carrots, planted closer to the full moon, grows long, to the new moon - strong, thick, but shorter. Table 1 shows the favorable and unfavorable days for planting carrots according to the Lunar calendar for 2019.
Table 1
Month | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November |
auspicious days | 10-12, 15-17, 23-25, 27-30 | 2-9, 11-15, 24-27, 29-30 | 1-4, 12-14, 21-23 | 9-11, 18-20 | 25-31 | — | 17-19, 26, 27, 30 | 4-7, 15-17, 19-21, 23-25, 27 | 1-3 |
adverse days | 5, 6, 21 | 5, 19 | 5, 19 | 3, 4, 17 | 2, 3, 17 | 1, 5, 16, 30, 31 | 14, 15, 28, 29 | 14, 28 | 12, 13, 26, 27 |
Regional
The timing of planting carrots is adjusted for each region. We have to take into account climatic features - when the soil warms up, and when the return frosts stop. Table 2 - features and timing of planting carrots in different regions.
table 2
Region | Climate features | When to sow carrots? | Which varieties are suitable? |
The middle strip of Russia | Unstable spring. Snow is falling in March or April. After snowmelt, frosts are possible. | The best sowing time is the last decade of April. Landmark - flowering aspens and birches. Sowing for the second crop - June, autumn sowing - the end of October or the beginning of November. | Early, middle and late. |
Ural | Snow melt - mid or end of April. In the spring there can be frosts. Cool weather and rains can persist until the summer. | Planted in early May. In the summer - in June, in the fall - in October. | Early, middle and late. |
Siberia | Short summer. | Sowing after significant warming - usually in May. | Mid-ripe varieties are most suitable. |
Southern regions | Short winter. There is no sustainable snow cover. It is already snowing in February. | In the spring they sow as early as possible, in March - while the soil is moist. Summer planting - in May. Before winter, carrots are sown in late November. | Early, middle and late. |
Preparing carrot seeds for planting
Carrot seeds can “sit” in the soil for up to three weeks before sprouting. They contain essential oils that prevent swelling and prolong the germination time. To speed up germination, seeds are recommended to be processed before planting.
Carrot seeds retain high germination - 50-70% for 3-4 years.
Processing carrot seeds before planting
If purchased seeds are used - granular or glazed, they do not need to be processed. They have already undergone pre-treatment, are covered with a special nutrient layer, and they cannot be soaked - otherwise the shell will dissolve. Such seeds are sown dry.
If the seeds are bought from your own hands, or your own collection, they will have to be prepared:
- Sorting. Seeds are placed in brine for 5 minutes. The specimens that emerged to the surface are rejected - they are not viable.
- Heat treatment. Seeds are soaked in hot (50-60 ° C) water. After 20 minutes, they are transferred to cold water for 2-3 minutes.
- Treatment in a stimulator. The seeds that have passed the test are kept in matter dipped in a growth stimulator - in Zircon or Epin. The exposure time is 24 hours.
- Drying out. After soaking, the seeds are dried to a state of flowability and immediately sown.
We suggest you watch a video in which an experienced gardener will share the secrets of preparing carrot seeds for sowing:
Do I need to germinate carrot seeds?
To speed up germination, some gardeners do this:
- Lay out the seeds on moistened tissue. Maintain at a temperature from +20 to + 24 ° C.
- In 5-6 days, the seeds will swell. This is enough - the seeds should not germinate. If sprouts appear, they will be damaged during planting, and there will be no seedlings.
- Seeds are dried before planting to a state of flowability and sown immediately.
Ancient grandfather way:
- Seeds are poured into a linen bag.
- Bury in the early spring to a depth of 20-25 cm. The soil in this period should be moist, not warmed up.
- Seeds are kept in soil for two weeks. During this time, they swell and acquire increased immunity.
- Before sowing, a bag of seeds is removed from the ground. Seeds are laid out on paper or on fabric - for drying. When they dry - you can start sowing.
Sowing carrots in the ground
The beds, before sowing, are watered with hot water. It is advisable to dissolve Fitosporin in it. Then the soil is covered with a film - so that it retains moisture and warms up.
Distance between seeds
Carrot seeds are buried by 2-3 cm, having previously done shallow grooves - 2-3 cm deep. You can’t sow deeper - the seedlings are already protracted, will move even further. And if you sow less deeply, you can completely lose seedlings. The recommended interval between adjacent seeds is from 1 to 3 cm, the optimal distance is 2 cm.
The grooves in which the seeds are sown, watered, and then sprinkled:
- wood ash is a potash fertilizer;
- tobacco dust - it saves from pests.
Carrot seeds are very small, so sowing them is painstaking and slow. If you sow in a hurry and generously, then later you have to break through the carrots - the seed material is wasted. In addition, when thinning overly thickened plantings, thin shoots can be damaged.
The scheme of planting carrots in the open field
The scheme depends on the scale of landings:
- In industrial cultivation, carrots are planted in double rows, between them - 15-20 cm. Between adjacent ridges - 40-50 cm.
- At small scales, the width of the ridge is 1.3-1.5 m. Rows are made perpendicular to the long side of the bed. Due to the small width of the beds, the rows are conveniently weed, water and thin out from either side. The distance between the rows is 15-20 cm. On the edge of the beds make sides - so that water does not drain during irrigation.
Do I need to water the carrots after planting?
Sown seeds are covered with fertile soil and compacted with hands - to ensure good contact with the soil. Watering crops depends on the weather:
- Carrots are planted early, while the soil is still wet, and if it is damp and cool outside, then planting should not be watered.
- In warm sunny weather, a little watering is recommended. But this must be done carefully and moderately - so as not to provoke the formation of a crust. It is advisable to mulch the crops after irrigation, then the crust will not form exactly, and seedlings will easily break through to the surface.
To preserve moisture and accelerate the emergence of seedlings, the crops are covered with a film or spanbond. The latter is preferable - under the film it may turn out to be too hot, and the seedlings will burn out. As soon as the seedlings appear, the covering material is removed.
Light watering - sprinkling, repeat daily until seedlings appear. When the carrots rise, the aisles are loosened, and the watering is halved. Until the aisles close the tops, they are regularly loosened - so as not to overgrown with weeds.
How many seeds do carrots germinate?
Under favorable conditions - if the weather is warm and seeds are planted soaked, seedlings will appear in about a week. At temperatures less than + 12 ° C, the germination time is doubled - the first shoots will break through no earlier than two weeks.
Other types of planting
Thinning is one of the most difficult agrotechnical measures for growing carrots. In order not to waste seeds, and reduce the complexity of this agrotechnical procedure, gardeners came up with different methods of sowing.
The most convenient option is sowing with a mini seeder. These are machines that simplify sowing, make straight rows and maintain the interval between seeds. The disadvantage of this method is the high cost of the seeder. Gardeners have many ways of planting carrots that do not require special expenses, we will learn more about them.
Pellet sowing
The most convenient way to plant carrots. If you buy granular seeds, no tools are needed. The granules are covered with a nutrient shell, they are much larger than the seeds of carrots, so it is easier to spread them along the grooves.
The interval between adjacent granules is 5-7 cm. The seedlings will sprout together, and each carrot will be in its place - you will not have to thin out such plantings. The main thing is that all the seeds have sprouted, so you need to choose only reliable producers.
Sowing with sand
The easiest and most popular way to sow any small seeds is mixed with sand:
- The seeds prepared for sowing are mixed with fine-grained sand. How much sand to take - each gardener decides for himself what is more convenient for anyone. The main thing is that when sowing the seeds fall into the furrows with the required frequency. It is recommended to mix a dessert spoon of seeds with a liter of sand - it should be clean and dry. The ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
- The resulting mixture is sown in a dry or slightly moistened form - to whom it is more convenient. The mixture should be scattered over such an area for which the volume of seeds mixed with sand is calculated. During sowing carrot seeds are not visible - gardeners just sprinkle the sand mixture.
Using a paste
Sowing procedure with paste:
- A paste is prepared from starch - potato or corn, or from flour. It must be liquid. For 1 liter of cold water take 1 tbsp. l bulk product - flour or starch. The mixture is boiled, stirring. Bringing to a boil, turn off and cool to + 30 ° C.
- In a warm mixture, seeds are poured - in a thin stream. For 1 liter of paste - 1 pack of seeds. Stirring, pour the mixture into a watering can - pour it through the spout into the prepared furrows. The consumption of the mixture depends on what area the taken amount of seeds is designed for.
Watch the video, which shows how to sow carrots using paste (jelly):
Tape method
This is one of the most popular ways to plant carrots and other small-seed crops. You can use adhesive tape, but more often they take cheaper material - toilet paper. Tapes are prepared in advance - even in winter. Seeds are glued onto toilet paper. This lesson requires patience, but then landing is done in minutes.
Ribbon sowing procedure:
- To stick the seeds, a paste is cooked. Boric acid is added to it - 1 pinch per 1 liter of water.
- On a paper laid out on a table, a paste is dripped and the seeds are glued. The interval between the seeds is 2-2.5 cm. The length of the paper should be equal to the length of the beds.
- When the paste is dry, the paper is rolled up and stored until spring.
- The tape is laid in furrows with a depth of 3 cm. It is watered and sprinkled with soil.
Instead of paper, you can use napkins. In order for the method to bear fruit, you must have seeds with 100% germination, otherwise the plantings will be with spaces.
In the bag
This is a combined method in which the method of seed swelling and mixing them with any material is used. Seeding order:
- Seeds placed in a bag are dug in the spring in the ground for a couple of weeks - 15 cm deep.
- The swollen seeds are poured into a bowl and sand or paste is added to them. Sand can be replaced with starch - dry or liquid, then the seeds are not scattered, but spilled on the grooves.
By mouth
This is a specific way - "for an amateur":
- seeds are poured into a glass;
- fill them with water;
- mixed with a wooden stick;
- they collect water with seeds in their mouths and spit it out into the grooves.
In this way, they sowed carrots in the old days, today few people use this method. Water, which is filled with seeds, should not be higher than 30 ° C.
Sowing strainer
Another old way of sowing:
- seeds are poured into the tea strainer;
- pass along the beds, shaking the strainer over the grooves.
The strainer can be replaced with a colander, salt shaker or a plastic bottle with holes made. It is important that the size of the holes matches the size of the seeds, otherwise sowing will fail.
Sowing carrots with granules
Sowing carrots with sand
Sowing carrots with a paste
Tape method of sowing carrots
The method of planting carrots "in the bag"
Sowing carrots "from the mouth"
Sowing carrots with a strainer
Outdoor carrot care
In order for a large and beautiful carrot to grow, rich in vitamins and other useful substances, it must be looked after throughout the growing season - water, loosen, feed, if necessary, thin out.
Thinning
For root crops to grow large, they need to provide them with space for growth. If planting is not thinned in time, carrots will grow thin, and some plants will not form root crops at all.
Thinning Dates:
- The first time the plantings are thinned out as soon as the sprouts have two true leaves. Ruthlessly tear out all the excess carrots. Between adjacent plants should be 2-3 cm.
- The second and last time the carrots are thinned out after a month - the tops by this time should grow to about 10 cm in height.
The plants for the second thinning are quite large, it is easier to pull them out with your hands, without any adaptations. Now the distance between neighboring plants should be 5-7 cm. If the variety has cylindrical root crops, then the intervals leave less, if conical - more.
How to thin out carrots:
- Manually. They dig in unnecessary shoots carefully - the movement should be directed perpendicular to the surface. It is important not to damage the plants that remain to grow.
- Scissors. Using tools, they tear out weak, short and thin plants. Instead of scissors, you can use garden tweezers - it is suitable for both the first and second thinning. To make plants easier to extract from the ground, it is moistened before thinning. The method requires patience - each plant must be grabbed with tweezers and gently pulled out.
In addition to thinning, shoots have to be weeded. Seeds germinate for a long time, and weeds grow quickly, and when young plants appear, they are mixed with weed vegetation. The seedlings are so small that weeds can be removed only by hand - you can’t work here with a chopper.
Torn surpluses on the beds do not leave - their smell immediately flies carrot fly. All torn plants must be collected and taken to compost. They can not be transplanted - torn carrots take root poorly, and if they grow in a new place, they give branching root crops. The soil after pulling out is rammed - so that the insects do not lay eggs in the soil.
Thinning carrots in the afternoon, in the evening, the carrot fly actively flies to the smell of torn carrots.
Watering carrots
Not only the size of root crops depends on watering, but also their taste, juiciness and sweetness. Carrots are watered throughout the growing season. The soil is moistened to a depth corresponding to the estimated length of the root crop — about 30 cm. If moisture is not enough, the root crops will be sluggish and the aftertaste will be bitter.
Features of watering:
- Moisturizing is especially important at the initial stage of the growing season - as long as the plant has a weak root system. As it grows, the frequency of watering decreases. After irrigation, the aisles are loosened, simultaneously weeding the weeds.
- Frequency of watering - every 3-4 days.
- Irrigation rate - 30-40 liters per 1 square. Root crops of medium size are enough 10-20 liters per 1 square. m
- At the end of the growing season, 10 liters per 1 square meter is enough. Frequency of watering - once every 1.5-2 weeks.
- 2 weeks before harvesting, watering is stopped.
If moisture changes occur - from the drying out of the soil to an excess of moisture, root crops crack, their keeping quality deteriorates. Irregular watering - violation of norms and frequency, leads to deformation of carrots - it grows curve, with a large number of small and thin roots along the entire length of the root crop.
Top dressing
During cultivation, carrots should be fed two to three times. From the timeliness of fertilizer application, and the correctness of their composition depends on the development and immunity of plants, commercial quality and keeping root crops. The periods and composition of top dressing are in table 3.
Table 3
Top dressing period | Composition |
The phase of formation of 2-3 true leaves. The first thinning. | Fertilizers are preferably applied in liquid form. 30 g of superphosphate, the same amount of potassium salt and 25 g of saltpeter are taken in a bucket of water. The volume is designed for 10 square meters. m beds. The second option is a diluted bird droppings (1:15). |
3 weeks after the first feeding | Similar to the first top dressing. The goal is to increase root crops. |
3 weeks after the second feeding | Nitrogen is excluded from the composition. For 10 l - 40 g of superphosphate, 25 potassium salt. |
If the carrots are stunted, it is recommended to pour it with complex mixtures - for example, Kristallon - 1 tbsp. l of the drug. You can also feed carrots Kemira, Nitrofoskoy, Mortar. The next time the dose of the drug is increased by 1.5-2 times.
To get a large and good carrot, after July 15, it is not fed with nitrogen fertilizers.
Feeding rules:
- Before applying fertilizer, the beds are watered.
- The last top dressing is carried out a month before harvesting. This reduces the nitrate content in root crops, adds sweetness and juiciness to them, and improves keeping quality.
Diseases and pests of carrots
Carrots are a little ill crop. Of the diseases most often found are phomosis and alternariosis. To prevent, or at least significantly reduce, the risk of developing diseases, it is enough to process carrot beds with Bordeaux liquid 1%. The main pests and the most common carrot diseases are described in tables 4 and 5.
Table 4
Pests | Signs of defeat | How to fight? |
Carrot leaf | Small jumping insects lay eggs on the leaves. Larvae, sucking at the base of the leaves, weaken the plant. Root crops grow small and bitter. Possible death of plants. Insects, eating a plant, let in poisonous saliva, causing biochemical changes. | Spraying with insecticides - Borea, Vantex, Alatar and others. Isolation from coniferous plantings. |
Carrot fly | Larvae are worm-shaped, up to 7 mm long. Having penetrated into the root crop, they eat up moves in it, this often causes decay. | They observe crop rotation, select stable varieties, apply autumn plowing, harvest wild umbrella plants, planting marigolds. The use of covering non-woven material - to prevent the laying of eggs by a fly. |
Gall nematode | Small white worms (up to 1.5 mm) damage the roots of the plant. Develop in damp and warm. Affected root crops are not suitable for consumption. | Watering the soil with Decaris solution |
Medvedka | A large insect (5 cm long) bites its roots and stems. | Vinegar diluted in water is poured into burrows, a rag soaked in camphor oil is laid. Apply insecticides. |
Wireworm | Beetle larvae (3 cm long) gnaw root crops. | Ammonia-containing fertilizers are introduced. Sprayed with Bazudin and Actara. |
Naked slug | Eats holes in root crops. Actively develop in high humidity. | Application of superphosphate, spraying with 10% salt solution. |
Carrot leaf
Carrot fly
Gall nematode
Medvedka
Wireworm
Naked slug
Table 5
Disease | Symptoms | How to fight? |
Phomosis (dry rot) | On the leaves and petioles - gray-brown spots. Next, the fungus affects the roots. | Removing plant debris. The introduction of phosphate-potassium fertilizers. |
White rot | A fungal disease affects root crops during storage. | The introduction of an increased dose of potassium (1.5 tbsp. L. Potassium sulfate per 10 l of water). Treatment with copper-containing preparations. Basement disinfection with sulfuric saber. |
Bacteriosis | Bacteria infect the leaves - they turn yellow, and then the disease infects the roots. | Seed dressing in hot water. Spraying with Hom 3 weeks after emergence (for 10 l - 40 g) |
Gray rot | Fungus that affects root crops during storage. | The introduction of nitrogen fertilizers, spraying Bordeaux liquid 1%. Store carrots at + 2 ° C. |
Brown spotting | The appearance of brown spots in the lower part of the stem. | Treatment with nettle or horsetail infusion. |
Alternariosis (black rot) | It affects carrots at all stages of the growing season. It is expressed in the blackening of the stem. A disease can destroy the entire crop. | Spraying with Rowral. |
Phomosis carrots
White rot on carrots
Carrot bacteriosis
Gray rot on carrots
Brown spotting on carrot leaves
Alternaria carrots
Harvesting Carrots
In central Russia, carrots are usually picked after October 10. When leaves turn yellow in carrots, it's time to harvest. Cleaning is recommended on a waning moon.
The procedure for cleaning and storage:
- The extracted root crops are cleared of the earth. They can not be washed and wiped with rags - you can damage the thin skin.
- The root crop is dried in the sun. If the weather is rainy, then carrots are moved to a well-ventilated area. The dried root crops are cut off the tops.
- The tops of the greenish color are cut off - solanine is present in them, carrots become bitter during storage. Sections are disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate. After waiting a few days - so that the cut-off place is pulled over with a crust, the root crops are transferred to the basement for storage. There is such a storage option - cutting off the tops of root crops. If you cut the upper kidney, the carrots do not germinate, it remains fresh.
- Carrots are stored at a temperature of + 1 ° C and at a humidity of 90–95%.
- Do not store carrots in sealed containers. If carrots are put in plastic bags, holes are made in them.
- Before laying for storage, root crops are dipped in a clay mash, dried and laid in storage.
- Another storage option - carrots are laid in boxes, shifting layers with moss. Boxes are covered with tarpaulin.
If you approach the issue of sowing correctly, there is nothing complicated in growing carrots. Thanks to the original ideas of gardeners, you can skip the thinning stage and significantly simplify the agricultural technology of this root crop.
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