Topic: Storage of carrots

[thomasb]

Hi All,
I am wondering about the best way for storing of carrots.  Can one leave them in the ground for another month...or 2?

Thanks in advance,
Thomas

[Hugh_Jones]

Depends on the variety.  I grow Senior (Unwins) and Autumn King, and leave them both in the ground until they are wanted.  They both stand over perfectly well until March.  However I do keep them covered with horticultural mesh (which keeps a lot of the frost off them and makes them easy to find and dig when there`s a foot of snow), and to keep the slugs away I water the bed with coffee in early October.

[Mrs Ava]

Does the coffee really work Hugh?  Or do you like coffee flavoured  carrots?  ;D

[Hugh_Jones]

The coffee really works. One good dousing keeps the slugs away for up to 2 months, depending on the rainfall.

[Ceri]

I'm fascinated by the coffee slug repellant - can you give us the 'recipe' - how strong, how much, ground/instant - do you water the surrounding area with the coffee, or right over the veg itself?

[Hugh_Jones]

Two or three months ago I posted a long message on the Beeb Boards (I think it was the allotment board) describing my own experimentation with coffee on slugs with regard to carrot growing.  Unfortunately I didn`t save a copy, but the original may still be available on Beeb.

The coffee is simply the cheapest instant available mixed at drinking strength - about 50 gms to 2 gallons of water.  I found the most effective method was to soak the carrot bed and its surroundings some weeks before sowing to drive out the slugs, and then to water the coffee around the bed (rather than on it) thereafter - more than one dose of coffee on the actual seed bed did tend to inhibit growth.  Once the carrots have finished growing and are ready for harvesting it is quite safe to soak the crop itself.

I would add that the coffee at drinking strength does not kill the slugs, but they cannot stand it and will not go into or across soil which has been so treated, so once you have cleared the seed bed it is only necessary to keep treating around the edges to stop then getting back.

If you actually want to KILL the slugs, you need a solution of around 2%, but not many plants will stand up to that concentration.

Of course, under Directive 98/8 of our European Masters, the use of coffee, along with garlic solutions, rhubarb leaf concoctions, bicarb of soda, milk, urine etc as either insecticides, fungicides or biocides is now strictly forbidden, so if you use any of these you may well get a visit from the Inspectors from DEFRA (the Department for the Eradication of Farming and Rural Activities) as our beloved Prime Minister does his best to outshine all other Europeans in enforcing their barmy regulations

[Ceri]

Thanks for the info - obviously I won't be trying it as its against all regulations - but I drink a lot of coffee and take a huge flaskful to the lottie so I must be careful not to spill it anywhere on the plot.  Like your definition of the defra acronym!