Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: PJW_Letchworth on June 17, 2008, 10:14:37
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Why, oh why do I bother every year to try and grow carrots? I try a different variety every year, and every year I end up with very sparse germination and those that do survive would be perfect for the rabbit if I had one!
What am I doing wrong? The seed beds are well dug with as many stones removed as possible. I dig compost from the heap into the bed. I sow by opening a wide shallow drill, scatter the seeds then lightly covering. I've tried covering this with fleece, not covering it with fleece, always different areas of the plot. I've even tried saying prayers to the allotment-gods! :o
Any ideas what's going wrong? I almost long for a problem carrot root fly!
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grow them in pots, completely stress-free gardening
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i belive they like light soil so have you tried mixing sand in with the soil?
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always a good idea to wet the soil first and possibly you are sowing just a bit too thinly - keep trying, still time to sow :)
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I had the same problem year on year. 1% germination if I was lucky. This year I have sown carrots in 9 black buckets of multipurpose compost over 3 successional sowings. Varieties were 'Early Nantes', then 'Flyaway'. All are thriving with large green leafy carrot tops. Will be sticking with this method from now on for my carrots. I intend to sow 'Autumn King 2' in August for a winter crop.
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i find with pots, you can sow quite alot and just dont thin them and have many baby carrots ;D
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Reading this, I feel quite chuffed thus far !
1st year on my allotment, thinly sowed some seeds and they have grown to about 3" high already. Nicely spaced with few gaps so good germination.
Not had to thin out and sprinkled some chopped up satsuma skins around them to discourage carrot fly. Mind you, pride comes before a fall so I'll probably be back on here in a week moaning that the dreaded carrot fly has visited !
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Not had to thin out and sprinkled some chopped up satsuma skins around them to discourage carrot fly.
Never heard of this before. Keep us informed if it works...... ;)
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I've never had any success before, but have done two lots in dustbins this year and they are looking good so far.
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A few years ago I was in Tunisia and on a visit to the local market I saw the most amazingly large and most perfect carrots that I have ever seen. Piles and piles of them. This led me to think that I had been doing things wrong on my plot because I never really was very succesful with carrots. And obviously the carrots in Tunisia had been grown in sand.
Now I do it like this and have much better carrots: It's important that the bed hasn't been manured or fertilised beforehand - and so I don't use compost earth, nor do I water. I make sure the top few inches are really soft and airy, then I score a not very deep channel in the earth with the hoe. Sow the seeds as carefully as possible - expecting to have to thin out - and then cover the row thinly with loose dry soil.
That's it. What I don't do is water. If you water, the top soil hardens and the carrot seeds get into difficulties - I then wait for rain and it works for me. I never add any sort of fertiliser to carrots.
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1st year on my allotment, thinly sowed some seeds and they have grown to about 3" high already. Nicely spaced with few gaps so good germination.
You can go off some people! ;D Well done, you have every right to be chuffed. I think I'll sow some more in the plot but just to save face, I'll sow some in a deep pot and keep them in the back garden.
Would it be an idea to make a wide but deeper drill then put fresh multi purpose compost, sow in the compost and then cover? I'm just a concious the soil on the plot does cap very easily even though it is not full of clay. ::)
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I have had poor germination with my 1st two sowings - I presumed it was a slug/snail attack.
Planted Chatenay last year and they were great - will prob go back to them.
Early Nantes and another early this year - pah!
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Well, I've tried four lots in pots so far, and none has come to anything, so am going to try some direct on the plot - one of my neighbours has carrots to die for - no protection etc or anything.
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I have had most of the problems with carrots that have been mentioned. this year-I`ve got some in a raised bed (just compost in it. Some in a dustbin, mixed soild and compost. Some in a row in the ground. So far so good they all seem O.K I suppose they will all come up so I still won`t know which is the best way. I let you know. Orelse.
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hiya, orelse, welcome to the site ;D
we grow ours in raised beds, too, 12 to 18" high, had some lovely ones this week :)
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Not had to thin out and sprinkled some chopped up satsuma skins around them to discourage carrot fly.
Never heard of this before. Keep us informed if it works...... ;)
Just something I saw on a website, on here or in a book - forget where exactly as you pick up so many bits of info. Fingers crossed it works !
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I'm growing Early Nantes and Parmex in containers. Last year I didn't have any success at all, but this year everything is going really well. They're at the 'baby' stage at the moment. I could dig them up and have a nice plateful of small carrots, but I'm waiting for them to get a bit bigger.
I mixed a good amount of sand into multi-purpose compost. Apparently, carrots like good drainage.
Jo.
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I am going to try some of these ideas. I have now sown 6 different lots of different types of carrots (lots) in lovely light compost in raised beds and how many carrots do I have? Precisely 3!
These are very spaced out so that I have to use a wide bit of fleece to prevent root fly on these 3 carrots (I am determined they will grow big and strong and tasty). Now where do I get those black buckets from again...?
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Now where do I get those black buckets from again...?
Hmmm, sore point with me. There's none around here ::)
Jo.
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I'm growing Early Nantes and Parmex in containers.
Jo.
I planted Parmex in a container in February - they should be ready by now, but the 3 i have pulled are barely a few millimeters' thick....
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I'm growing Early Nantes and Parmex in containers.
Jo.
I planted Parmex in a container in February - they should be ready by now, but the 3 i have pulled are barely a few millimeters' thick....
Mine were planted 19/04/08 and won't be long before they're ready.
Jo.
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I have mine in large containers. I started them off in the greenhouse and then when the weather became warmer, I moved them outside. They have foliage about 1 ft tall now but the roots are not very big yet. I put the containers on upturned pots about 3 ft off the ground, so hopefully the carrot fly will not get to them.
I also have a large pot full of parsnips. Most of my plots are full of nettles so until we can clear them I decided to put as much as possible in pots so we don't miss out on fresh vegetables this year.
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Oh Im glad to see its not just me who cant seem to get the carrotts to germinate lol and I have sandy soil!!!
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Now where do I get those black buckets from again...?
Morrisons supermarkets sell them. 8 for £1
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Maybe you're pampering them too much? ???
I used to grow Autumn King in my london clay with regular success. Dig it over, rake the top, errr, rakesworth of soil so it's fairly fine, heavily oversow them (on purpose of course, nothing to do with my stupid fat fingers ;D ) a good drenching once a week in dry spells and leave them to it.
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For years and years I had no sucess with carrots. Then read on here a few years back, to wet the soil, sow them, cover with multi purpose compost, if non organic sprinkle with slug pellets & cover with fleece.
Is working for me! ;D ;D
I was organic for 8 years, but the slugs got the better of me last year! And they DEFINATELY love carrot seedlings! ;)
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Since I live in blooming Nantes, you would think that carrots would be easy ;D ;D ;D ;D
WRONG!
I too have terrible trouble growing them. The old timers here grow them in a mix that has about 50 % sand. I have tried that this year, it's better but not a complete success. I haven't got room for buckets so when I rip out the beans stems on the weekend, I will try making drills and filling them with sand+ compost, watering that till soaking, sowing then lightly covering with sandy compost again and just wait. I am hoping that by planting them in an area that has already been used, the aerated soil will please them better.
It will be the last sowing of teh year and I would just love to have some carrots in the autumn.
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I'm on a mission now to try and grow mine in the greenhouse first time ever. I'll let you all know how I got on. Right I'm off to willkinson and woollies for carrot seeds.
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thinking of trying the all yr round mix from victoriana nursery, 2000 seeds for 2.60
www.victoriananursery.co.uk
says you can sow june, july and august so I'm going to try them :)
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Well I totally sympathise! I have a clay bed of an allotment and struggled to get any carrots until I hit on an idea - spent compost. I dig a shallow trench with a hoe and fill it full of compost. Then I sow the carrot seed densely and don't bother thinning. That way I usually get a decent crop.
Alternatively or as well I sow seed in a big pot in the greenhouse in Feb and get an early crop of finger carrots. Amsterdam Forcing is a good variety for that.
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Another vote for spent compost here. Also used with parsnips to start off in paper pots.
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we got some from b and q value carrots early nante just for a laugh didn't expect them to grow as was so cheap 100 % germination so it just goes to show buy cheap seeds lol
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I am eating finger carrots now, sown in December.. they are all coming out as soon as the judges have been round, because some are going to seed. Then some Autumn King are going in to eat at the end of the year...
Carrots in January are best though...
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/CarrotsJan.jpg)
These are some Autumn King from my raised bed..
(http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e190/Plot52/DSCN1924.jpg)
I also had loads... ( three carrier bags full at the start of the season...) but the fly and slugs were getting into them so they got souped.. the aim now is to have carrots all year round... ;D
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Incredibly poor germination this year from 2 sowings against terrific crops last year.
Will try with Eskimo this week for an Autumn/Winter crop.
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Incredibly poor germination this year from 2 sowings against terrific crops last year.
Will try with Eskimo this week for an Autumn/Winter crop.
May I enquire as to whether you planted from the same seed?
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When I grow carrots, I eat the green stuff growing above the ground and throw away the orange bit full of maggots away - I buy the orange bit from the supermarkets - they are fantastic.
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I hear what PJW Letchworth says on a regular basis on our site. I believe they all have a problem because they make the same mistakes year in year out. 1st they set too early I set at the end of April but only if the soil is warm enough. 2nd they think it is poor germination whilst in all probability it is slugs hovering up the tender shoots as soon as they appear. I set and immediately put slug pellets down. 3rd they do not cover their crops well enough using flimsy fleece which blows away or rises off the ground as the carrots grow. a carrot flies delight. I use Veggie mesh over a tunnel which is well strengthened with canes and is high enough for me to crawl under to weed but only once. I never water them it is a waste of time on my plot.
I have 4 rows of Sugarsnak and 3 of Flakee which seeds were 2014 and all good germination with the tops being about 12" . I have started pulling a few but I do have one problem the ground is currently too hard to get them out of the ground as both varieties are long main crop carrots. I think next year I will look for a shorter variety and perhaps try pelleted seeds to cut down on the thinning.
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I agree about the timing I sowed my last packet yesterday and covered them with environmesh.
This year I am having a go with 'taped' seeds where. I am doing 50% loose red and 50% taped.
Up to press they seem fairly comparable let's see what the harvest will be like.
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I normally do ok in my raised beds, but this year it's poor, three carrots from three rows and no parsnips at all. I blame the prolonged dry periods, I didn't water enough. I've down spring onions now instead, they are coming up fine!
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I used carrot tape in one of my raised beds no problem and in greenhouse between sweet peppers have thrown a packet of carrots into a bed that were really out of date and have loads popping up. Last 2 years not managed to grow one !
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Do they have much sunlight?
I also try every year without much success but this year I decided to grow them in pots.
I had two pots, both situated in different areas. One in an area that gets both sun and shade (I'll be lucky to get 6 carrots!!), and the other in a sun trap area (the pot is bursting with carrots, so much so that I'm going to have to this them out).
I'm no expert when it comes to carrots, but worth a try??
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I love carrots and home grown ones taste so much better than supermarket ones. Also the smell!!
But on London clay with a massive slug problem and carrot fly they can prove very hard.
However I seem to have done ok this year.
The clay issue I deal with by making specially raised carrot beds full of spent compost, sand, coir or whatever I can get that isn't too high in ferts..
Germination - I go late - May probably but my ex farmer buddy leaves it to June. His all came up in a week! Water every day if it doesn't rain.
Slugs - well I still lost loads to slugs but beer traps in the carrot bed helped.
Fly - I grow behind mesh. They still get in but no many..
Had some decent thinnings yesterday - yum.
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So how did your carrots turn out?
These were sown 1st week of June, directly into raised no-dig bed following Brussels sprouts.
First picture is start of row, showing bed profile 24/08 August
Second id from the mid row, Mid Sept
Variety Giant Red -realseeds
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I have never been successful with carrots but I try every year, and have to admit that I have a good crop so far this year I still have quite a lot in at the moment which look quite healthy so not sure when to harvest them and wonder if I can leave them in and dig some out as and when needed
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Last year I sowed some on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year, and they were brilliant, they germinated within hours>
I sowed some on a very hot day late July this year and again up they sprung and they are now ready eating the thinnings. Have had to do a lot of watering.
I let some go to seed so I could save it, and they are germinating all over the place>