Daucus carota (Apiaceae, Umbellifer) wortel
| J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D | Dist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| early | c | c c c c | c c c c | h h | h h h h | 15 x 3 | |||||||
| summer | s | s s s s | s s s s | s s s s | s s s s/h | h h h h | h h h h | h h h h | h h h | 20 x 4 | |||
| late | s s | s s s s | s s | h h h h | h h h h | h h | 30 x 6 | ||||||
| s: Sowing in open ground – c: sowing in coldframe – i: sowing indoors – p: sowing in polytunnel – PL: plant -h: harvest – distance (between the row x In the row) in centimeters | |||||||||||||
Varieties that do well on Erraid are:
- Amsterdam Forcing 3 Early Excellent
- Amsterdam Forcing 2 Early
- Charisma Early
- Berlikumer Late Good
- Autumn King Main crop Excellent
- Topweight Good
- Flyaway F1 Partial Fly resistance, average taste
Fertilization
Carrots do not like fresh organic fertilizer. Semi-digested compost will attract the carrot fly. Carrots need a PH of 6 and love potassium, so adding ashes is a good idea.
Care during growth
It is important that the carrots get enough water. A deficit in the beginning period will result in tough fibrous carrots. However, wet soil attracts the carrot fly and therefore try to limit watering as much as possible. Thinning and weeding the carrots is needed, however try to limit as much as possible, because by thinning you attract the carrot fly.
Harvest
For the early harvest: leave the foliage, for the late harvest pull it off. Don’t leave the early carrots too long in the ground, it will attract the carrot fly. You have to harvest the winter carrots before the frost arrives.
Storage and preservation
You can store the carrots in the ground. Dig a hole, apply a layer of straw, fill with a layer of carrots. Cover with straw and 10 centimeters soil. You can also burry them in the cold frames.
Another proven method is to store the carrots in a big box. First put a layer of fine sand, add the carrots, sand, carrots etc.
A third method (if not too wet a winter) is to leave them in the ground, remove the foliage and cover with a thick layer of leaves or straw cover with plastic and a new layer of straw or leaves. Beware of hungry mice!
More tips & tricks
- If you grow under glass it is worthwhile to bring plastic or glass in place a few weeks before sowing to enable the soil to dry and warm.
- For continuous harvest sow every other month.
- Between two carrot cultivations you need 4 years. Avoid cultivating them on the same place where you grew umbellifers the year before.
- The weeds grow faster than the carrots, so it can be worthwhile to mark the row with two sticks, so you at least know where nót to weed.
- I am going to try the egg tray method as shown in below video this year. Since I do not have coconut substrate I will make a mix with biochar.
- My friends
- My enemies
Diary
