Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: rowlandwells on July 17, 2020, 08:56
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apart from peas I'm not having much success with growing carrots this season i like to grow pelleted seed because it makes sowings easy and not so much gapping is needed I have two problems one being the carrot fly and the other stones
i know some gardeners used to sow there carrots in a ridge maybe that could be worth trying next season I've have seen commercial growers lifting there carrot crops and apart from size there perfect no carrot fly and no carrot fly nets in sight and they also winter harvest carrots
how do you grow your carrots do you have good results or is it hit and miss
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The only time I've ever grown good carrots, was years ago ::)
I sowed Autumn King in a bed, newly filled with bagged compost 6 inches deep, on top of the garden soil and covered with enviromesh :D
I've never managed to repeat that success, either in the garden or on the plot....
Farmers use chemicals to stop weeds and pests :( https://www.fwi.co.uk/arable/whats-involved-growing-successful-carrot-crop
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I always find carrots a bit hit and miss. This year i planted two large containers up (approx 18 inches deep) with a mix of soil, compost and leaf mold, sowed the carrot seed in February and kept the pots in the polytunnel until March. The carrots have been amazing, even without thinning them out. I have been harvesting 6-8 decent sized carrots out of each container for the last 2 months and still have about half as many again. Will definitely be doing this again. Both lots of seed from Premier seeds direct, Solar Yellow and Deep Purple. The Deep Purple and bigger than the yellow but both tasty.
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Like Plot 94, we now grow them in buckets, about 2'6" off the ground, in a watering tray.
No fly as yet, one or two boltings, but fingers crossed for a bumper yield on just three buckets of home compost and some nice new stuff...
Might develop this next year, and do five buckets, but need to re-organise the space we have now...
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How can you tell when they're ready to lift. Is it just a case of scraping away some soil to see if there's a carrot formed?
The foliage is very lush but knowing my luck there won't be any carrot :D
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How can you tell when they're ready to lift. Is it just a case of scraping away some soil to see if there's a carrot formed?
The foliage is very lush but knowing my luck there won't be any carrot :D
Yes, a good old furtle is the best way to see how they're doing without actually pulling one.
For anyone growing things (not just carrots) in buckets or pots there are some useful sowing templates here https://abarothsworld.com/Garden/GardenTemplates.htm (https://abarothsworld.com/Garden/GardenTemplates.htm) For carrots in buckets I just scatter sow as thinly as possible and leave them to get on with it!
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ost of my carrots have had the leaves eaten by rats or mice they are covered with a scaffold netting cage .anyone else had this problem?i have never had it before.
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Yes, a good old furtle is the best way to see how they're doing without actually pulling one.
For anyone growing things (not just carrots) in buckets or pots there are some useful sowing templates here https://abarothsworld.com/Garden/GardenTemplates.htm (https://abarothsworld.com/Garden/GardenTemplates.htm) For carrots in buckets I just scatter sow as thinly as possible and leave them to get on with it!
Thanks, that's useful.
ost of my carrots have had the leaves eaten by rats or mice they are covered with a scaffold netting cage .anyone else had this problem?i have never had it before.
My first tubs were dug up by badgers, or foxes, twice. :mad:
They are now residing inside the cage I built to protect our cherries from squirrel nutkin. The cherries have finished, nutkin didn't get any :lol: but I've left the cage up for the carrots.
This is my third sowing :mad:
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I found growing in half barrels at home avoided the fly, but growing in similar at the plot still got fly. Maybe due to the much higher prevalence of mature carrot fly on an allotment site. I’ve resorted to sowing inside enviromesh netting alongside my brassica this year and so far, so good :)
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that makes interesting reading Mum and it seems most gardeners are turning to growing carrots in drums or boxes my wife had better results than me growing her carrots in a plastic drum
but not to beaten and having read the the farmer weekly info you sent Mum I'm thinking about trying something new for growing my carrots next year in ridges yes ridges cultivate the ground rake to a fine tilth then ridge up the ground like one would ridge up ones potatoes
make a hole in the top of ridge fill it with compost or peat sowing 1 or 2 pelleted seed per station then cover the ridges with veggiemesh i know its going to take a little more time to do this method but i mite even get a crop of carrots you never know its either that or buy a bag of horse carrots :D
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That's an interesting call, Rowland...
I've actually watched a carrot fly try and get through some mesh, and it doesn't give up easily!
If a farmer relies on this method, then who can query such a chap whose livelihood depends on a decent crop, so 'goferit', and let us know how you get on!
As we've often mentioned here, carrots in buckets high up are pretty good, but never fool-proof, as gusts of wind etc can easily lift the blighters up a few inches more than they want to jump, and they're away!
Touch wood and whistle (peeep), our buckets are OK so far...
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Carrots should not be hit or miss. Growing good carrots from seed requires finely raked, well-dug soil with all stones removed and following germination, weeds removed carefully without disrupting the tiny carrot plants, regular watering and covering with a fine mesh if you wish to prevent the dreaded carrot root fly from causing its traditional damage. Carrot fly is probably endemic in many allotments and the required quality of mesh is fairly expensive, but you have to make a judgment as to whether you think it worthwhile or are willing to take a "calculated" risk. Lidl has very cheap, reliable seed at around 20p a packet so the seed element is extremely cheap which may counter the expensive capital cost of the mesh. Farms produce massive yields of carrots probably with the excessive use of superphosphate fertiliser.
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I’ve grown carrots for the first time this year both at the allotment and in containers at home with decent success.
The carrots I’ve grown at home were called Romance are in containers well above ground level so no worries with carrot root fly. I pulled one of these this morning and they’re looking good (pic attached). I mixed some superphosphate, fish blood and bone and grow more with the compost before planting.
At the allotment I was wary of carrot root fly so used a resistant variety (Flyaway) and covered with horticultural fleece to be double sure. I’ve covered all of my beds in membrane to suppress the weeds (as my allotment was basically a meadow last year when I got it) and have burned nice round holes in the plastic for planting with a template and a blowtorch. In order to deal with the possibility of the carrots encountering a stone in the soil, I drove a metal bar about 3 feet deep into the soil in each hole in the membrane and wiggled it around until I had a nice conical shaped hole. I then back filled each hole with compost mixed with superphosphate and fish blood and bone and then planted my carrot seeds. I did the same (with much deeper holes) for my parsnips.
I pulled a carrot from the allotment on Saturday to have a look and I’m really happy with the results. I’ve got perfect shaped carrots there with no root fly damage, but the flavour isn’t as good as the ones I’ve got a home. However this may be due to the variety I think being root fly resistant.
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i hold my hand up to you CSChris89 you've done so well and what results you've had with your carrot crop I keep telling myself to use an iron bar because so many gardeners have told me to try that way and i never gave using membrane a thought but its in my gardening dairy to try that method next season for both parsnips and carrot crops also using veggiemesh as a ground cover
not forgetting to use plenty of superphosphate and compost that should really do the trick as i said in will be using pelleted seed and I've already been looking at a nates variety called Mercurio which is said to have a high level of bolting tolerance its commercial growers choice for bunching
very good reply and well worth trying many thanks for that info RW
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I'm glad i'm not the only one who's carrots haven't come up, i've sown 3 pkts the last pkt i have a few coming
now, next year i shall give it a miss the first year was great.
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maybe we should follow the advise given by CSChris89 who seems to be having good results from his method something i think is going to worth trying for me next season
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Carrots should not be hit or miss. Growing good carrots from seed requires finely raked, well-dug soil with all stones removed and following germination, weeds removed carefully without disrupting the tiny carrot plants, regular watering and covering with a fine mesh if you wish to prevent the dreaded carrot root fly from causing its traditional damage. Carrot fly is probably endemic in many allotments and the required quality of mesh is fairly expensive, but you have to make a judgment as to whether you think it worthwhile or are willing to take a "calculated" risk. Lidl has very cheap, reliable seed at around 20p a packet so the seed element is extremely cheap which may counter the expensive capital cost of the mesh. Farms produce massive yields of carrots probably with the excessive use of superphosphate fertiliser.
How do you grow carrots in an no-dig system or on heavy clay?
My problem with carrots grown in the soil (not raised beds) is I don't even get seedlings. It is as if they don't germinate at all, or they get eaten immediately they sprout. I've tried digging a furrow, filling with multipuropse compost and sowing into that, same result.
This year, I scattered a couple of pinches of seeds in the greenhouse raised bed in February and I've had a good crop from mid spring to early summer. If I had sown half the bed with seeds I could have been self sufficient all year.
I'm thinking of building a small dedicated raised bed for carrots next year.
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i think that's a good idea a178 we had a good crop of carrots when we grew carrots in our raised bed a couple of years ago not had an decent carrots since then
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I decided today to have a furtle and pulled up a carrot, based on the foliage, nothing else.
The top of the carrot was very small but I went ahead anyway.
What went wrong?
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I decided today to have a furtle and pulled up a carrot, based on the foliage, nothing else.
The top of the carrot was very small but I went ahead anyway.
What went wrong?
I'd say just simply too early.
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I'd say just simply too early.
I'd say you're absolutely right.
I had a rummage in my seed tin for the packet.
It says Autumn King :lol: :lol:
I am a dolt :lol: :lol:
I will continue to feed them with maxicrop unless there is something else I should be doing.
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I've found growing carrots in the ground a total disaster. However, growing in deep window boxes with stone free compost and powdered volcanic rock a different story altogether. An advantage is that you can put those containers higher up, and anyway, following Month's advice, I no longer thin my carrots.
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I've found growing carrots in the ground a total disaster. However, growing in deep window boxes with stone free compost and powdered volcanic rock a different story altogether. An advantage is that you can put those containers higher up, and anyway, following Month's advice, I no longer thin my carrots.
Mine are in a tub, 3rd time of sowing, others were dug up. Interesting about the volcanic rock, that's definitely something to try next year, thanks.
The foliage on mine is hanging down somewhat, should I try and tie it up. Maybe a string belt around them all?
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Isn't it that if you start messing around with foliage, for example by inadveredly breaking it, you'll attract carrot fly?
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Isn't it that if you start messing around with foliage, for example by inadveredly breaking it, you'll attract carrot fly?
Yes, that can happen when you thin them.
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I'm glad i'm not the only one who's carrots haven't come up, i've sown 3 pkts the last pkt i have a few coming
now, next year i shall give it a miss the first year was great.
I don't sow my carrots until the first week in May. Earlier than that here in Yorkshire I find germination very patchy as the soil is not warm enough.
The little keel slugs in the soil are very partial to small carrot seedlings too, so I always put some of the ferric slug pellets down when I sow. On our allotment carrot root fly is everywhere so enviromesh is a must. For the same reason I never thin them either.
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Here’s some of my no dig carrots I harvested the other day. Who says you can’t manure the ground for parsnips & carrots, you can no dig if you don’t dig it in. They are a pale variety, forget actually which, could be from a rainbow packet & just all the same colour, although when washed & sliced there was a variation in colour, flavour was very good. Not sure what date I sowed them probably April time
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so many interesting replies given me something to think about for next year thanks all RW
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I have tried a new method this year, I rarely grow because of the issues and hassle however...
This year I have grown New Market and I have used a spray, yep orange peel, mint and garlic, spray the plants once a week.
So did it work?
Yep, from a complete row (20ft) only two had fly, no netting or other methods, just simply spraying once a week.
I have also sown 4 more rows (another experiment) of the same carrot to see if I can get a winter crop as the packet and other info suggests you can sow upto August, all being well plenty of carrots for winter.
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I have tried a new method this year, I rarely grow because of the issues and hassle however...
This year I have grown New Market and I have used a spray, yep orange peel, mint and garlic, spray the plants once a week.
So did it work?
Yep, from a complete row (20ft) only two had fly, no netting or other methods, just simply spraying once a week.
I have also sown 4 more rows (another experiment) of the same carrot to see if I can get a winter crop as the packet and other info suggests you can sow upto August, all being well plenty of carrots for winter.
Interesting...quantities, method...does it keep?
Always good to hear varying cures/prevention.
I was thinking of sowing some more in a recently acquired half barrel.
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I've never really had any trouble with carrots. All I do is make sure they are sown in raised beds filled with new multipurpose compost from the garden centre each year. Germination this year was a bit rubbish, but sown at the end of april and kept watered for at least 7 days, things started to happen and then just watered as the beds got dry.
Picture is of an Autumn king carrot - far right - which I would have thought shouldn't be picked until autumn, but they are all massive and look great. This was picked in mid July!! The others are from a rainbow mix which, as someone else said above, all seem to be yellow!! I was hoping for the purple carrots shown on the packet, but they all seem to be the same pale colour!!
The green carrots on the left are not carrots!! :lol: :lol:
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I have tried a new method this year, I rarely grow because of the issues and hassle however...
This year I have grown New Market and I have used a spray, yep orange peel, mint and garlic, spray the plants once a week.
So did it work?
Yep, from a complete row (20ft) only two had fly, no netting or other methods, just simply spraying once a week.
I have also sown 4 more rows (another experiment) of the same carrot to see if I can get a winter crop as the packet and other info suggests you can sow upto August, all being well plenty of carrots for winter.
Interesting...quantities, method...does it keep?
Always good to hear varying cures/prevention.
I was thinking of sowing some more in a recently acquired half barrel.
The spray is two orange peels, two cloves of garlic and I used two sprigs of mint, pulled the leaves off. 1 Ltr of water, put into a juicer/ liquidiser and mush up, bottle and leave to stand for a week then when you want to spray pour into another (2ltr+) bottle through a sieve and add another Ltr of water (approx 2ltrs in total), spray the leaves and around the base of the carrot.
The four rows have just been sowed last week, time will tell on that one.
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Thanks Aidy, I might give that a try.