How to grow Carrot?

Carrots are an outstanding crop for anyone seeking to grow their own food. They are very nutritious, are highly productive for the space they use and store well in the ground. Carrots are one of the most popular vegetables in the world. Kids love growing carrots which makes it a popular choice for the whole family.

Carrot History

Yellow and purple carrots were first recorded in Asia Minor in the 10th c. For the first few hundred years of managed cultivation, carrots were predominantly purple.

It didn't become its familiar orange color until it was cultivated in Holland.

Soil Preference

PH (min/max): 6.0 - 7.5
PH Ideal (min/max): 6.5 - 7.0

This is a crop where the soil can make a big difference. The ideal soil for growing carrots is a well aerated, sandy [loam], free of stones, well drained, rich in [humus] and fairly neutral (they don't like [acid] soil). The most critical factor is porosity; a loose soil can increase the size of the roots by as much as 100%. They don't like heavy clay or compacted soils of any kind.

A seedbed for Carrots should have a fairly fine tilth and no large stones or other debris.

How to care for Carrot?

Prompt weeding and thinning are the keys to growing good carrots. Take care of these tasks and you should succeed, neglect them and you will likely fail. Happily both of these tasks can be done at the same time.

Carrots need a steady and even supply of moisture for good growth. Too little water may result in excessively hairy roots (produced to search for water), or woody roots with marked rings. Too much water may cause the roots to split, encourage too much top growth or result in poorly flavored roots. Extreme fluctuations of soil moisture between dry and wet conditions may cause cracking of the roots.

Carrots are surprisingly light feeders considering the amount of food they produce.

Seed Viability: 2 - 5 years

Germination Percentage: 50.0

Carrot is a biennial, so stores food in its first year and flowers and produces seed the following year. Select some of your very best roots for seed production. Never gather seed from early flowering plants. Uproot and get rid of them before they have a chance to pollinate the rest.

In harsh climates you will have to protect the roots over the winter as described previously. Replant them in the spring and wait for them to flower.

The flowers are cross-pollinated by insects and will cross with any other Carrots or Wild Carrots (Queen Annes Lace) within a half mile. The best seed is produced on the primary [umbel], which is the first to ripen. The second umbel is pretty good too, so take it from these two. When the seed heads are ripe, cut them and leave in a paper grocery bag to dry thoroughly.

Sun: min. 6 hours daily

Carrots need full sun for best production, though they may do okay in part shade.

Conditions:Cold, Cool, Warm

Season:Short Season, Long Season

The best place to store Carrots is in the ground. They keep better and it is a lot less work. In mild climates they will continue to grow through the winter and slowly get bigger. You just harvest them as needed. In colder climates the tops will die back when cold weather hits. When this happens cover them with 6˝ to 12˝ of mulch (this needs to be deep to prevent the ground from freezing). The roots actually get sweeter in cold weather, as some of their starch is converted into sugar.

If you aren’t going to eat the roots quickly, you should remove all but 1˝ of the tops, as these drain moisture from the root. If you are going to store the roots for any length of time, you should leave them in the sun for several hours to kill the root hairs. Any damaged roots should be used immediately, as they won’t store well. Don’t wash any Carrots you intend to store.

Storage Req: Ground
Storage Temp: °F
Storage Length: days

You can store carrots in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several weeks.

Storage Req: Refrigerator
Storage Temp: 35-40°F
Storage Length: days

Problems

Bolting

Carrots are biennials and don’t naturally flower until their second year, but they may bolt if they get vernalized. This happens when a root is sufficiently large (more than 1/4˝ diameter) and is exposed to temperatures below 50˚ F for a period of two weeks. When warm days arrive it thinks winter is over and flowers.

Forking

This is generally caused by fresh manure or stones in the soil.

Roots fail to size up

You may have tried to grow Carrots and ended up with lush foliage, but only small spindly roots. This happens when the plant is growing in less than ideal conditions and doesn't produce enough food to have a surplus to store in the root. This may be caused by competition from weeds or other carrots (if you neglected to thin sufficiently), insufficient light or water or from an inadequate supply of nutrients.

Splitting

This is usually caused by irregular watering, too wet, or too dry.

Deficiency

A deficiency of boron or manganese may cause the center of the carrot to turn black.

Carrot Types

Imperator

These long tapered carrots are bred for commercial use and are the carrots most often found in supermarkets. They store well and can be very tasty, but tend to be tougher than some other types. They do best in a deep, sandy soil and can get quite big (they are not good for heavy or rocky soil). You need to cultivate the soil deeply when growing these types.

These are mixes of different types of carrots.

Nantes

These long cylindrical varieties with blunt ends are some of the best flavored and textured carrots. They are low in terpenes, high in sugar and don’t develop a woody core. They are the best carrots for eating raw, but generally don’t keep very well. They are easy to grow and quite fast maturing, though they do need a fertile soil.

Chantenay

The roots of Chantenay carrots are short and conical with a broad shoulder. They can be quite sweet and tasty, but they are best used when young as they may develop a woody core with age. They are generally better cooked than raw. These types aren’t as fussy about soil as the Nantes and Imperator types and do better in heavy, stony and cold soil. They over winter well in the ground and store well out of the ground.

Baby

Baby carrots aren’t really young carrots, they are simply varieties that don’t grow very big. Their flavor is quite variable, some are good, some not so good. They don’t need a very good soil, so are often used where the soil is shallow, heavy or not very fertile (they are also the best types for container growing). They don’t store well.

Danvers

Danvers carrots have a tapering conical shape. They are quite sweet, but have a fibrous core which makes them better for cooking than eating raw. They do well in shallow, heavy or poor soils.

Pests

Carrot Rust Fly
Wireworm
Blister Beetle
Carrot Weevil
Aphids
Carrot Beetle
Tarnished Plant Bug
Armyworms
Nematodes
Slugs and snails
Rabbits
Gophers
Deer

Diseases

Bacterial Blight
Rust
Scab
Cercospora Leaf Spot
Damping Off
Downy Mildew
Powdery Mildew

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